One aspect of planning a Twitter party or chat that people often seem to need help with is selecting a hashtag.

At first glance, it might seem to be one of the easier pieces of the Twitter chat puzzle: it’s usually no more than several characters in length — how tricky can it be, right? But if you want to get the most out of your hashtag during your next Twitter party or chat, here are a few things you might want to consider:

Length: It may seem like a ‘no-brainer’ but it’s true: the shorter the hashtag the better. Since you only have 140 characters to work with in a tweet, you need all of the real estate you can get. That doesn’t necessarily mean make it so short that it goes unnoticed. It’s one thing to tweet an abbreviation everyone recognizes (like #TGIF or #FF), but a hashtag that is abbreviated that stands for something very few people would know (like #ACTP for Acme Company Twitter Promotion) won’t garner many clicks. For brevity’s sake, you most likely will only want to use one hashtag as the Twitter party’s hashtag rather than cluttering up the event with two. However, if your company typically uses another hashtag in tweets, you might want to use both when promoting the Twitter chat.

Appeal: Hashtags are not case sensitive. If you type in #TGIF or #tgif in Twitter search you will get the same results. Mixing up lower and upper case letters can help with readability. Which hashtag is easier to read: #acmeconewyear or #AcmeCoNewYear? If you want your hashtag’s message as clear as possible, consider using both upper and lower cases to make each word stand out.

Best Practices: There are some things you cannot do with a hashtag. Hashtags cannot include spaces or punctuation — the minute you add either one, the hashtag ends (for example, if you type ‘#Acme Co’ or ‘#Acme-Co’, the hashtag would only be considered ‘#Acme’). You can start your hashtag with a number, as long as you include letters (it cannot be all numbers). Which means #2015 will not be searchable, but #2015Acme will). Also, if you accidentally put a number or letter immediately before your hashtag (like promo#AcmeCo), your hashtag (#AcmeCo) will not be searchable either (source: Twitter Help Center). Twitter also discourages hashtag ‘stuffing,’ or including as many hashtags as possible in a tweet with the hopes of getting noticed. You just might get noticed by Twitter — as a spammer.

Avoid Epic Fails: Occasionally, selecting the wrong hashtag has a way of backfiring on a promotion. Consider the infamous hashtag to promote singer Susan Boyle’s album: #SusanAlbumParty. The hashtag ended up trending, but mainly because tweets took the non-case sensitive tag, made a few new capitals and gave the tag a not-so-nice meaning (#SusAnalBumParty). Take a look at your hashtag from all angles and make sure it is incapable of being altered to create an unintended meaning.

For more information on planning a Twitter party or Twitter chat, get our eBook!

Tags: hashtags, Twitter, Twitter chat tips, twitter party tips

Today — June 11th — marks the launch of the new Twitter API version 1.1. While it might sound like news that only hardcore techies might be interested in, in reality, it can have an effect on all of us who regularly attend Twitter parties or Twitter chats.

First of all, only tools that use the new API will work. Which means, if you have a favorite Twitter ‘aggregator’ (such as TweetChat or TweetGrid), it’s possible that it won’t work correctly with the new API.

That’s why today we’d like to introduce you to a web-based program that was designed specifically with the new API in mind: www.tchat.io

Developed by a company called Congo Labs, tchat.io is a free program that is as easy to use as any other aggregator: just visit the tchat.io website and enter the hashtag you wish to follow. You’ll be taken to a screen with a single-column that lists all tweets using that hashtag as they come in. Just click the ‘sign in’ button in the upper right corner to authenticate using your Twitter account (no need to create a separate account with tchat.io), so you’ll be able to tweet from this page as well. Like other aggregators, you’ll be able to tweet freely without worrying about adding the hashtag each time, since it will automatically be added for you. In this case, if you want to send a tweet, just click on the “tweet” box at the top and a box will pop up allowing you to send your tweet from there. You can also reply, retweet and favorite the tweets of others right from this page.

As of this writing, tchat.io does not yet allow you to create multiple columns to follow hosts, panelists or mentions of your own account, however they are considering working on this feature for future releases. You’ll still have to have a window (or two, or three) open on Twitter if you want to do that (which can be cumbersome).

According to Kyle Mulka, founder of Congo Labs, you can use tchat.io on any sized device including laptops, tablets, and smartphones because it uses HTML 5 with a responsive design. At the very least, it’s great news that Kyle and his team have created such a flexible a program that’s easy for all of us to use and that is sure to work with the new API.

“When we saw that TweetChat was unlikely to continue operation, we immediately shifted gears and started working on a solution,” said Mulka. “Online communities have been around for a long time, and will continue to be around far into the future. I’m excited to see how these online communities evolve and improve. We, at Congo Labs, hope to play a big part in building real-time communication tools for these online communities.”

UPDATE: We have also learned that Twubs.com is also compatible with the new Twitter API. (See article from Mashable). This also offers users a single-column hashtag aggregator. For Twitter party & chat hosts, it also allows hosts to create custom landing pages and register their hastag. Learn more on Twubs.com.

Twitter parties and chats have been around for years now and are only continuing to increase in number and frequency. It’s nice that there are companies like Congo Labs that are supporting these chats by keeping up with changes to both Twitter API and how people use Twitter to communicate.

If you are a Twitter party host who is looking for a multi-grid Twitter chat solution, Congo Labs would like to receive your feedback and input. You can contact them via their contact form on http://www.tchat.io, via Twitter @tchatio (without the dot), or the contact email on http://www.congolabs.com.

In requests for more information about our Twitter party and Twitter chat services, we are often asked, “How can I get my hashtag to become a trending topic on Twitter?”

The question’s frequency makes sense: To have your hashtag or brand name displayed along Twitter’s ‘trending topics’ column is a coveted position, with the top or ‘promoted’ trend costing an advertiser a reported $120K to achieve it. Trending topics are seen and monitored by millions of sets of eyes per day; to be one of them can be game-changing for a company. When a user clicks on a trending topic, they will see a list of all recently-tweeted tweets that contain that term. For companies, this means having more people learn about them and get introduced to their products and services. And free advertising that could be seen by millions is impossible to resist.

What exactly makes a topic trend?

According to Twitter, “an algorithm determines which topics are ‘trending’ in the location you’ve selected. This algorithm identifies topics that are immediately popular, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis.” What this means is, one million people each day might tweet Justin Bieber’s name, but sheer volume doesn’t make a topic trend. A trending topic usually represents a surge of tweets, even if the volume is less than that of a topic tweeted about regularly. It’s Twitter’s way of trying to keep is users aware of what is current and newsworthy. If sheer volume was the only factor, Justin Bieber might be the top trending topic every day for years, making the whole point of having trending topics useless.

How do I do it?

Often a trending topic is something that is newsworthy that suddenly becomes talked (or tweeted) about by a large number of people at the same time. For example, an event being watched on t.v., such as an awards show or sporting event, are likely to become part of a trending topic due to the number of people who are likely to tweet about it at or around the same time. So there is the element of timeliness as well as volume that seems to make for a trending topic. Your goal then should be to get a lot of people tweeting your hashtag at the same time. If you do not have a national stage to work with (such as a high profile t.v. show or event), then a great way to attempt to achieve this is a Twitter event, such as a Twitter chat or party. Twitter parties occur at a specific time, have a certain hashtag that people will tweet to be included in the event, and usually have a significant number of attendees online at the same time who will tweet using that tag. However, simply deciding to have an event and holding it won’t guarantee that your hashtag trends; you still have to put together a quality event with a skilled host, informative content, noteworthy or high-profile guest contributors and awesome prizes and special offers to really get some buzz. We’ve found that those elements are a big draw when it comes to Twitter parties, and are most likely to get tweeted about. However, there is a downside to becoming a trending topic during a chat: hashtag spam. Once you’re topic starts trending, beware of spammers hijacking your tag by using it to promote their own links completely unrelated to yours. Be prepared to offer followers of your chat an alternative hashtag to switch to for purposes of the chat, to steer clear of spammers and get the chat’s conversation back on track.

How not to do it.

Twitter has specific guidelines for hashtags and tweeting that, if not followed, could get your account flagged when trying get your hashtag to trend. If you see another topic trending and try to get your hashtag noticed by including it in a tweet along with the other trending topic’s hashtag, that is considered spammy and unacceptable (Twitter does not like unrelated hashtags in tweets; it’s misleading). Repeatedly tweeting you hashtag, or encouraging others to do as much as possible so as part of a tweeting contest, in an attempt to get it trending without adding value to the conversation the hashtag is part of is another no-no (tweeting contests are acceptable if limited to one tweet per day). Also, taking a trending topic hashtag and tweeting out links to your profile or website along with those trending tags is another way to get into trouble. On Twitter, like everywhere else on the web, organic is good. Create hashtag tweeting opportunities that are natural and not forced. While it’s great to get a topic to trend, it’s even better to provide excellent content to your followers, become a value to them, and remain in good standing with Twitter.

With ‘Tailored Trends,’ Are Trending Topics as Valuable as They Once Were?

Recently, Twitter allowed users to get ‘tailored trends’ — or to turn their list of trending topics into a column customized just for them. Twitter says this about tailored trends: “Trends offer a unique way to get closer to what you care about. Trends are tailored for you based on your location and who you follow.” To turn this setting off or on in your own account, go to the “change” button next to the trending topics column. Click on that, and you’ll get the option either to turn this feature off or on, depending on your current settings. The intent of this feature is to help users see trends related to those issues/places/people who matter most to them. Tailored trends takes into account a user’s location and those users he/she follows to come up with a list of trends that are relevant that user alone. With this feature turned on, the topics you see trending are no longer the same as what everyone else is seeing, but rather made just for you. What does this mean for trending topics in general? When your hashtag trends, it may not be seen by as many eyes as in the past, since everyone might not see the same trends. However, if you don’t succeed at making your hashtag trend on a worldwide (or countrywide/citywide scale), it still might have the ability to trend to your followers — or those who might really matter to you and who are already eager to hear what you have to say. Tailored trends might have put somewhat of a damper on widely-viewed trending topics, but on the flipside, the service might help topics that would normally have trouble trending on a large scale now get noticed more easily. On another note, if you are hosting a chat or party, and see your hashtag ‘trending,’ check to make sure whether or not you have tailored trends turned on. You just might be ‘trending’ to a limited audience, rather than citywide, nationwide, or worldwide.

Tags: hashtag, tailored trends, trending topic, Twitter, twitter chat, Twitter party

Tags: exposure, hashtags, impressions, reach, statistics, tweets, Twitter, twitter chat, Twitter party