Advanced Twitter Tips- Non-Profits Edition Mande White www.FreeSocialMediaHelp.com

Suddenly, it seems as though all the worlds a-Twitter

• Relative of Instant Message (IM)

• Cousin of blog.

• Moment to moment updates of what they're doing or thinking in 140 characters or less.

What are you doing?

Stats

• 8,000,000 visitors to the website in February

• 70% are new users

• 10,000 new accounts created each day

• Net result is 600% growth in 2008

Statistics are courtesy of HubSpot

Basics You Should Not Be Forgetting

• Get Started

• • Follow Your Donors and Members

• • Retweet (put (RT) in front of the tweet

• • • People love it, builds affection and loyalty

• • Tweet at least 2-3x per week (build to 2-5 per day)

• Be Real

• Practice manners

• • Follow those who follow you

• • Thank People

• Provide ValueDont just create noise

• • New information

• • Blog posts (Twitterfeed)

• • Call out Press Releases

Advanced Twitter Tips

1. Use Speed to Your Advantage

• Capitalize on News/Holidays/Community Events

• Mobilization

• • Internal/external

• • Notify activists about latest developments

• • • News is spread via mobile phone

• Internal Communications

• • Have ongoing conversation with members in a decentralized way.

• • Use it to bring expertise from members or sympathizers

• • Use to test out ideas, ask questions or brainstorm about next steps with constituency.

• Extra Organizational Activism

• • Use it to partner with other organizations to spread news

2. Magic #

5 a day? What do I Tweet About?

• Several tweets a day from you can:

• Update those following you on projects status

• Tweet your fundraising and program events for those that cannot be there (play by play)

• Let others know of fundraising needs

• Keep grant makers updated with progress

• Quickly find volunteers

• Find others who would like to involved with your nonprofit

• I went in thinking Twitter was a free way to push our message out. Big mistake. We learned to listen. We started winning once we let people decide on their own about our services.

• Amy Worley,

• Manager [H&R] Blocks Twitter program,

3. Fundraising

• You get to meet people allover the world that might be interested in your cause

• You get to hear what people are really thinking about a wide variety of issues.

• You can follow other fundraisers and get great real-time advice

• You can even promote traffic to your website or those of your friends.

• If you can figure out how to communicate in 140 characters or lessthink how your fundraising writing will improve!

Tweetsgiving

4. Google Alerts

• Setup Google Alerts for your twitter name

• • Ex @mandewhite

5. Hashtags

• Way to create or follow a stream on Twitter

• Ex: #fundraising

• Create Your Own

• • Needs to be unique

• Follow hashtags

• • Create a search on tweetdeck

• • http://search.twitter.com

• • http://twemes.com

• • http://hashtags.org

#fundraising

6. Twitter Clients

• TweetDeck

• Twirl

• Twitpic

• PingFM

7. Tweet from Mobile Phone

• Twitter Mobile

• PocketTweets

• iTweet

• Hahlo 2.0

• Twitterberry

8. Integrate

• Feed your blog posts into Facebook and Twitter

Direct Message

Parting Thoughts

Web 2.0 Donors are Different

• Vast majority are in 20s & 30s and very comfortable with Web 2.0 giving (widgets & apps) and quite often do not go back to Web 1.0 giving (your website)

• Interested in saving trees. Dont send them print materials.

• 75% give email and appreciate email newsletter

• They give in smaller amounts, more often and to many non-profits they find on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter

• They want Public Thanks

• • Thank You Wall comments and compliments.

Time + Energy = Results

• Give it 15 minutes a day.

• • 5 morning

• • 5 lunch

• • 5 evening

• Gradually increase time as you get more comfortable

• Follow thought leaders-try replicate what they do

About Mande

• Follow me on Twitter @MandeWhite

• www.FreeSocialMediaHelp.com

• www.FreeSocialMediaHelp.com/blog/Presentations