A complete guide of hosting a successful Twitter chat.

Using Twitter chat, you are able to grow your social following, generate valuable discussions and feedback and demonstrate the leader`s qualities. If you will perform everything right, your Twitter chat could become a huge base on building strong connections between other developers and companies.

However, you can`t just start a Twitter chat and complete everything in first few hours. There are some steps that should be completed on your way to success, and today we will discuss them.

1. Understand what you are working with

If you don`t know what is Twitter chat, don`t worry – we will give you an explanation. A Twitter chat is a public discussion on Twitter around current hashtag (topic). Twitter chats are led by a designated moderator (brand or individual), whose task is to ask questions and facilitate the discussion at a predetermined time.

On the global web, Twitter chats are similar to forum Q&As (on Reddit it is an Ask Me Anything session). It means that people who are involved in such chat are able to visit it in a current time, answer the questions and discuss some important topics.

2. Don`t miss the core elements

In Twitter chat, we distinguish six main elements that must be added to every Twitter chat:

• A hashtag. As we said before, hashtag gives us a strong topic or theme for discussion.
• A host. That would be you. Every Twitter chat must have a host who will perform all main actions (encouraging participation, starting the discussion, moderating the discussion and keeping it on track)
• A content. If you are starting a Twitter chat, you must have a specific topic for discussion. And, of course you should prepare good content for the chat to attract people and keep them on track.
• Questions and answers. This is the main thing in the chat. The host (you) asks questions or posts discussion topics, and participants post answers one after another. It`s easy to control and to take part.
• A set date and time. You can`t just start a Twitter chat any time you want. People can`t stay online 24\7, so you should choose a day and time (for example, from 12 a.m. to 2 p.m.) when your chat will be active.
• Well, you won`t run a Twitter chat for your own, so you should find people who will be interested in your topics.

Now it`s time to talk about main points of our guide.

Choose the best time to hold a Twitter chat

As we mentioned earlier, people can`t stay offline for the whole day as well as you can`t host a Twitter chat for the whole day. Here you should orientate on your audience (when people are online, how much time they spend visiting Twitter). When you will analyze these points, you will find the perfect timing to start a Twitter chat.

Make your own research

If you first Twitter chat wasn`t good enough, you shouldn’t give up. Ask yourself the right question: what went wrong? How many people took part in the chat? What questions were the most interesting for the audience? Then, when you find the answers, try to change the strategy – give other questions or choose topic from other sphere of life. Make something that will surprise audience.

Create your Twitter chat hashtag

With daily hashtag it will be much easier for users to find you in this social media. People will see that you have your own personal chat and, probably, will pay more attention to it.

Promote your Twitter chat

If you want to have a bigger audience, you should tell everyone about your chat. Make special posts in other social media, make screenshots of the chat to show how it looks like. Make something that will interest your potential chat participants.

The most popular social media blogs you need to follow today!

Today every person who has his/her own account in the social media can have a huge selection of information sources that he/she want to follow. We know that there are millions of users who create their own blogs to give people important information about things like social media marketing, social media online business and other things that are hard to understand instantly.

However, we can`t be sure that each of such users is a professional developer who cares about what he is saying or writing. So, in this article we will tell you about the most successful social media campaigns and blogs that you should follow right now. One important detail: it`s not the rating from worst blog to best. They all are equal to each other, so you are able to choose which one is better for you. So, let`s go.

Danny Brown`s social media blog

His blog is not the typical social media blog where you can find different tips and tricks about any platform you need. Instead of it, Danny drives us deep into the definition of social media marketing business and what does it mean to us. He focuses on the most important details to give us answers on the questions like “how we can tell better stories?”, “how to create a better business?”, “how to keep your project on the top of the rating?” etc.

Also, Danny is a founder of “12for12k” charity initiative and named one of Canada`s Top 50 marketing blogs.

Pamorama

The main goal of this social media blog is “building buzz in a connected world”, and blog`s author Pam Dyer is following it for the whole time. As good social media strategist, she has helped thousands of developers and companies to create, manage and measure outreach efforts through social networks. She used her own experience while working with her blog, where she “helps businesses optimize their brands”, create customer engagement and drive sales with the help of social media channels and content marketing programs.

Rebekah Radiance

Rebekah Radiance`s award-wining social media blog aims to shift three important areas of social marketing: perception, profitability and execution. Her special expertise lends itself to advice about branding, social media, content marketing and overall strategy, which she writes in easy-to-digest posts.

Convince and convent

Found in 2008 by Jay Baer, one of the most popular social media experts, this company is providing experts advisors for companies in areas of digital marketing. This group of experts share their insight and knowledge on their social media blog. Their daily posts convert everything what you need to know about social media marketing and content marketing. The authors take pertinent news and actual trends in the realm of marketing, and translate this into easy-to-read and understand posts that could give a piece of advice for young developers or creators who want to understand every detail of content marketing.

Seth Godin

An author of best-selling books about improve social media marketing, entrepreneur and developers, Seth Godin is a well-known person in this sphere. His blog with a simple name “Seth`s blog” was given the coveted number one spot on AdAge`s Power 150 in 2009, and since that moment he has continued to offer top-notch marketing advice through the site.

Godin doesn`t use some specific phrases or jargon in his posts. On his blog you can find short and simple advices, which allows you to solve your problems or find solutions in difficult situations.

So, here it is – our list of the most popular social media blogs that are popular between users right now. All people who have created these blogs are best in this sphere, so their advices will definitely help you to upgrade your content marketing or increase leads. We hope that you enjoy our article and started following one of these blogs right now.

The best ways to find trending topics in the Internet

If you are a regular social media user, company developer or editor, you are probably very active on your social media page and things you post on your page are very necessary for you and your audience. However, you can`t just post everything that comes to mind, and the most important thing that you should do to have good posts on your page is to follow trends.

Why trends are so important for us? Well, because people are always interested in everything that happens in the world. If you will write something about past evens, your account will lose it`s popularity and subscribers will go away from you. To solve this potential problem, we will show you the best ways to find trending topics without using Twitter topics, which are also popular in community.

Buzzfeed

With more than just cute puppy pictures and spoiler-filled lists, Buzzfeed`s trend section gives readers a look on everything that is popular on their own website (this method is good while talking about pop-culture-related content). It also shows us what is in trend at the whole Internet at the current moment. Who knows, maybe at one moment some hard-hitting news or dramatic stories will appear on the timeline.

Google Trends

Many people don`t even realize that there is such method of finding trendy topics on the Internet. However, it`s possible. Google Trends have a special option called visualizer: a thing that show you top 1, top 5, top 10 or top 25 of the most popular trending searches. If people are interested in it right now, it means that you can use it to generate new content. Of course, if we are talking about Google Trends, we mention everything that people search for in Google.

Google +

If you`re managing a community or social media for a tech-orientated brand, you definitely should use the option of “What`s hot” section in Google+. The algorithm is pretty simple – the system shows you the most popular hashtags posts and accounts that could probably interest you according to your preferences.

Reddit

Also, a departure from the typical Twitter crowd, Reddit is a place where you are able to see the most popular news, personalities, events and other things that are on the top. You need trending topics to add something to your social media account? It`s not a problem, because Reddit has it all and something more!

Conclusion

Here we have the most popular and usable tools that may help you to look for trends and follow the news that appear in the world every day.

The most popular social media experts that should be followed on Twitter

What do we know about social media experts? Well, they are educated specialists who know everything about their kind of activity – how to improve social media marketing, content marketing and other specific topics dedicated to social media.

However, if you are a beginner in this sphere, you should understand that social media experts could give you the information you always needed. But you can`t just go and ask them about all important things. The only way to get something form them is to start following them in social media. Why? Well, partly because they are always working on some new content strategies or projects for companies, so they tell people about it.

For our article, we pick up one social media – Twitter. We will give you the list of the most popular social media experts that could be followed in this social media. Keep in mind that this is not a rating from the first place to the last. All these people are professionals, so you can choose anyone mentioned here.

Darren Rowse

This social media expert is also known as speaker, blogger, podcaster and founder of ProBlogger (a special site where professional bloggers and developers could get invaluable skills). While he is focusing on blogging, Darren highlights the deep connection between content marketing and social media through post sharing his own content, or something what he founds interesting.

Kim Garst

Kim calls herself as the “First Lady of Periscope”, so if you have any problems while working with this application or just want to know more about it, you know who to follow. Moreover, Kim is not only Periscope specialist – she is also an incredibly accomplished social selling strategist and a best-selling author. You definitely should start following her Twitter account, because she always posts something that may help.

Lilach Bullock

This person is known as co-founder of Communications Axis (digital marketing, social media and content agency). Every day she shares her knowledge with more than 86 000 followers, so her audience is really massive. With her Twitter account, she shares some insights, or bookmark-worthy links to the content that she or her agency has written. Her main topics are social media marketing and content marketing.

Jeff Bullas

Jeff in a person that could easily find himself on Forbes`s Top Social Media Influences list. In his Twitter account we are able to see links to his blog posts, which are focused on the social media, content and digital marketing. Everything is made in smart format.

Mary Smith

Mary is a social media expert who spends most of her time working with Facebook. However, you can also follow her on Twitter. On her page you are able to find post updates, inspirational but relevant quotes, links to her own social media posts and professional event updates. We should also mention the number of her subscribers – 403 000 Twitter fans. That`s massive! With her Twitter posts, you always will be able to keep an eye on social media news, updates, features and other important things.

Jason Houck

Jason Houck says that blogging and social media management are his biggest passions. His company, which is called “Weigh Your Mind”, offers social media and education. Also, his accompanying website offers an extremely helpful “Resources” page that`s worth bookmarking, as well as highly informative blog.

Ann Handley

This person is well-known as an author of best-selling book called “Everybody Writes” about social media. In her Twitter account, she shares the same ideas and quotes with her audience. With a concentration on content marketing, Ann gives everyone a deep understanding of how social media feeds into an overall picture.

So, here is our own list of the most popular social media experts that should be followed on Twitter. We are sure that you can get many interesting information from them and improve your own skills.

Best websites for downloading free images right now!

If you are a professional developer, you know that images are holding a strong position in your working process. You should have a good image for your company logo and you should have a lot of good images for your social media posts. It`s important because your main task is to show the customer what exactly you can give to him (if we are talking about selling goods).

However, sometimes developers face problems with collecting and downloading the right images to their profiles and posts. If you pick someone`s photo without asking, it may end bad for you. But you don`t need to worry because people have created special websites where you can get free images without asking. In this article we have collected the top of the best sites for downloading images on every topic you need. Keep in mind that this is not a top from the worst to the best – all sites are equal to each other, so you can choose every of them. So, let`s begin.

1. Unsplash

Unsplash is a well curated collection of free images made by professional and semi-professional photographers around the world. Someone can say that other sites have a bigger library than this one, but believe us – the quality of images here is the way better than anywhere else. With an easy searching function, you won`t face problems while looking for the right photo for your post. Also, there is another way to get the right image – just check out the Collections. These are special groups of photos sorted out by other users into themes (for example, Lights and Shadows, Street Life, Into the Wild etc.).

If you want to be a part of Unsplash, you can sign up an account (it`s a free option) and create your own collections. They`re ideal for inspiration or gathering resources for a project.

If we are talking about free stock images websites, there is no need to credit a photographer who have made this image. However, Unsplash notes all users to create a short credit to match the author.

2. Pixabay

Pixabay is a stock website where you can find over one million of free social media marketing images, social media images and other photos that could be used in your projects. If you need, you can find illustrations, vector graphics and even a handful of videos.

The process of work with Pixabay is pretty simple. When you`ve picked up a right image, you need to choose the optimal resolution (the printed images may differ from pictures made for online projects). Then you must complete a Captcha to download your image. However, you can cut out the Captcha by signing up an account (it`s a free option).

3. Gratisography

Tired of simple photos and repeated images? Want something unusual for your projects or social media posts? Well, we`ve got one resource for you. It`s called Gratisography and here you can find really non-standard free images, which have been collected by talented photographer and graphic designer Ryan McGuire. His photos often have a surreal edge, and will be looking brilliant on your unusual projects or posts.

We must say that Gratisography doesn`t have as much photos as other websites mentioned here. However, the author of this resource is working hard and he adds fresh photos every week. To be sure that you won`t miss a new update, you can subscribe his newsletter and visit his Twitter account.

4. Pexels

Yes, you are right – the name of the resource is Pexels, not Pixels.

You can easily visit this website to download free social media images, and curators will pick out the best shots to populate its searchable collection of public domain images. You can search for something specific dedicated to one topic or browse by themes including pastimes, emotions and locations.

Pexels is a pretty good choice for web and application designers because there you can find a perfect collection of images made just for displaying interface mockups. A couple of images stray close to stock photo cheesiness (ideas that are tricky to illustrate spelled out with scrabble tiles, for example), but the bigger part of images here is creative and original.

Pexels also has a special category dedicated to space photography. Images there are really amazing, but you should keep in mind that some of the material is from NASA – one of the organizations whose images could be used only in a specific context.

5. Adobe Stock

Simple in use, this photo library with more than 90 million of free images could give you a great opportunity to choose the best examples for your future projects. You can download images, use them in your social media posts or just share with friends in chats. Simple? Of course!

So, here we have the list of five stock image sites that are heading the highest positions between users. You can use them all, or pick up one that will be better for you in some aspects! We hope you enjoyed our article and will choose the best images for your social media posts or online projects. Good luck!