You might have seen #Suffolkhour on twitter or posted on Facebook and Linkedin and thought ‘what’s that all about, what on earth are these people are doing?
Well, it works like bit like a group of people that turn up for an hour in room called #Suffolkhour to network with each other. They’re usually regional
You can make connections with people you may not meet in person or at a business networking event locally. So at the appointed time you need to add #Suffolkhour (or whatever hour it so you're going to join) to the search box, and make sure you select All or Live but not Top so you can see what’s happening live.
Introducing yourself and showing off what you do is a good idea, too much can look spammy, so engaging with others is even better!
You can do this by asking a question: ‘What did you have for dinner?’ or a seasonal comment about the weather, or even telling a bad joke. But it needs to be a tweet that people can interact with.
It’s definitely ok to tell people about a course you’re teaching, trade fair, networking event, presentation or any event coming up that you’re hosting.
It depends on different groups what the norm is. For example, London bound Twitter and Essex ones can be a bit heavy on advertising and a bit spamy, so this maybe you’re chance to make a difference, it’s up to you how you handle it. Human interest especially in the form of images and videos which are entertaining is definitely the best way to get more followers and make new and lasting connections.
Retweeting means sharing that tweet with your followers, who may or may not be on that twitter hour and so their tweet will reach a higher audience and is a great compliment to the original tweeter. It helps build their brand awareness too. It shows you are interested in their businesses success. This is especially helpful when you have an event and people retweet it, so although don’t get spammy don’t hesitate in letting people what’s going on in your area
Replying is of course good to, remember to add the hashtag when you do to keep people seeing your tweets in the twitterhour. Sometimes you can get a riveting conversation going, which can be a lot of fun to!
Sometimes it can feel hard to keep up and fast paced. I find it easier to follow on a laptop and I highly recommend having a browser tab open with notifications and the other with #Suffolkhour in the search bar. If you’re very new to twitter just turning up counts and letting people know who you are and what you do all helps toward getting you and your business known, after that you can see what the other’s do to get a feel.
You want to be remembered and your brand to be recognised in future, so think about what you want to be known for and use that as your approach.
Happy tweeting!
