Hosting Twitter chats can directly increase your audience AND influence in your industry. However, pulling off a successful chat is not as easy as throwing up a few questions and crossing your fingers. First, do your homework and find a relevant topic that your target audience cares about - perhaps something that has received a lot of media coverage recently. Next, promote your upcoming chat through other social channels and participate in Twitter chats to increase reach. After all, you can't have a chat without active participants. (Hints: use an image to advertise your upcoming chat and ask open ended questions during the chat.)