1

2

Introduction

In this part of our tutorial on how to create effective content for your social media

assets, we will provide you with background information and practical tips on how to

best transmit your message in 140 characters. This is exactly the length that the

platform Twitter grants you for what you want to say. The nature of this fast paced

online community focuses especially on three factors: conciseness, accessibility and

real time.

The Twitter platform has a total of 140 million active users tweeting 340 million times

per day. This enormous number does not represent the total audience that uses

Twitter as a source of information on a regular basis. Twitter, unlike Facebook, is an

open community, meaning that, unless otherwise specified everyone can access

your Twitter profile and read your status updates. This feature and the global

accessibility contributed greatly to the platform establishing itself as a major primary

news source in general and especially in situations of disaster, armed conflict or

humanitarian crisis.

Maintaining an updated Twitter account is a must in order to communicate relevant

statistics, facts and campaigns around the work of your office to a worldwide

audience of all ages.

Basic strategies for Twitter

1. Be concise

Twitter gives you 140 characters to tell your story. What might seem like a curse at

the beginning, can very quickly become a blessing: you will see yourself forced to

narrow your message down to its most essential and most important piece of

information. The average attention span of an adult is of 2.8 seconds, the

approximate amount of time it takes to read 140 characters. Being within these

parameters guarantees that you reach your audience without risking information

overkill.

2. Speak the Twitter language

It is vital for your success on Twitter to adapt the platform’s language: the usage of

hashtags and linking of other users when tweeting at or about them is necessary in

order to increase your audience and gain more visibility. To create a hashtag, use

the # sign, to link a profile use @username. Don’t be afraid to be informal and use

the first person from time to time when referring to UNICEF, this will help you to give

your office a human face.

3

3. Be accessible

Twitter more than any other social media network relies on the principle of two-way-

communication. Be available to your followers, hear their opinions, answer their

questions and consider suggestions. Use communication to negotiate with the

public, resolve conflict, and promote mutual understanding and respect between the

organization and its publics.

4. Be timely

Communication in real time is one of the major pillars of Twitter. The brevity of the

message allows users to act, react and interact in a very fast rhythm. Make sure that

you respect this rhythm by answering your followers’ questions and re tweeting them

in a timely fashion. Don’t let a day pass before getting back to your audience.

Naturally, you won’t be able to answer to all of your followers, but engaging in a

dialogue with a few at the time, will show the others that you care.

5. Don’t be afraid of criticism

Opening up channels for two-way-communication will not just attract people who are

fans of UNICEF. You will also receive criticism from concerned or angry followers.

Don’t be afraid of it and try to react by giving answers, explaining circumstances or

diverting the question to the responsible office. Make sure to only address criticism

when brought forward in an appropriate way. Disregard defamatory or overly

aggressive comments.

8 Types of Tweets

1. What are you working on?

What are you working on at this very moment? Which projects are in the making and

what is to be expected? Give users sneak peeks and exclusive information about

projects that are in progress, have been finished recently or are planned.

2. Share relevant content If you discover a great article, video, website, etc., you should share your find with your followers. The non-profit sector is very active on Twitter and a lot of interesting and useful material is to be found and shared within the Twittersphere.

3. Promote yourself While you don't want your Twitter stream to simply be a list of self-promotional links and updates, there is no reason why you can't include some self-promotional tweets, particularly if the links and updates are useful to your followers.

4

4. Ask questions and re-tweet Ask your followers their opinion and give them a voice by rewarding them with a re-tweet.

5. Organize special Twitter events Organize online events like Tweetups, Twittinterviews or Live Tweeting from conferences or field visits to provide your followers with interactive and exclusive content.

6. Call to action Ask your followers to support a campaign or cause by tweeting about it or re-tweeting your posts. If you manage to engage a big number of followers, your post eventually will go viral and give you great visibility.

7. Give shout-outs to GWA’s Goodwill Ambassadors often have a huge following on Twitter. Give them a shout-out for their work for UNICEF or greet them for their birthday and their followers might start to follow you. 8. #FollowFriday The Twitter community uses each Friday to recommend profiles of users who they think are worth to be followed. Make sure to participate in this tradition by recommending your most engaged followers and other important Twitter users such as Goodwill Ambassadors. This will increase your chance of users including you in their recommendations and gain followers.

Examples from the global UNICEF Twitter page:

Why it works: Important Information; A different user is linked; A popular hashtag is used.

5

Why it works: User is addressed directly; Referred to Country Office.

Why it works: Goodwill Ambassadors linked and thanked directly; Post linked to campaign hashtag.

Why it works: Exclusive Twitter event; Protagonist linked; Hashtags properly applied.