twitter for non-profits (introduction)

And Non-Profits

Sharing Stories, Building Followers, Raising Money!

June 8, 2011

Juliann Grant

Telesian Technology

Agenda• About Twitter• Getting Started

– Step by Step: Launching a Twitter Profile for Your Brand– Building an Army – How to Tweet

• Secrets to Success: Promoting your cause/special interest– Hash tags– Listening tactics– Online fundraising/crowdsourcing

• Do’s and Don’ts of Twitter: Build a positive reputation– Best practices for tweeting– Success stories

Twitter is a measure of the world’s mood

Twitter: 94.2M US Users

The Social Media Landscape

94.2M in US55% female18-34: 45%35-49: 24%50+: 14%

139M in US55% female18-34: 42%35-49: 20%50+: 12%

4.6M in US51% male18-34: 26%35-49: 38%50+: 32%

137M in US50% male/female13-17: 21%18-34: 36%35-49: 22%50+: 16%

http://www.quantcast.com

Interesting Twitter Stats• 3 years, 2 months and 1 day. The time it took from the first Tweet to the billionth

Tweet.• 1 week. The time it now takes for users to send a billion Tweets.• 50 million. The average number of Tweets people sent per day, one year ago.• 140 million. The average number of Tweets people sent per day, in the last month. • 177 million. Tweets sent on March 11, 2011.

• 456. Tweets per second (TPS) when Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 (a record at that time).

• 6,939. Current TPS record, set 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New Year’s Day.

• 12.4M tweets in one hour current record when Osama Bin Laden was killed

#accounts572,000. Number of new accounts created on March 12, 2011.

• 460,000. Average number of new accounts per day over the last month.• 182%. Increase in number of mobile users over the past year.

http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/numbers.html

Twitter is NOT…

• A replacement for marketing or PR• A megahorn for your message only• A web site replacement• Static• Something to update only periodically• A strategy unto itself

Getting Started:Creating @ Twitter Presence

Twitter/SocialMedia Building Blocks

Listening Participate Share aStory

GenerateBuzz

CommunityBuilding

Key considerations

What is your strategy?

What will you be sharing?

Who do you want to reach?

How will your brand be represented?

Step 1: Sign Up for An Accounthttp://www.twitter.com

Note: Only 1 unique email per Twitter account

Step 2: Set up Profile

Step 2: Set up Profile

Character counterOptional

Step 3: Building an Army

Step 3: Building an Army

Choose follows wiselyRules of the Road

1. You don’t need to follow back everyone who follows you.

2. Beware of Spammers– High following rate– Low tweet and follower count

3. Evaluate every profile

4. Do not set up Automatic Direct Messages for new followers that are overly promotional.

Tweeting: Building your brand

• Have a giving spirit– Offer guidance,

humor, perspective, expertise whenever possible

• Make daily – weekly contributions

• Focus on sharing info that would be valuable to a customer or potential buyer

Tweeting: Participate, Be Visible.

Informative

Educational

Sharing

Tweeting: Respond Quickly

Most

social

media

black eyes

come from

a slow

response

Secrets to Success:

Use Twitter to Promote Your Non-Profit Cause

Use #Hashtags

• Keep it short! • Does not require registration but check for

usage – Search.twitter.com– Hashtag.org

• Create unique topics and use for tracking conversations– Events, Programs, Contests– Around a cause/issue– Geography– General terms ex. Poverty, youth– Create a body of knowledge #UnitedWay

• Short-lived on Twitter ~ last 7 days available– Archive when necessary

Listen with Twitter

• Search for keywords

• Search by #hashtag

• Monitor trends/sentiment

• Create feeds in a Reader or in an tool like Hootsuite

• Consider automated tools

http://search.twitter.com

Twitter Listening Tools

Attract A Following

Tweetchat schedule: http://bit.ly/9NlzoE

• Great for finding like-minded people to follow

• Good dialog, exchange of ideas• Start your own

Live tweeting an event: Participate in a TweetChat:

Create valuable “Twitter Lists”

Create any list:• Hashtag• Cause• Region• Topic area

Use Your Lists: Be Relevant

Twitter management tools• Other recommended applications:

– Tweetdeck: http://tweetdeck.com– Cotweet http://cotweet.com

Hootsuite.com

Survey tools for Crowdsourcing

Tips for Crowdsourcing• Include a short personal message about a

survey/poll/event within the tweet.• Include an incentive such as “win a gift

card” etc. • Use popular hashtags related to your

survey/poll/event. • Try to send the tweet at peak Twitter

times for maximum exposure.• Don’t be afraid to Tweet more than once. • Use a link shortening service such at bit.ly

to shorten your survey/ poll link and track the clicks.

• Ask for a Retweet from your followers.• Send a final reminder tweet such as, “poll

ends today, results to follow”.

http://socialmediatoday.com/jasonmillerca/285521/how-use-twitter-crowdsourcing-and-simple-market-research

Online Fundraising Tools

http://mashable.com/2011/03/14/social-good-fundraising-tools/

Other Campaign Components• Blog

– Human voice– Can be a team blog, adds more points of view

• Facebook account– Reach the largest social network

• YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare accounts – Store photos, PDFs, videos, PPTs webinars

• Integration points with marketing and web site– Media page for sharing blogs and social media profiles– Use landing pages to eliminate link to nowhere

Twitter Best Practices

• Set up an organization ID – Add brand IDs, use naming conventions to align with

organization ID brand– Even if you are not ready to dedicate time to Twitter,

claim your ID now– Build custom templates to reflect brand

• Maintain a 1:10 ratio of broadcast-type/self-promotion messages to pure participation

Twitter Best Practices

• Participate– Make it a priority and spend focused time weekly– Show you are listening and adding value to the

conversation, not just posting endlessly• Reach out and start conversations• Ask questions, answer other questions

• Get to know Twitter culture– Get the lingo down

• RT (Retweet) HT( Hat tip) OH (Other half)

– #FollowFriday

• Don’t be afraid to experiment! – Expand beyond Twitter to other social networks

Twitter Best Practices

• Recognize others in your network, give credit• Use Direct Messages for:

– One on one conversations– Thanking followers for following

• Retweet (RT) messages you find valuable• Refrain from sharing political positions• Treat language as professional and personable• Remember behind each profile is a person

Ten things to avoid on Twitter

1. Set up a profile and then ignore it.

2. Follow 1,000s of people in the first few weeks

3. Use Twitter to broadcast your message only.

4. Using a formal, stodgy corporate tone. This is not a web site.

5. Not establish a Listening Strategy first.

Ten things to avoid on twitter

6. Ignoring information gathered from Listening.

7. Never retweet others posts

8. Take false credit for information or links

9. Not be transparent

10.Defend against negative tweets

Remember where Twitter fits in

• Organization Goals– Build brand awareness– Identify new fundraising opportunities– Put a human face on your brand– Deepen supporter relationships

• Organize a Strategy– Why, who, what, when, where, how

• Schedule programs and tactics– Identify programs and supporting content– Plan to get the message out

Social Media

and Twitter

Twitter Success

September 2008, a group of London Twitter users hosted an event called Harvest Twestival First Twestival Global was launched with a tweet on 8 January 2009 One month later there were 202 cities around the world hosting events to benefit charity: water Over 1,000 volunteers, crowdsourced through Twitter, contributed their skills Over 10,000 people participated globally and countless others donated or used their creativity to

ensure 100% of all proceeds went direct to charity: water projects. Total raised in one day was $250k + through these events and online donations; Resulted in 55 wells with more than 17,000 people served in Uganda, Ethiopia, and India. Since 2009 over 200 cities have participated by hosting offline events raising close to $1.2 million

for 137 causes

Twitter Success

Share Our Strength Day of Service• Capital Area Food Bank, TX and Friendship Public

Charter School• Goal to address hunger and poverty issues.  • The Day of Service was sponsored by Tyson Foods• Created a team of social media volunteers who

youtubing, blogging, flickring, and Twittering the work by these dedicated volunteers. 

• Resulted in 1,100 boxes of food packed and delivered to 700 + agencies

Q&A

Thank you for your time

Contact Me: Juliann Grant julianng@telesian.com

Blog: http://blog.telesian.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/julianng

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/julianngrant

Facebook: www.facebook.com/julianngrant