Twitter parties are all the rage right now.

But the question for many people is can I throw my own and how does it work? Yes you can but you it take some prep and A LOT of energy and concentration!

They are a great place to connect with other tweeters, discuss a topic and usually win some prizes.

Now for the details of how to run your own Twitter Party:

How does a Twitter Party Work and how do I put one together?

*The first step is to figure out what your discussion topic is going to be. For example, you can discuss your business relaunching your website (and giveaway products from your business) or you have a new product coming out that you want to promote. Either of these can make for great topics and a fabulous way to giveaway your product to people in your twitter community.

*Then comes the date of the party and time (I would say 9pm EST is usually good for most people). It should last about one hour, typically most people won’t stay for more than an hour.

Friday nights are usually good for parties or any week day night, Saturdays and Sundays are not so good. I have found the people online on these days is much lower that during the week. The biggest success I have had is on Friday nights!

*You need to think of 5 or 6 discussion questions, you want people to discuss. Mine you they have to fit in about 130 characters because you have to account for the hashtag.

What is a Hashtag:

A hashtag is a ways for people to search for tweets that have a common topic. You want to do something related to what you are giving away or to your company name. You don’t want it too long and you want something easy for people to type like #bearhaven. Party Goers can then follow just the hashtag for the party and join in on the discussion directly.

How to Follow the Twitter Party?

These parties move so quickly that it can sometimes be difficult to follow them directly on the main twitter site. I suggest that you go to TweetGrid.com or TweetChat.com and type in a hashtag for a party and kind of learn how it works before you take on this task by yourself. These grids are great because the only thing you see in your twitter feed is the party, so you don’t have to worry about other things that are going on.

Time to Run the Party:

It is a smart idea to have at least two people co-hosting your party. My suggestion is that one person will run the discussion and the other will handle the distribution of prizes. But if there is a lull at the party then either person can jump in to help the other host keep the conversation moving.

Roles:

*Prize Distribution can be tricky sometimes so it is helpful to have one person to take control of this aspect. Use random.org and then contact the winner while the other host is discussing more topics with the party goers.

*The Conversationalist needs to be an expert on the topic at the twitter party, so that if people have questions about anything they will be able to answer it. Ex. If a business is co-hosting the party then the owner or employee should be in charge of running the discussion aspect of the party.

*You must clarify to the party goers who they need to follow and who the person they need to message their prize questions to. As for the winner’s information, they can just Direct Message the co-host their address or fill out a winner’s form (that you will need to set up ahead of time).You will just have to make sure that you are following them because otherwise they can’t send you a message.

# of Prizes:

This is up to you but I suggest 5 or 6. Too many and it gets out of control for the person in charge of distribution. Too few and people lose interest and leave your party.

How can people sign up:

Enlist one of your co-hosts to have a  reservation page on their website. I use a Mr.Linky because it’s one of the easiest ways for people to post their twitter handles and urls.  This way, you can kind of get an idea of how many people are going to attend. They don’t need to RSVP, but it allows them to get all the information about the party.

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Twitter Parties are a lot of work. They need to be heavily promoted and the topic needs to draw tweeters to your party. If this is something that you would like to do but would like some help, Living My MoMent has c0-hosted several successful twitter parties and we would like to help you promote your new product or boost your sales. We will promote the party for you on Twitter daily until the actual party up to 1 week in advance.  Please contact Abbey at info@livingmymoment.com for more information on how we can work together in the future.

Tags: hashtag, living my moment, mr. linky, tweetchat, tweetgrid, Twitter, twitter party