3. Agenda
• What is Twitter?
• Why use Twitter?
• How do you get started?
• Twitter glossary
• Examples: Police departments using
Twitter well
4. What is Twitter?
• Twitter is a website which lets you send and
read messages called tweets.
• Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140
characters.
• Users “follow,” or subscribe, to various
people’s tweets so they can read their
updates.
5. Or, possibly...
Stephen Nolen, chief information officer in
Shawnee, Oklahoma, said he has heard
Twitter referred to as "a police scanner for
the digital world," because those who have
an interest in police and firefighting can stay
informed through the site.
-CNN, March 13, 2009
6. But what if people start flocking to
crime scenes?
"It's no different than the media showing up
and broadcasting live feeds from the area,
citizens in the area that call their friends or
post video from their cell phones on
YouTube," said Lakeland, Fla. Police
Assistant Chief Bill LePere.
-CNN, March 13, 2009
7. Why should we waste our time
with Twitter?
If done well, Twitter can help your org...
A Dutch police department
•Encourage citizen cooperation with police efforts,
even helping to solve cold cases.
asked for tips on cold
•Keep the citizenry informed in the event of a
cases — and 75% of leads
crisis.
came through Twitter.
•Justify your work in the face of budget cuts
(examples to follow). 20, 2010
-Change.org, May
8. But we don’t have time to
do it well!
do it well!
"We think the police department has an obligation
to get information out to the community through
whatever means or mechanisms we have at our
disposal," said Lakeland, Fla. Police Assistant
Chief Bill LePere. "Traditional media releases,
expecting the local print media to pick it up and run
it in the newspaper tomorrow, is 24 hours too late."
-CNN, March 13, 2009
9. But we don’t have time to
do it well!
do it well!
• Twitter has plenty of time for your organization.
• Do you want to create an account when times
are good, or when a crisis or major
event hits?
• Miriam’s Kitchen (@miriamskitchen)
• Jan-Michael (@aspanlink)
10. Twitter:
It’s about relationships.
It’s about relationships.
• "Big American cities have found success in
recent years with community policing —
sending cops to walk beats rather than drive
cars, to attend community meetings rather
than just make arrests. And Twitter could be
the next big beat."
-Change.org, May 20, 2010
11. How do we get started?
• Have your purpose ready
• Get internal buy-in
• Create a profile
• “Lurk”
• Experiment with
messaging
• Interact
13. Etiquette
• Be personal, and be a (professional) person
• Provide value more than you promote yourself
• Offer helpful tips, useful information the
public needs to know (great examples
coming later)
• Thank people who say nice things
• Answer questions
14. How do I get people to follow me?
• Find people talking about your topic in your region, and
follow them
• Post messages with hashtags related to your
organization (i.e. #PGPD, #PGCounty)
• Post useful content
• Google “Twitter directory” and add yourself to as many
as you can in related categories
• Include your Twitter handle on stationery, email
signatures, etc.
28. Resources
Brogan, Chris and Julien Smith. Trust Agents:
Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve
Reputation, and Earn Trust Wiley, 2009.
Weinberg, Tamar. The New Community Rules:
Marketing on the Social Web O’Reilly, 2009.
Qualman, Erik. Socialnomics: How Social Media
Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business
Wiley, 2009.
29. Resources
Brogan, Chris and Julien Smith. Trust Agents:
Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve
Reputation, and Earn Trust Wiley, 2009.
Weinberg, Tamar. The New Community Rules:
Marketing on the Social Web O’Reilly, 2009.
Qualman, Erik. Socialnomics: How Social Media
Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business
Wiley, 2009.
When people know your nonprofit is about more than a building, more than a mailing, more than a volunteer phone banking...when they feel like a part of your mission...that’s when they become not only a donor, but an inspired donor who tells other people about your nonprofit.
Have your purpose ready. Get this ready ahead of time (go back to the strategy section!). 2. Create a profile. Make it personal. Fill out all of the information, make your tweets public, and get ready to look around. Think hard about your @name. Who do you want to be? What is your mission? Does the name of your mission say it all, or is something more general a better idea (aka @developnica or @childrenshealth)? Create a personal profile first, if you feel more comfortable experimenting there. 3. “Lurk” Check out some of your peers, some organizations you admire. Search for some of your bigger donors. Look at what other organizations are doing and saying. Search keywords that pertain your org (think peaceplayers example). What messages draw you in? What turns you off? Be a student. Write down anything that doesn’t make sense. What’s a # sign? What does @ mean, when followed immediately by letters, like @kateyhays or @smallactguy? Then look them up in our glossary. 4. Experiment with communication. After doing some lurking, and armed with our glossary, send some messages. Don’t stop at 2! Many people do. The more you use it, the easier it will get. And you’ll get follows; follow people back. 5. Interact. Look at messages people send you. (we’ll show you where this is). Look at messages people post on their own. Ask a question!
Lastly, it’s important to MEASURE your social media interactions: -Measuring is something we do with our technology, but there are many other tools as well. -Measuring will tell you: -what kinds of messages does your audience really gravitate towards -What gets their attention -For example: show tweets Measuring the response of your audience will let you determine if your social media efforts have been successful.
So with those three things in mind, you are ready to start setting up your profiles! CLICK When setting up your accounts, be sure to: Humanize your profile: -social media is about connecting with people, not just organizations. -Add a fun description and picture to your social media profiles. Give it some spark! CLICK Be personal in your messaging: -SM is different than traditional communications: you don’t want to send mass messages. Try to tailor your comments and postings to the audience you’re talking to. -Strike a friendly, conversational tone, as if you were out to coffee with the person CLICK Contribute: -Social media is about interacting and adding to the community. If no one contributed, social media wouldn’t survive for very long! -Not sure how to contribute? Start by commenting on a blog, even if it’s a simple ‘ Hey, Kate. I love reading your blog about shoes. Thanks for the tip on where to find red leather heels’ CLICK Content is King: No matter how snazzy your profile is, it’s your content that will keep people coming back and listening to what you are saying. So what should you say? CLICK DO NOT ask for promotion or talk only about yourself: -We like to use the analogy of a car salesman at a dinner party. If you walk up to everyone saying ‘hey, hey, wanna buy a car? Wanna buy a car?’ no one is going to want you at their party. People want to swap stories, share ideas, and get to know each other. -It’s the same in social media. If your content resonates with people, they will promote it on their own. CLICK DO promote others: -This is a good way to let other organizations know you’re paying attention to them and that you appreciate the information they’re sharing. -If you promote them, they’ll be more inclined to promote your content in return. CLICK Relevant: -keep your content relevant and timely. Social media is immediate and news fades quickly. -For example, if I run a sports blog and I posted something today about the US / Canada hockey game, I’m not going to get anyone’s attention. And they may think I’ve been hiding under a rock for the past couple weeks. CLICK 10:1 rule: - What this means is that for every call to action request you make, send 10 stories or articles or messages to your audience to balance out that ‘ask.’ -Think of it this way: a friend who constantly asks you for favors is not much fun to be around!
Thank! – Thanking is one of the hardest parts to nail as a nonprofit. Yet on social media, it’s easy, public and free. People, whether advocates or soon to be advocates, love to be thanked for everything from a message they sent out that inspired you, to a direct mention of your nonprofit. Share the love: thank. Facts, stats, and trivia – 80 percent of content that gets shared on social media has a link attached. The things that go really viral? Virtual tidbits of information that make others want a little more. New stats on your target population? 80% of kids are scared of the dark? Share them. Mission success – Everyone loves good news. Send updates when your organization reaches an important milestone in fundraising or a project. Event promotion – Nothing wrong with some self promotion here and there, especially if it’s something people can get involved with. Tweet public event invitations to all of your followers. Face-to-face public gatherings can highlight the community aspect of your organization. And, again, a great opp to promote other org’s events that would be of interest to your followers. Share the wealth! Photos – who doesn’t love seeing a picture of your cause in action? Not all causes lend themselves to picture taking, but if they do? Click away. One of CNMC’s most popular tweets of the past yr was a picture of Jennifer lopez and Marc Anthony visiting. Click it & share it.
How do you communicate on Twitter? How do you know when someone is trying to get your attention? @, dm, rt What language barriers might I have on Twitter? @, #, bitly, RT? And communication threads. “Tweet”. “Follow” How do I find people or causes on Twitter? Search, find people… if in doubt, google!