Best Practice

Q&A Twitter Q&A

Twitter Q&As give fans a unique view of TV shows, events and special access to stars, celebrities and those in the news. Here’s how to get the most out of your Twitter Q&As.

Step by step

  1. In the day or two prior to the event, announce the time you will be doing the Q&A and ask followers to submit questions.
    Send this again an hour or two before the Q&A begins. Make sure the person answering questions and the moderator (if there is one) both tweet the announcement. The same goes for any associated Twitter account, such as a player’s team or a musician’s label.
  2. Come up with a specific hashtag to use so that people can easily join in the conversation. Adding #Ask before the person’s name or some sort of abbreviation — such #AskRF for Roger Federer’s Q&A — is a simple yet effective hashtag.
  3. It is helpful to source questions ahead of time. Enter the hashtag into Twitter search and look for questions of interest. Have some cued-up prior to live Q&A and leave some for real time. Make sure to default to “all” Tweets at the top of the search results page where you entered the hashtag into search. Of course, this is not necessary — you can always wing it!
  4. To start the interview, post one Tweet announcing it’s go time.

Follow the next steps based on the format you choose.

Without a moderator

Pick out the questions you like and start answering them. The most common method of answering questions is to reply with a period (.) or text in front of the @handle so all followers will see the question.

You can also retweet the question or, if there is space, retweet or quote the question in your Tweet with the answer.

With a moderator

You can do this two ways:

  1. A Q&A between two @handles (i.e. @TwitterMusic sources questions from Twitter and the interviewee answers using his or her own @handle)
  2. An account takeover (i.e. @TwitterMusic sources questions from Twitter and the personality answers questions via @TwitterMusic).

Format 1 (using two accounts)

The moderator sends an original question from a fan to the interviewee that includes the hashtag. Then the celebrity responds.

Responders can also reply directly to the moderator’s Tweets. The moderator can then retweet the answer or just allow for the answer to show up in @mentions. When clicking on the original question the response will show up below, so it’s not essential to retweet the answer. This approach makes it as simple as possible for the person taking questions; all they have to do is @reply to the Tweets from the moderator.

Format 2 (takeover of moderator account)

With this format, a personality answers questions from fans via the moderator account. Make sure to include the hashtag in the answer. During the Twitter Q&A with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, @Arsenal retweeted each question before Wenger answered it on the @Arsenal account:

Tips

  • Use one of our technology partners, like ESPN did for its pre-Super Bowl Mega-Chat Q&As. Click here for a list of partners.
  • Recommend having the responder sit by the computer with two browser windows open. One to view the @mentions and one with the search queries for the hashtag.
  • Suggested length of Q&A: 30-60 minutes
  • Don’t feel like you have to answer every question — there will be too many anyway. Just pick the best ones.
  • When tweeting answers, be sure to include a period (.) or text in front of the @handle so all followers of your account can see the question. If you begin the Tweet with “@” only people who follow that account will see the Tweet.
  • Always remember to thank your followers for joining in.