#8: Twitter Spaces 101 and 5 ways for brands to use it
The lowdown on Twitter Spaces vs Clubhouse, and 5 ideas to integrate social audio into your social media strategy.
Hi friend! It's been a while since I've sent a School of Social newsletter, so I'll reintroduce myself: I'm Laura Wong, a Canadian social media strategist based in Amsterdam. Over the past 10 years, I've managed social for brands like Booking.com, the Vancouver Canucks, and Fortune 500 clients while at Wunderman Thompson. With each issue, I aim to help you become a better marketer by sharing in-depth social media case studies and thought starters for your social strategy.
I took a break from writing as I've been busy with the On Deck Course Creator Fellowship! I was one of 150 fellows selected for the inaugural cohort, and over nine weeks we've been learning from creators of 6-figure courses like Effortless Output with Roam, Notion Mastery, Building a Second Brain, and Write of Passage. I've been working hard on building my own online course, which will be a 6-week Social Media Marketing Bootcamp taking place this summer - more to come on that in the next week!
Everything You Need to Know About Twitter Spaces
In honour of the recent wide launch of Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse's long-awaited Android app, I'm sharing a recent article I wrote all about Twitter Spaces and how it compares to Clubhouse.
Spoiler alert: I think Twitter Spaces is going to force Clubhouse's demise the same way that Instagram Stories copied and cannibalized Snapchat. Not only are Twitter Space's features and user experience much better than Clubhouse, but Twitter has the massive advantage of its built-in user base. All Twitter needs to do is encourage popular Twitter users to start hosting Twitter Spaces, and their followers will well, follow.
Click here to read the full article, which breaks down:
The basics of Twitter Spaces
How to start your own Space
How to find and join live Spaces
How to share and promote your Space before it goes live
A side-by-side comparison of Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse
5 ways for brands to use Twitter Spaces
Twitter Spaces is now available to all accounts with 600+ followers (aka your brand account, I hope).
While I don't want to encourage revising your social media strategy for every new feature that comes out, I do believe social audio is here to stay. Both Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces feel like live versions of podcasts, but with audience participation. I believe social media users will use them as they require less mental effort than watching an Instagram Live from their fave celeb/creator but still give the feeling of getting exclusive, live access to that celeb.
I think Twitter Spaces and/or Clubhouse would be a good fit for businesses such as:
B2B brands focused on building their thought leadership within their industry
Celebrities, musicians, artists, influencers that speak directly to their followers
Content creators, entrepreneurs, or anyone with a personal brand working on creating personal connections with their audience
Live events & entertainment brands (sports teams, movies & TV shows, live sports & music events) that produce real-time content and already participate in live conversations on Twitter
Journalists, media personalities, thought leaders that want to literally speak to their audience
Here are 5 thought-starters for brands & businesses to incorporate social audio into their social media strategies.
1) Build your brand's thought leadership
For many businesses (especially B2B ones), social media is a great way to establish your brand as a thought leader. As both Twitter Spaces & Clubhouse allow multiple speakers, it seems like a natural fit to use them for hosting industry panels virtually.
Idea: Offer value to your customers by organizing a Twitter Space convo with experts in your industry. Or, host a live webinar-style room featuring one of your employees sharing their industry expertise.
2) Host Q&As/ask-me-anything sessions
Hosting a Q&A or ask-me-anything session would be a great use of Spaces’ live nature and request-to-speak features. Many businesses do these with Instagram Stories stickers, but using Twitter Spaces would create a much better experience for users who get to ask questions to a real person and get immediate satisfaction from hearing answers right away.
Consider hosting a Q&A session on Twitter Spaces to answer questions from customers about a new product or feature. Or, invite a celebrity or well-loved figure within your industry to do an AMA session (with your business as the exclusive facilitator).
3) Provide commentary on live events
Twitter is already hugely popular for hosting conversations on live events such as sports and TV shows/live broadcasts. If you’re a media business or publisher, your business could use Twitter Spaces to share commentary on relevant live events, inviting your community to join as speakers (like radio talk shows).
I've seen this in communities like NBA Top Shot, with The First Mint hosting Spaces to discuss the latest pack drops.
4) Host live game shows and giveaways
Another idea inspired by radio: Host a live game show with your followers.
The show's questions or challenges could be themed around a feature launch, an annual research report, or a new market announcement. Or if you’re launching a new product, have listeners compete in some fun trivia challenges and give your product away to the winner, rewarding them with the first experience of your new product.
5) Host live release parties for new albums/movies/TV shows/apps
What’s a better fit for an audio platform than music? For musicians, Twitter Spaces provides a great opportunity for promoting future album releases: Hosting a live album listening party with your biggest fans.
This idea could also be adapted for releases for movies, TV shows, apps – anything for which a brand builds anticipation ahead of time. Then, on release day, invite your top fans or customers to a Space to celebrate and discuss the release. Make sure to share some exclusive audio content during the Space to reward listeners and excite people to join your future Spaces.
That's all I've got for this week! If you have any questions about Twitter Spaces or have had great experiences with Clubhouse and want to change my mind, reply to this email - I'd love to hear from you. 💌