During the recent Forrester Marketing forum me and several community members met and proposed setting up a weekly twitter chat (sometimes called a tweet jam) to talk about interactive marketing. Well, we did it! The first twitter chat is kicking off tomorrow at 2pm ET with the hashtag #IMChat. This week's chat is on Forrester's CORE methodology.

There are specifics about tomorrow's discussion topic posted on the Forrester blog but I thought it'd would be helpful to lay out some of the workings of a twitter chat for folks that aren't familiar with them. First, anyone can join in the chat. Before every discussion we'll pick a topic that's relevant to interactive marketers and your professional challenges. The chats will always be held every Tuesday's at 2:00pm ET.

#IMChat Rules of  Engagement

1. You first tweet should include #IMChat, your name, title, and company you work for.
2. Subsequent tweets must start with the question number you are responding to and the #IMChat hashtag. For example, “@ssusarla Q3 #IMChat Email marketing rocks!”
3. Be yourself
4. Do not push your product during the conversation.
5. Take personal responsibility on sharing. Use common sense and don't say things that might hurt your business.
6. Be nice to your fellow comrades.

How to #IMChat?

The easiest way to join the conversation is go to http://tweetchat.com/room/imchat and enter your twitter ID and password. This will take you to a page where everyone will be tweeting about marketing.  All of your posts will end with the letters #imchat so other people not in the room can follow along.

If you’re a more advanced user, you can also use tools like TweetChat, TweetGrid, or TweetDeck to filter for all posts mark #imchat.

You can also do a twitter search for #imchat to filter all posts with that hashtag, just remember when you respond please add the hash #imchat in your tweets.What can you expect? Fast-paced conversation, 140 characters or less at a time. Every 20 minutes or so a moderator will throw into the mix a new question. You’re not required to answer the question, but it’s a terrific way to get a variety of perspectives to keep the conversation moving.

Chat Tips

Here are a few tips I’ve discovered while participating in Tweet chats:

1. Don’t try to read every single msg., especially if it gets fast. Consider what you catch serendipity.
2. Everything you write during the chat will go to all your twitter followers unless you DM someone.
3. If ur tweets go to FB, disable app before chat or begin with @ respond & it won’t forward to FB.
4. Stay on topic as best you can. Tho not vital you answer all Q, sticking w/ topic keeps chat focused.
5. When writing, complete thoughts help followers outside chat learn from you.

I hope this helps and I look forward to seeing you there!

Suresh Susarla

@ssusarla