How to Host a Facebook Talk

When Facebook spinned out the capability to reply to comments on Facebook, my instantaneous reaction was . indifferent. Actually, I thought it was more likely it would complicate conversations and give spammers extra ways to pollute comment sections.

But then I switched my tune when I witnessed the potential for a joy marketing activity — Facebook Talks! Similar to a Twitter Talk, a Facebook Talk is a scheduled time to, well, "talk" with a group of people about a particular topic on Facebook. With the introduction of the fresh Facebook reply feature, users could actually have conversations in the comments of a post. Users could reply to comments, Like comments, and make it immensely clear who they were responding to and which point they were addressing.

Shortly after this light bulb went off, we hosted four Facebook Talks — we wished to get the kinks out before we collective it with you — and now we’re ready to explain how you can host your own. Lodge in to learn how effortless it is to host a Facebook Talk for your business.

One More Time . What’s a Facebook Talk?

A Facebook Talk is a virtual gathering of Facebook users to discuss a common topic. For example, during the very first talk we posted a photo of our Social Media Manager and told folks they could ask her anything about social content, and for the rest of the hour, questions came flooding in. Our social media accomplished was then able to react using the Facebook reply feature on comments. Here’s a wireframe of how this looked during our promotion of the Talk:

Four Key Components Needed for an Effective Facebook Talk

Now that we’re on the same page, let’s review what you would need to host an actual talk.

• Aim: Why is this talk taking place in the very first place? Are you attempting to increase engagement on your page? Are you looking to grow your Facebook reach? Do you want to help promote a particular campaign you’re running?
• Topic: What will people be discussing in the talk? Will it need a subject matter pro to moderate and response questions, or will your social media manager suffice?
• Call-to-Action (CTA): Your talk should have a clear next step. Whether that’s following your page on Facebook, reading a blog post on more relevant content, downloading an ebook, or accessing a discount code to an event, make sure you’re providing those who engaged with you a destination to head to next.
• Tracking Token: If you include any links in your talk, they’ll help you build up insight into the success of your talk if you include a campaign-specific tracking token. This will tell you how many visitors, leads, and customers were driven over time with your talk as their very first touch, or influencing conversion event. Our tracking code was as goes after:

8 Elementary Steps to Hosting a Facebook Talk

With that in mind, here’s how to host your own Facebook Talk.

1. Pick a topic. You’ll obviously want to pick a hot topic that your audience cares about. At HubSpot, we’re asked about our content creation process often, which is why we held our very first Facebook Talk on that subject.
2. Pick an accomplished. Ask someone at your business, or in your network, who has deep skill on the selected topic, to be your talk pro. This person should be able to quickly react to the questions that emerge. Facebook Talks are live, which means scripted responses won’t fly.
3. Promote the date and time. Give your fan base at least a day’s goes up as to when the talk will be held. Unlike a workshop or webinar, there’s no form to pack out or ticket to purchase with a Facebook Talk, so folks can just hop right into the conversation.
4. Create a dedicated web page. This page should host information relevant to the talk, whether that’s just relevant talk information, or a specific content suggesting you want to give attendees. If you want to provide a content suggesting to help generate leads, you’ll want to make this page a landing page with a form.
5. Create a campaign tracking token. As mentioned earlier, use this tracking token every time you promote the dedicated landing page so you can track and measure talk influence on your overall marketing.
6. Host the talk on a status update. Post about your talk topic on Facebook at the beginning of the talk, and make it clear that attendees can simply comment with their questions on the status update itself. Then have your experienced reply to the comments with the Facebook reply feature.
7. Monitor the conversation. Even if you have an accomplished responding to questions, ensure someone is available on that talk acting as a more neutral moderator. There will be questions that your accomplished may not have time to attend to, or may not be suited to react to, so you can help out by linking to relevant resources (include that tracking token!) and responding where possible.
8. Measure the influence. Use the campaign tracking token to look at how the talks performed. You can also dig into your Facebook Insights to see how that particular post performed compared to your other Facebook posts.

What We Learned About Hosting Facebook Talks

After hosting four talks that very first week of April, we found a few instantaneous things that might help you to know before you host your own talk.

• Responding in real-time ain’t effortless. It’s hard to predict what kind of questions you’ll hear on the talk, or what people will say. Make sure your accomplished is able to treat quickly responding to diverse questions. He/she will need to not only be comfy speaking on the fly, but able to react eloquently when doing so.
• Facebook comments do not operate in real-time. Even however you’re responding in real-time . Facebook is not. After you react to a question, you’ll have to refresh your browser to explosion the latest comments and replies on the talk.
• You may not get to every question. As helpful as you’d like to be, you may not be able to response every question. Due to the time it takes to react to a single question, you may miss questions that emerge while you react. Attempt your best to interact with fans, but realize you may have to regretfully miss some — otherwise you’ll be on Facebook all day!
• Others will hop in to help. Fortunately, the world is total of brilliant minds. You may notice some users leap in simply to react to the questions people are putting forward. Welcome these folks! Don’t be afraid to thank them for helping react, and share your thoughts on their responses, too.

If you’re ready to attempt a fresh content format on your Facebook Page, attempt a Facebook talk! Feel free to share your learnings after, too. This could be the beginning of something fresh!

Originally published May twenty four 2013, updated September five 2017

How to Host a Facebook Talk

How to Host a Facebook Talk

When Facebook flipped out the capability to reply to comments on Facebook, my instant reaction was . indifferent. Actually, I thought it was more likely it would complicate conversations and give spammers extra ways to pollute comment sections.

But then I switched my tune when I spotted the potential for a joy marketing activity — Facebook Talks! Similar to a Twitter Talk, a Facebook Talk is a scheduled time to, well, "talk" with a group of people about a particular topic on Facebook. With the introduction of the fresh Facebook reply feature, users could actually have conversations in the comments of a post. Users could reply to comments, Like comments, and make it immensely clear who they were responding to and which point they were addressing.

Shortly after this light bulb went off, we hosted four Facebook Talks — we desired to get the kinks out before we collective it with you — and now we’re ready to explain how you can host your own. Lodge in to learn how effortless it is to host a Facebook Talk for your business.

One More Time . What’s a Facebook Talk?

A Facebook Talk is a virtual gathering of Facebook users to discuss a common topic. For example, during the very first talk we posted a photo of our Social Media Manager and told folks they could ask her anything about social content, and for the rest of the hour, questions came flooding in. Our social media accomplished was then able to react using the Facebook reply feature on comments. Here’s a wireframe of how this looked during our promotion of the Talk:

Four Key Components Needed for an Effective Facebook Talk

Now that we’re on the same page, let’s review what you would need to host an actual talk.

• Objective: Why is this talk taking place in the very first place? Are you attempting to increase engagement on your page? Are you looking to grow your Facebook reach? Do you want to help promote a particular campaign you’re running?
• Topic: What will people be discussing in the talk? Will it need a subject matter pro to moderate and response questions, or will your social media manager suffice?
• Call-to-Action (CTA): Your talk should have a clear next step. Whether that’s following your page on Facebook, reading a blog post on more relevant content, downloading an ebook, or accessing a discount code to an event, make sure you’re providing those who engaged with you a destination to head to next.
• Tracking Token: If you include any links in your talk, they’ll help you build up insight into the success of your talk if you include a campaign-specific tracking token. This will tell you how many visitors, leads, and customers were driven over time with your talk as their very first touch, or influencing conversion event. Our tracking code was as goes after:

8 Ordinary Steps to Hosting a Facebook Talk

With that in mind, here’s how to host your own Facebook Talk.

1. Pick a topic. You’ll obviously want to pick a hot topic that your audience cares about. At HubSpot, we’re asked about our content creation process often, which is why we held our very first Facebook Talk on that subject.
2. Pick an experienced. Ask someone at your business, or in your network, who has deep skill on the selected topic, to be your talk accomplished. This person should be able to quickly react to the questions that emerge. Facebook Talks are live, which means scripted responses won’t fly.
3. Promote the date and time. Give your fan base at least a day’s goes up as to when the talk will be held. Unlike a workshop or webinar, there’s no form to pack out or ticket to purchase with a Facebook Talk, so folks can just leap right into the conversation.
4. Create a dedicated web page. This page should host information relevant to the talk, whether that’s just relevant talk information, or a specific content suggesting you want to give attendees. If you want to provide a content suggesting to help generate leads, you’ll want to make this page a landing page with a form.
5. Create a campaign tracking token. As mentioned earlier, use this tracking token every time you promote the dedicated landing page so you can track and measure talk influence on your overall marketing.
6. Host the talk on a status update. Post about your talk topic on Facebook at the beginning of the talk, and make it clear that attendees can simply comment with their questions on the status update itself. Then have your pro reply to the comments with the Facebook reply feature.
7. Monitor the conversation. Even if you have an accomplished responding to questions, ensure someone is available on that talk acting as a more neutral moderator. There will be questions that your accomplished may not have time to attend to, or may not be suited to react to, so you can help out by linking to relevant resources (include that tracking token!) and responding where possible.
8. Measure the influence. Use the campaign tracking token to look at how the talks performed. You can also dig into your Facebook Insights to see how that particular post performed compared to your other Facebook posts.

What We Learned About Hosting Facebook Talks

After hosting four talks that very first week of April, we found a few instant things that might help you to know before you host your own talk.

• Responding in real-time ain’t effortless. It’s hard to predict what kind of questions you’ll hear on the talk, or what people will say. Make sure your pro is able to treat quickly responding to diverse questions. He/she will need to not only be convenient speaking on the fly, but able to react eloquently when doing so.
• Facebook comments do not operate in real-time. Even however you’re responding in real-time . Facebook is not. After you react to a question, you’ll have to refresh your browser to flow the latest comments and replies on the talk.
• You may not get to every question. As helpful as you’d like to be, you may not be able to response every question. Due to the time it takes to react to a single question, you may miss questions that emerge while you react. Attempt your best to interact with fans, but realize you may have to regretfully miss some — otherwise you’ll be on Facebook all day!
• Others will leap in to help. Fortunately, the world is total of brilliant minds. You may notice some users leap in simply to react to the questions people are putting forward. Welcome these folks! Don’t be afraid to thank them for helping react, and share your thoughts on their responses, too.

If you’re ready to attempt a fresh content format on your Facebook Page, attempt a Facebook talk! Feel free to share your learnings after, too. This could be the beginning of something fresh!

Originally published May twenty four 2013, updated September five 2017

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