twitter: building relationships one @ at a time

Twitter: Building Relationships one @ at a time

Devin SmithAmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring

Social Media Outreach CoordinatorBoston Partners in [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Agenda• What is Twitter?• Twitter Basics• Types of Tweets• Hashtags• Trending Topics• The art of the tweet• Dissecting tweets• Composing A tweet• Q & A




What is Twitter?

• Free micro-blogging platform• Updates of 140 characters or less• The sharing of content, ideas, and data• http://bit.ly/27OtIV• http://twitter.com/



http://bit.ly/27OtIV

http://twitter.com/


Twitter Basics• Like other social media tools, you can:– View and share content from others– Create content for others to view and share– The more you participate, the more of a response

you will get




Following/Followers

• People you follow: you see the tweets of individuals and organizations/groups you subscribe to

• People who follow you: Other people that subscribe to and read your tweets




General Tweets

• A public tweet sent to everyone that follows you




@Replies

• A public tweet sent to a specific person or organization on twitter, also known as a ‘mention’.

• @Replies are visible in: your timeline, the recipient’s timeline, in the public timeline and in the timeline’s of anyone that follows you both




Direct Message

• A private tweet sent between you and one person that follows you. You cannot send a direct message to someone that does not follow you

• This is a good option if you have information that you only want to share with one other twitter user




Tweets with Links

• Twitter HATES URLS! • Utilize bit.ly.com to create a short-hand URL

to save space• https://bitly.com/



https://bitly.com/


Tweets with Pictures• Twitpic is your friend!• Always include a short description of the

photo• @mention or #hashtag whenever possible• Leave 10-15 characters free for the URL link• http://twitpic.com/



http://twitpic.com/


Retweets (RT)• Retweeting is reposting or forwarding the tweets of

someone else to your networks to share with others• To retweet, either click the retweet button, or copy/paste

the tweet into the status bar and add RT@_________ at the beginning, so your followers know that who you are retweeting

• Request a RT: If you have specifically engaging content, are trying to get the word out about an event or fundraiser, selectively ask for retweets by adding the phrase “Please RT” at the end of your tweet



Hashtags• Use the # symbol before

a keyword or set of keywords as a means to easily search and follow the tweets posted on the same or similar topic or event

• You create a hashtag by prefixing a work with a hash symbol: #hashtag



Trending Topics• Trending on Twitter means that those

topics are currently the most popular topics being discussed or tweeted about on Twitter

• Topics can be phrases, words or #hashtags

• You can search trending topics by location (country or city)



The art of the tweet

• A tweet should me short, to the point and interesting to read.

• People are SKIMMING content, not diving in• A tweet is an invitation to have a conversation

with anyone anywhere about the content you are presenting-be prepared for that!

• Keep your content focused to your area of interest or people will be confused and un-follow



Dissecting tweets



Composing a Tweet• Know what you want to say before you say it• Must be 140 characters or less, including any URLs• Try to leave 10-15 characters free so others can retweet and add

comments if they wish• When relevant and appropriate, include a #, or relate it to a trending topic• Be sure to use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation-abbreviations

are fine • Be funny, friendly and creative with how you broadcast your messages• Make the message relevant to the audience-if they don’t care, they won’t

read!• Include links, pictures, mentions, #hashtags whenever possible

