We recently hosted an hour-long Facebook chat with our client Audubon Park Wild Bird Food, engaging its lively community in a Q&A session about backyard bird feeding with our experts: Ed Mills, co-founder of Global Harvest Foods, maker of Audubon Park Wild Bird Food, and ornithologist John Marzluff, author of the book Welcome to Subirdia. The chat was a success, allowing us to earn social media sharing with relevant influencers and it created a new engagement opportunity with our community that really showed Audubon Park’s thought leadership. Here are our 5 tips for a successful Facebook Chat: 1. Feed a need. Determine the need for subject matter expertise within your community. Also, the more engaged and enthusiastic your community is the better. 2. Two is better than one. Having two experts allowed us to keep up with the questions and answer in a timely fashion. 3. Promote it well within. We posted 10 dedicated Facebook posts to encourage attendance that captured more than 3,917 likes and more than 325 shares. Custom graphics and paying to promote our posts helped earn us more shares and reach a wider audience. 4. Shout it out. We featured the Chat in our newsletter, pitched to relevant media and influencers for social media shares and also promoted it through existing advertising relationships. 5. Capture the Content. We captured and are using the wealth of content from the Chat for future Facebook posts and content development. Overall, a Facebook Chat can provide great promotional value, spreading the word about a brand and its thought leadership, while also forging a deeper connection and relationship with your community. Have you ever hosted a Facebook Chat? What worked and didn't work for you? Share with us on Facebook and Twitter!