As those of you that follow #Blogchat and other Twitter chats know, recent changes to Twitter’s Terms of Service have made it more difficult for 3rd party sites/apps to provide the chat transcripts that so many of us rely on. WTHashtag, a popular site many of us used to create our own transcripts for Twitter chats, was shut down by the move.
So I was looking for a replacement to WTHashtag, and the good people at Hash Tracking reached out to me to let me look at the transcript and statistics service they offer. What I love about their service is that first, I now have a way to provide transcripts for everyone that follows #Blogchat! But in addition to offering a transcript, Hash Tracking also gives me some decent stats behind #Blogchat, which is something that I really didn’t get from WTHashtag (other than volume of tweets).
Here’s a screenshot of what the dashboard from last night’s report looks like:
If you’d like to view the report for yourself, you can find it here.
Now if you can’t see that picture clearly, it shows that last night’s #Blogchat had over 3,300 tweets, generated a staggering 15.9 MILLION impressions, had 445 contributors, and reached 1.7 MILLION people. What I also love about the interface is that it gives me the ability to break down the stats and see who was tweeting the most, who was generating the most impressions, etc. And in case you were wondering, those numbers are actually down a bit from recent weeks. For example, on May the 29th, the #Blogchat that night generated almost 20 million impressions. I was able to break down the stats and see that several million impressions were generated by @JessicaNorthey and @ProsperityGal. The interface also lets me see which users are the most active, so I know I need to make special effort to connect with them and thank them for participating.
Now think about what a company would have to pay to get 16 million online impressions. Even if we assume a CPM of only one dollar, that would still cost a company $16,000 to buy as many impressions as #Blogchat generated last night.
This is one reason why I am such a big proponent of Twitter chats for companies. If done correctly, a company could create a robust community that will help them extend and expand its brand awareness. Just doing some quick math, if a company had a weekly Twitter chat that averaged 10 million impressions a week, that would generate 520 million impressions a year, and again assuming a CPM of $1.00, would save the company $520,000 in online advertising costs!
Something to think about, and if you or your company want to start your own Twitter chat, here’s how you can get started.
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.@MackCollier, congratulations on these great stats for #BlogChat! I think you not only make the point well here but have executed on it: Ttwitter Chat is a rich business opportunity. I know in earlier posts you’ve raised the possibility of people paying for the transcripts. https://mackcollier.com/a-huge-social-media-money-making-opportunity-in-twitter-chat-transcripts/ . What I do not understand is why Twitter itself does not see creating the chat transcript app as a a revenue opportunity within its own business model — particularly if the app users could subsidize the app by accepting sponsored tweets at the very beginning and of the chat sessions. What am I missing here?
Congrats on the success of #blogchat. I know that I have learned quite a bit from this tweet chat and met a lot of great people along the way.
@MackCollier I can almost hear someone saying “size doesn’t matter” LOL but with #blogchat, it’s true only in part because with the size & reach of the community is so incredibly helpful! Someone like me can send a simple question into the #blogchat hashtag and have people willingly offer their expertise! Its incredible and I’m proud to be a tiny part of the #blogchat community!
@JPlovesCOTTON @MackCollier Janice you know how it is, many companies can’t see or understand the significance until you show them the numbers and relate it to what they already know. If a company waas running a Twitter chat the size of #Blogchat, the total impressions created in a year would be close to a BILLION. You cannot tell me that doesn’t have huge value for companies that are smart enough to utilize the tool properly.
@LisaThorell Lisa that is a good point. There are money-making opportunities for Twitter, but I fear they will eventually target Twitter chats and try to shut them down, because the 3rd party app and developers are making better use of the monetization opportunities than they are.
@MackCollier I agree totally! Measurability is an attribute we have to be able to have with my work. And I find hashtracking VERY interesting. You have certain spurred some thoughts along the use of chats for my office. Important to get a good plan together & be willing to invest time building it. You’ve certainly got me thinking beyond #blogchat.
@LisaThorell You touch on something…. I absolutely hope this transcripting service doesn’t find itself at odds with terms of service… having a good way of pulling transcripts is important to continuing the discussion and sharing resources. To me, I can take a break from routine tweeting much easier than I can from the chats because so much valuable info is available through participating in a chat.
You know no one likes a showoff, Mack… 🙂
I kid… this is phenomenal news and should serve as a wake up call (but wont to many I’m sure) as to the power of Twitter and Twitter Chats. As one who is about to launch a new chat, I can only HOPE to approach the staggering numbers you are seeing re: #Blogchat!
Congrats!
All the best,
@steveolenski
It is extremely amazing that so many participate in such chats. I’ve gotten immense bennies from this and hate to miss it anymore. Not to mention the IMMENSE networking possibilitites. Truly an awesome tool.
Allison
Fem and Nerdy
It is extremely amazing that so many participate in such chats. I’ve gotten immense bennies from this and hate to miss it anymore. Not to mention the IMMENSE networking possibilitites. Truly an awesome tool.
Allison
Incredible! Way to go Mack!
Impressive RT @MackCollier: So how big is #Blogchat? Here’s the stats…(companies wanting to use Twitter, take note) – http://t.co/StPtRR1
@MackCollier If so, Twitter needs to read more about Open Innovation. Talk to Henry Chesbrough across the Bay. Say what—Shut down Twitter Chats? Your post & stats makes it so clear that any VC reading this would say that it is totally zombie behavior to ignore the chat monetization (eg. Ad) opportunity. Big Chat owners should unite and go to Mountain View en masse me thinks. 😉 IMHO You guys have mega impression power.
@JPlovesCOTTON Well, it’s really @MackColliers opening point: The transcript providers have been forewarned they are in Twitter TOS violation if they continue to provide transcripts.
Thanks, Mack. Your numbers demonstrate the power and cost-efficiency of marketing and networking through social media. It’s hard to dispute that social media are fundamentally changing the nature of the way we make people aware (or should make people aware) of our brands.
@jolewitz Thanks for the RT, Joseph — much appreciated 😉
Holy cats! Those numbers are … wow. So happy for you @MackCollier . The value you provide for #blogchat’ers is invaluable. I still owe you a blog post from the blog review y’all did for me last month. Made many many changes to my blog.
Also, happy to host and talk about Community Management and/or Email Marketing – anytime.
@djwaldow deal! we might need a refresher on blogs+email soon 😉
@MackCollier Name the Sunday and I’m in!