I've seen a major trend developing over the last few months and it's one that can help you get more visibility for your programs and business.
First, I've noticed that 25-50% of teleseminar registrations are coming through promotional efforts on Facebook and twitter. This means you MUST be using these tools to get the word out about your events. Set up an event page on Facebook and send periodic tweets with a link to your registration page right up until the moment the class is in session. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how many people register at the last minute.
Now this is where the fun part comes in.
Before you start your class, create a hashtag for your event (see video below by Mari Smith about what a hashtag is).
For example, a program I attended today was call Social Media Predictions Call with Leesa Barnes. The hashtag was #smpc.
When you start your call, tell all the participants what the hashtag is and let them know it's OK to tweet about what they're learning and that they should use your hashtag. What this does is tag all the tweets about your event. Then, anyone can follow the stream of content by going to http://search.twitter.com and doing a search on your tag. For example, here's the twitter stream for #smpc.
While you're on the call, you can be on search.twitter.com and continually refresh the page to see all the new tweets related to the event.
However, a better way to monitor the tweets and pariticpate is by using TweetChat. Go to http://www.tweetchat.com and log in with your twitter login in details. You'll be asked to enter your "room" number. That sounds confusing but what they mean is the hashtag.
Once you've done that, all tweets with that hashtag will flow through and be automatically refreshed. It's faster and easier to participate and interact with others on the call. Another benefit of tweetchat is that your hashtag is automatically appended to your tweets so you don't have worry about remembering to add it!
OK, why should you care?
Either as a participant who is tweet reporting or the host of the event, when people are tweeting about YOUR event, you are getting massively more visibility than if no one was talking about it. Just think, all the people who are tweeting have followers. Some may have a few, others may have thousands. Every time someone reports on something you say and uses your twitter ID (or handle) that gets pushed out to all their followers, exposing you to more people and giving you more name recognition.
Now what if you are a participant? By being active and reporting on what you're hearing, you are sharing valuable information with your followers. You get more exposure because anyone who is following the twitter stream will see your tweets. You'll probably end up with more followers with whom you can now engage.
Either way, you're positioning yourself as someone who is engaged, is generous and is follow-worthy.
Some people may be annoyed if you started madly tweeting for an hour and they may unfollow you. But hey, that's the beauty of twitter. It's totally permission based. People can follow and unfollow as they wish.
TIP: when you report via twitter, always use a person's twitter handle (i.e., @DeniseWakeman) if you know it. That's like giving credit where credit is due and also alerts that person that you are following and reporting out what they're talking about. Believe me, they will love you for the exposure and you may end up with a new follower/friend/jv partner...
Try it the next time you host an event.
- Set up a hashtag (make it short so it doesn't take up a lot of characters)
- Tell your audience to go to www.tweetchat.com and use your hashtag
- Ask for feedback during your call and tell the audience to post it on twitter with the hashtag
- Make sure everyone knows your twitter ID so they can use it when referring to you
Related Posts
Making Money with TeleSeminars Audio is Ready
Teleseminar leaders: two sites to post your events
InstantTeleseminar vs. Audio Acrobat
Using Twitter to Get Visibility for Your Programs
Online Promotion Tips: Answer Questions
Resources:
Free report on how to make money with teleseminars
TeleSeminars for Money Homestudy Course





Wow! You have a germ of an e-book here, Denise! As always...
Posted by: Boris Mahovac - Email Marketing Coach | Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 08:23 PM
Wow! This is incredible. I have been using FB and Twitter to promote teleseminars with great success. The last one I did had over 1,000 registrations. I can only imagine what this will do.
Admittedly, I will have to read this and watch Mari more than once to really grasp exactly what this can mean.
Once again Denise, you provided outstanding information.
Kathleen Gage
Posted by: Kathleen Gage | Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 08:58 PM
Great stuff - Like a webinar using viral, searchable social media. A real nugget of gold here. Great ideas for everyone who holds tele-seminars.
- Daiv http://Twitter.com/DaivRawks
Posted by: Daiv Russell - Social Media Ninja-Nerd | Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 09:15 AM
The combination of using a hashtag and tweetchat to allow your audience to tweet about your teleseminar in real time is a powerful way to increase your visibility among people who may not know you yet.
When new people read the tweet reports and like what they see, a couple of things may happen: they start to follow you; they trust you because someone they trust already trusts you and the next time you promote a program, they're in your network and may sign up. You now have a new person in your database and is possible new client.
Posted by: Denise Wakeman | Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 09:16 AM
@Boris and @Daiv - thanks for stopping by and for your kind words. It's all about connecting with your community and letting them help you spread your message.
Posted by: Denise Wakeman | Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 09:24 AM
Wow! You hit the motherload with this. Thanks so much Denise for pointing me in the right direction here. I am considering doing a teleclass in the spring and this will definately be helpful. Have a good evening..
Take Care,
Elizabeth
Posted by: Elizabeth Bennett | Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Wow Denise this looks to have real value.
As relative newbie on Twitter I'm just beginning to see the potential of it for my sales training business and this will be another area that will help me to help others.
Regards
Gary
Posted by: Gary Gorman | Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 02:11 AM
Great video! Im new to SEO services and your video teached me a lot. thanks for sharing.
Posted by: internet marketing services | Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 06:33 AM
This sounds like an amazing idea to get people drawn to you and what you have to say. I can't believe this is the first time I have heard about this.
Posted by: MHz Marketing Firm | Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 08:18 AM
this is amazing information for us in the "e-learning" market, a great and easy way for people to view your material in real time.
Posted by: Metrick Training | Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 08:22 AM