A step-by-step guide to executing a successful Tweetup

A Tweetup can be a great word of mouth generator to drive store traffic for a retailer or restaurant chain. By definition, a Tweetup is a real world meeting between people who know each other through Twitter or the blogger community. People come to share ideas, enjoy drinks and food and get to know one another. It’s essentially a Twitterpalooza!

We’ve seen some nice results with Tweetups for our clients. For example, with 2 Tweetups we drove record traffic for a restaurant client in two locations where sales had been way down. Done right, a tweet up can help build some nice short terms sales through word of mouth.

Step 1: Define Your Objective and Target

What do you want to achieve by having a Tweetup? Who is your target? This is crucial. You also should determine how you will measure success. Set a base criteria for who you want to attend the Tweetup (e.g. you must have X amount of followers to attend). The objective is very important in determining which bloggers you go after.

Step 2: Develop the Right Promotion

If it’s word of mouth you want to get, you need to make sure you design a promotion for your consumers that you want the bloggers you partner with to blog and tweet about. Just inviting a bunch of bloggers to come into a restaurant and tweet, is not nearly as powerful as when you give them something to tweet about. For example: “Come into the restaurant tonight and get 50% off any meal” is a lot better than “Hey, come on down.”

Step 3: Find The Right People

You don’t want invite just anyone, you want bloggers and tweeters who will be real influencers with your target While we use a proprietary tool to identify bloggers who have a high Google page rank, lots of shares, and a large twitter following, you can also use tools like Alexa or Google page rank to determine how influential these Tweeters and bloggers are. Local is important for two reasons. One: they have to be able to get there. Unless you’re working for Nike or Pepsi, you’ll be hard pressed to find people willing to fly out for a night of chips and dip. Two: Twitter and blog followings tend to be very regional. How effective is advertising for a restaurant in Denver to people in Boston? Find these people through Twitter, blog search or, simply, by talking to people (gasp!).

Step 4: Send Bloggers or Tweeters All the Information They Need

Let these people know the date, time and location. You might even add in directions for the GPS challenged which, believe me, we appreciate. You should also provide a Twitter hashtag to use throughout the event while they tweet about it. Finally, provide them with your Twitter handle if they have further questions or need special arrangements.

Step 5: Follow Up After the Event

Let people know that you’re glad they came. They are absolutely doing you and your client a favor, so really you can’t thank them enough!

Step 6: Analyze Results

Whether it’s the number of Tweets or the number of blog posts written, it’s important to measure how much buzz your event has created. While A good indicator of success is if your event is trending on Twitter. By using Trendsmap, for example, you can receive real-time mapping of Twitter trends. The most important indicator of course is the sales you’ve generated from the Tweetup; after all, a cute promotion that doesn’t drive any sales is wasted time. We’ve found actually, that clients often underestimate their results, and being going in and looking at the real numbers, you can help them realize the power of the Tweetup for their brand.

A Tweetup could be the event you need to get your brand the recognition that it deserves. It’s a fun way to network with colleagues, create brand awareness and enhance your Twitter marketing efforts.