Live #Blogchat For Companies

Getting started at the Live #Blogchat during the FIRE Sessions

Earlier this year at South By Southwest, I debuted a Live version of the popular #Blogchat on Twitter. Since that time, this format has appeared at some of the top social media marketing conferences in the country, including SXSW, Blog World, Marketing Profs B2B Forum, SMIATL, and Content Marketing World. In addition, Dell and Brains on Fire have added Live #Blogchats to their existing customer/client events this year.

The format for a Live #Blogchat is very simple: Get 50-100 people in an intimate setting where we can actually have a discussion about a particular blogging topic. The beauty of this format is that we all learn from each other. It’s not just myself or someone else ‘presenting’ to a captive audience, it’s me asking the audience what they think, and then they answer. Then we all build off of each other’s answers and that’s when the ‘a-ha!’ moments happen. We all share our experiences and ideas with each other, so we can all learn from each other.

This format also has great benefits for a company that wants to sponsor a Live #Blogchat as either an addition to an existing company event, or as a stand-alone event. For example, in July, Dell sponsored a Live #Blogchat the night before its #DellCAP event. The focus of the discussion at this Live #Blogchat was how companies could provide customer service via blogs and other forms of social media. So the discussion itself was beneficial not just for the audience, but the members of Dell’s Social Media team that were in attendance got some wonderful feedback on their efforts as well as some ideas for improvement. Dell also got a great chance to connect with some of its customers as well as social media leaders in the Austin area, getting valuable feedback from all.

Some additional benefits for a company in sponsoring a Live #Blogchat:

An opportunity to be associated with the largest and most active chat on Twitter. #Blogchat averages over 600 active contributors each week, generating over 20 Million impressions and reaching 2 Million people. Sponsoring a Live #Blogchat will bring instant credibility to your brand.
A Live #Blogchat sponsorship is a great way to establish and build awareness for your brand’s own Twitter presence. In the weeks leading up to your sponsorship, your brand will be promoted as the sponsor, which will bring more exposure and followers to your Twitter account.
Sponsoring a Live #Blogchat gives your brand the opportunity to connect with and learn from some of the smartest minds in social media, as well as some of the top social media influencers and tastemakers. This feedback alone is worth the price of the sponsorship.
Helping to bring a Live #Blogchat to reality reflects positively on your brand. Every Live #Blogchat thus far has been a huge hit with attendees, who often cite it as one of the highlights of the event it was associated with. Being part of such an educational and fun event reflects positively on the sponsor as well.

Here’s some examples of possible Live #Blogchat sponsorships:

1 – An Email Marketing company could sponsor a Live #Blogchat with the topic being ‘What’s the best way to engage with bloggers, via email or on their blog?’ This discussion would be interesting to attendees, but would also give the Email Marketing company some great feedback from bloggers on how they prefer to be engaged, giving them ideas for optimizing their services.

2 – A company that provides a Social Media Monitoring service for companies and individuals could sponsor a Live #Blogchat with the topic being ‘Which analytics should you track to measure the success of your blog?’ This topic would allow this company to not only establish its expertise in this area, but also get valuable feedback from bloggers on the statistics they track and how they measure the performance of their blog.

3 – A company that’s looking to better connect with its customers via its blogging efforts could sponsor a Live #Blogchat with the topic of ‘What are some of the best ways that companies can use their blog to connect with customers?’ This topic would result in a discussion that would give the sponsor a ton of useful feedback on how it can improve its blogging efforts.

These are some ideas, but again a Live #Blogchat sponsorship makes so much sense for your company because you will not only get valuable feedback from participants, but you’ll have a perfect tool to connect with customers and thought leaders in your space, building awareness for yourself in the process. If you’d like to learn more about sponsoring a Live #Blogchat and the fees involved, please email me and I’ll be happy to discuss this with you.

Here’s some additional pictures from previous Live #Blogchats: