What is a Twitter Party and How do I Attend One?

A twitter party is basically a live chat on Twitter using the hashtag (#) search feature to organize the conversation and encourage others to participate.

For attendees, a twitter party is a fun event where you can make new friends, chat about a subject that inspires or interests you and potentially win prizes. Twitter parties are also a great way for influencers and new bloggers to meet with colleagues and learn more about the brands they admire.

For sponsors, a twitter party is a great way to engage with new and established fans and customers, increase your social media buzz, align your brand with specific themes that are of importance, and win over new fans! It’s like holding a meet and greet in your store but everything is online.

Brands large and small are utilizing social media influencers to host twitter parties. Our best advice is to chose an influencer that is already versed in the themes that are important to you. For instance it wouldn’t make sense to have an influencer who is known for being gluten free to host a party for a company that has products containing gluten.

Let us know if you would like us to host a twitter party for you. Together @Bookieboo and @Mamavation have close to 200,000 fans on Twitter. As long as your values match ours, we would love to host a party for you!

Why Twitter Parties are Amazeballs

Over the years, I’ve made thousands of friends from twitter parties that I’ve attended and hosted. Literally, thousands. I started attending and then hosting them about 9 years ago. The greatest part about them was I didn’t have to get out of my pajamas or yoga pants to attend, nor did I have to put any makeup on or brush my hair…it was all online in the comfort of my own home.

Here are some things you can do while ALSO attending a twitter party:

• Getting your hair cut
• Watching TV
• Sitting at a sports game
• Cooking dinner
• Waiting at the doctor’s office
• Wasting time on your lunch break

Basically ANY downtime you have you can attend a twitter party. So don’t worry if you are busy. You always have a couple minutes here or there as long as you have a mobile device.

Safety First During a Twitter Party

Twitter parties are so much fun, but don’t forget safety online. Do NOT attend a twitter party while operating heavy machinery or having your in-laws over for dinner. Another thing we recommend never to do is tweet your address to anyone publicly. You may win something from us and we will require your address if that happens, but we will get it from you privately. No need to tweet that to us.

How to Attend a Twitter Party

Pay attention to the host of the party. She will be the one to post about the event prior to the party, invite her followers and fans, spread the message about the party using her social media powers. You will also be expected to help promote the party if you go to it. Typically, when you RSVP for a party, they ask you to send out a tweet letting your friends know that you are going.

Twitter parties are organized by hashtags (#), so the first thing you will want to do is utilize the search function on twitter OR you can use a 3rd party platform like Twubs, Tweet Deck,Hootsuite or Tweet Chat. Type in the hashtag and take a look at what is happening. Some twitter parties have hundred of tweets, but the ones we throw have thousands of tweets. Please don’t get overwhelmed if this is your first rodeo. Just let people know this is your first time and they will be gracious to you.

Most of the time, Twitter parties have brand sponsors who donate prizes that are given away randomly during the party based on tweets. Make sure to follow the directions about how to enter to win the prizes or how to RSVP for the event. But as long as you RSVP and follow the rules, the more you tweet, the more likely you are to win a prize! So tweet away and just make sure that everything you say has that hashtag at the end or beginning of your tweet.

During the party, the host asks questions related to the topic that will look a bit like this…
Q1: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RECIPE INVOLVING ALMONDS? #Almonds

Participants answer like this…
A1: I just love to eat them raw!  #Almonds

These questions will typically come once every 10 minutes. During this time the host will also be pulling winners from randomly selected tweets during the party and announcing them. If you get tweeted by the host of the party, they will send you a link to fill out your information so they can get your prize to you.

10 Reasons Why Your Brand Should Host a Twitter Party

There are so many benefits to hosting a twitter party. Currently, Mamavation averages between 40-65 million impressions per party we host with our community. The twitter party with the highest impression count that we have ever hosted has been over 145 million impressions in 90 minutes. That party also generated just over 6,000 tweets and trended globally. And here are some reasons why you should sponsors a twitter party with Mamavation:

1. Meet and greet your current followers and customers
2. Extend your reach and find new followers and customers
3. Create interest in new product launches
4. Drive traffic to specific stores in the US
5. Generate buzz about your brand or new product
6. Create more awareness of your product around “digital moms” who love food, cosmetics, green, wellness & fitness products
7. Chat about the benefits to your products
8. Align yourself with themes that are important
9. Point out the need your company is solving
10. Answer questions about your company, products and/or services

If you would like to set up a twitter party for your brands contact Leah Segedie at leah (at) bookieboo (dot) com. If you would like to be included in all the twitter parties we throw at Mamavation please fill out this form to be included in an email we send out notifying you of all the fun.

So are you ready to have some fun? Join in our next twitter party with Mamavation! You’ll have a blast!