BUILDIN

G & U

SING

YOUR T

WIT

TER N

ETWORK

PR

ES

EN

TE

R:

WE

ND

Y D

AR

L I NG

WENDY DARLING

Communications Specialist Health Sciences Communications Emory University

wdarlin@emory.edu 404-727-8553@wcdarling Twitter

Projectswww.emoryhealthsciences.orgwww.emoryhealthblog.comwhsc.emory.edu/soundscience/www.emory.edu/gradytwitter.com/emoryhealthscifacebook.com/emoryhealthsci

LUNCH & LEARN

• Choose Your Twitter Identity

• Find Your Connections

• Twitter Conversations

• Online Resources

• Hand-outs

• Q & A

Credit: PR Daily

CHOOSE YOUR

TWIT

TER ID

ENTITY

WH

O A

RE

YO

U?

WHO ARE YOU?

Decide on your identity:

• Personal or Professional?

• Broad or Niche?

• Official or Unofficial?

• Or a mix?

Of course, identities change; youmay start out one way and changestrategy. But by deciding at thebeginning, decisions are easier.

PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL?

Consider:

• Are you doing this for work and only for work?

• Will you have a separate personal account?

• When is it appropriate to include personal stuff on a professional account?

• What about protecting reputation of your employer?

• What about confidentiality?

BROAD OR NICHE?

Consider:

• Do you want to “broadcast” everything under the sun?

• Is there a specific area or a group of areas you want to focus on?

• Just how specialized do you want your tweets to be?

For a good explanation, join Klout.com and it will ID your “style” and where you fit.

OFFICIAL OR UNOFFICIAL?

Consider:

• Is this going to be THE Twitter account or is your account one of several staff accounts in addition to main account?

• When you say things, are you saying them on behalf of your group?

• How will your identify yourself?

• If you are “official,” ask yourself, would you want yourself quoted in the newspaper or on TV saying what you’re saying? And would your employer want you to be quoted?

YOUR TWITTER PROFILE

Consider:

• Is your avatar appropriate for the type of identity you’ve chosen? (And you need an avatar.)

• Is your Twitter mini-bio accurate? (And do have one!)

• Want to customize the look of your profile? (There are many nice options for templates and styles.)

• If this is a professional or official account, does your profile’s look match that?

FIND YO

UR CONNECTI

ONS

SO

UR

CE

S,

AU

DI E

NC

ES

, C

OM

PE

TI T

OR

S

WHO TO CONNECT WITH?

With so many people, media sites, companies, organizations on Twitter, how do you decide who to connect with?

Many places to look:

• Media

• Peer Institutions

• Government Agencies

• Advocacy or Support Groups

• Partners

• Competitors

There are also tools to match you up.

MEDIA

Types of “media” contacts:

• Outlets – print, broadcast, Internet

• Individual Reporters

• Editors

• Bloggers

How to pick?

• What media you have relationships with already?

• What media do you want to have relationships with?

• Who shows up when you search Twitter?

• Who shows up in online directories?

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS & INSTITUTIONS

Broad range:

• Non-profit organizations

• Other orgs within your org

• Government agencies

• Partner organizations, schools

• Competitors

How to pick?

• Who does you or your org work with?

• What orgs would you like to work with?

• Who might be happy to share your message?

• Whose messages would you like to share?

• Who’s your competition? (Know what they are doing!)

TOOLS FOR MAKING CONNECTIONS

Inside Twitter

• Exploring other people’s profiles & connections!

• Twitter Lists

• Twitter “Suggestions”

• Twitter Search

Outside Tools

• Klout

• Online Directories, e.g.JustTweetIt.comWeFollow.comTwellow.com

TWIT

TER C

ONVERSATIO

NS

TH

E A

RT

OF C

ON

VE

RS

AT

I ON

ENGAGING IN CONVERSATION

Twitter conversations can take many forms:

• Engaging with an audience

• Working with reporters

• Campaigns

• Breaking news &alerts

• Reputation management

Important tools:

• Search & tracking tools

• Hashtags

• Existing connections

ENGAGING WITH AUDIENCE

• Reply to & retweet others

• Ask questions, ask for opinions

• Post photos and videos

• Work with partners

• Mix it up

WORKING WITH REPORTERS

Many ways to engage with reporters:

• Follow what they’re covering, talking about

• Find reporters looking for leads

• Pitch to reporters based on their beats

• Retweet media coverage, credit @reporter

• Pick up hashtags, keywords

CAMPAIGNS

Plan tweets as part of larger promo plan:

• Use hashtag or create one

• Use keywords, key hashtags

• Make appropriate contacts beforehand

• Work with partners

• Space out tweets over time

• Create specific content for the campaign

• Find way to track # of clicks, RTs, etc.

BREAKING NEWS & ALERTS

When there’s news breaking, be there:

• Pass along latest info

• Distribute phone #s, web sites to call

• Use and/or create appropriate hashtags

• Use Twitter search, respond to tweets

• Address tweets directly @reporters

• Live-tweet

• Share photos and videos

• Share background info

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Way to manage:

• Track what’s being said about you

• Respond as appropriate

• Direct reports to appropriate people

• Retweet mentions

Tools

• Twitter Search + other tracking tools

• Hashtags

• @Mentions

ONLINE R

ESOURCES

HE

L P W

I TH

TW

I TT

ER

& S

OC

I AL M

ED

I A

WEB SITES

Tracking Sites

• Klout – www.klout.com

• Twendz – www.twendz.com

• TweetGrid – www.tweetgrid.com

Social Media

• Mashable – www.mashable.com

• PR Daily – www.prdaily.com

• Social Flow - blog.socialflow.com

• Twitter for Newsrooms - dev.twitter.com/media/newsrooms

See also:“18 Best Tools To Analyze Your Twitter Hotness”or bit.ly/twitterhotness

ALSO…

PR Daily News Feed www.prdaily.com

Consistently great tips on PR, including Twitter, writing effective press releases, how to work with reporters, and more. Sign up for newsletter!

HAND-OUTS

“26 Tips for Enhancing Your Tweets”

Social Media Examiner

“How to Win Friends and Influence People”

Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert’s Journal

“How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live (in 140 Characters or Less)”

Steven Johnson, TIME

“Putting Twitter’s World to Use”

Claire Cain Miller, New York Times

Q & A

AN

Y Q

UE

ST

I ON

S?

WENDY DARLING

Communications Specialist Health Sciences Communications Emory University

wdarlin@emory.edu 404-727-8553@wcdarling Twitter

Projectswww.emoryhealthsciences.orgwww.emoryhealthblog.comwhsc.emory.edu/soundscience/www.emory.edu/gradytwitter.com/emoryhealthscifacebook.com/emoryhealthsci