Facebook Wall Chats are chats that take place directly on the wall of your Facebook page. They can be a great way of increasing the level of interaction on your page, attract new readers, and increase your "like" count.
How to do a Facebook Wall Chat:
1) Set and time and date for the wall chat and check time differences.
2) Agree on the rough duration of the wall chat.
3) Create a banner for the wall chat (see below for more information about this)
4) Promote the upcoming chat and invite people to join in.
For the wall chat:
1) Post the chat banner to your page and pin it to the top so it's easy for people to find. Include an introduction explaining that this is a wall chat and present your guest. If suitable for the chat, make a note inviting everyone to post their own questions for the guest during the chat directly in the comments section of this post.
2) Post your questions (as individual comments) to the comment thread below the post.
3) The guest should reply to each question by clicking on the "reply to" on each comment. This makes the chat easier to follow as each question and answer will be together. Just posting the answer to the comment thread could mean that following the chat becomes a bit confusing as questions and answers might not be in order.
4) Let everyone know when the chat is coming to an end and thank them for taking part.
5) If you host a regular chat feature make sure you add a note to invite people to the next one at the end of the wall chat. Now is also a good time to let them know if you're looking for guest for future chats.
After the chat:
Share the url of the wall chat on your other social media channels, groups, blog and website. Some people might not have been able to join in for the LIVE chat but may still be interested in reading the transcript.
Tips for a successful wall chat:
1) Create a banner for your wall chat. It's been proven time and time again that people respond better to visual content. An attractive banner that catches their eye will help drive traffic to your wall chat.
On my public page I host "Wall Chat Wednesday" where I interview authors about their books. As this is a regular event I use the same banner model for each wall chat so it can quickly be identified.
Here's an example of the banner for a past chat I did with author +Stuart West:
2) In order to make your wall chat easy to follow, share, and analyse, it's a good idea to keep the whole chat in the one post. By using the comments section of a post for the whole chat you can promote the chat by sharing its direct url.
To find the direct url for a post click on the date that you posted it.
The whole chat can also be shared just by clicking the share button on the post.
As the whole chat is in the one post you can easily measure the metrics for the chat via your admin panel to see how many people you reached.
3) Encourage readers to post their own questions and comments during the wall chat. The more people engaging the better.
Do you host wall chats on your Facebook page? Do you have any tips of your own for a successful chat? Leave a comment below let us know.
