TwitterHow your organisation can make 140 characters work for you
Marc Bowkerwww.about.me/marcbowker
#begoodbesocial
Twitter has revolutionised the way we interact online.
It has made us used to communicating in real time.
What we’ll cover today
• Where to start with Twitter
• Finding your feet
• What to tweet
• Potential issues
• The Twitter lingo
• Twitter tools
Where to start
• Use a simple or memorable user name, eg. @marcbowker
• No egg – upload a picture
• Complete your details
• Once you’ve done that, Twitter is simple (sort of) and the only way to learn is to jump straight in and find your voice
• Follow people you know, look at who they’re following and follow those you like
The Twitter lingo
@reply: a comment directed at somebody,but beware it’s is public!
The Twitter lingo
DM: a direct message. A private message toanother user that only they will see.
The Twitter lingo
RT: a retweet. Essentially you like a post somuch that you have to share it with yourfollowers.
The Twitter lingo
Hash tags: words prefixed with a # whichhelp track conversations on a particulartopic like #begoodbesocial
Finding your feet
• Who do you want to talk to?
• Will you apply a casual and friendly approach?
• How often will you tweet?
• Make an effort to reply to all comments
• Don’t have auto-DMs for new follows
• You don’t need to follow everyone back
What to tweet
• Interesting content from your organisation• photos• videos• blogs and news• events• campaign actions
• Ask questions and engage
• Knowledge share with other organisations
Potential issues
• Criticism, don’t take it personally
• Differing views, be accepting
• Slow responses
• Broadcasting
• Never sharing content
• Criticising others, don’t do it
Twitter tools
• Twitter.com
• Mobile apps such as Twitter and Tweetie
• Tweetdeck
• Hootsuite
Remember, your potential donors and supportersare on Twitter. Start conversations and build a
Relationship with them today.
Now it’s your turn
• Split into groups of four
• Choose one of your organisations
• Plan a Twitter strategy for six months• how will you encourage staff to tweet?• how will you sustain this over time?• how will you measure impact?• will you create a social media policy?• what tools will you use to monitor Twitter conversations?• how often will you tweet?
My top tips
• Don’t just broadcast information about your organisation, be human. Talk to people as you would face to face
• Always think before you tweet:• can you provide a link• can you include a photo/video• what can you do to make the tweet really work hard for you?
• Be honest, tell people you’re new to Twitter
• Set follower targets: 100, 500, 1000
• Set up lists
Thank you for listening
Keep up with the conversation on Twitter #begoodbesocial
And on Facebook www.facebook.com/begoodbesocial
Need more help/guidance? You can find me here:
@marcbowkerwww.about.me/[email protected]
