Four years ago, I founded Leamington Hour on Twitter. This Twitter Networking Hour happens every Wednesday between 4-5pm. It regularly has over 50 businesses on it and they focus on engagement and connecting as many people as possible.
What is a Networking Hour?
A networking hour is an hour where people meet up and talk about a particular interest or location on Twitter.
They use the symbol # to link up the tweets and to talk to other people on the hour. They are sometimes called hashtag hours as well.
The great thing about these hours are that everyone wants to connect and engage with people on there. They are all brought together over a particular location or interest. For instance you can visit #BrumHour to engage with people in and around Birmingham or #WeddingHour for contacts, information or suppliers about weddings.
There are hundred of hours available so here are a few dos and don’t s to be aware of on any Hashtag Hour.
5 things to do on a Networking Hour
Easy to join in-
- Find out if your interest or location has a Hashtag Hour that you want to join and make sure you know when it is. There are apps that can help you find your nearest ones.
- Say hello to the hour host and use their hashtag in every tweet.
- Then just talk to people. It’s exactly the same principal that you would do in a face to face networking meeting. Include the #Leamingtonhour (if you are on mine) and then your conversation will go into the timeline.
- Favourite and Retweet any messages that you like and carry on talking to people.
- Follow anyone who you like and talk to them after the hour. It is all about the follow up as well as being on the hour.
It’s really that easy! If your still not sure then why don’t you come along to any hour and just read the timeline for the first time.
Some hours are busy and some are fairly quiet. You can use both to your advantage just by being engaging with people and asking questions.
5 things NOT do on a Networking Hour
- Just sell to people and send out buy my stuff tweets.
- Automate every tweet and don’t engage with people.
- Insult people on the hour by your views, insights, prejudices or poor spelling grammar.
- Go on just once and never go on again. You need to invest time and talk to the hour and get to know the people on the hour over a few weeks/few months.
- Dismiss them on don’t give them a go in the first place. They are excellent to get to know people in a particular interest or location.
This is my guide on what to post and when to post it.
0-15 minutes- Say hello to the host and everyone on there and see how they are doing. Gifs, videos or pictures are great for getting peoples attention. Don’t forget to use the hashtag that is associated with the hour. No selling messages just conventional. This is the peak time and so start strong!
15 minutes- First Selling Post (Could be a link to an event or a website?).
15-30 minutes- Carry on talking to existing people and say hello to new people who have joined the hour. Maybe ask a question that sparks an response or a solution you can provide. For example- If you are a VA then you could create a poll or ask the question “What would you do with 2 extra hours per day?” This way the people on the hour will start thinking at some level they might that persons help.
30 minutes- Second Selling Post (Could be a picture, link or a service that you offer).
30- 45 minutes- This is where the hour will pick up new people as they might of forgotten the hour had started. For evening hours, this is the second busiest time. Organise any 1-2-1’s that you want to do with the people who you want to speak to further as they might need to go if they have been at the start
45 minutes- Third Selling Post (Could be a link to a newsletter, Free article, blog etc).
45-55 minutes- This is when the hour could get a little slower so keep with talking to people that joined in between 30-45 minutes bracket. Maybe post another a Fourth Selling Post if you want too but make it a different one from the other three.
55 minutes- 1 hour- Thank the host and say goodbye to people, Organise any 1-2-1’s that you want to do with the people who you want to speak to further.
Hope you found this useful and if you would like to find out more information about this, come onto #LeamingtonHour on Wednesday at 4:00 till 5:00pm
