October 27, 2010

How Tweet It Is

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What is CanadaHelps?

A public charitable foundation that provides accessible and affordable online technology to both donors and charities.

For Charities

A cost-effective means of raising funds online.

For Donors

A one-stop-shop for giving.

CanadaHelps is a charity helping charities.

Kirstin Beardsley

Marketing & Communications Manager

Today’s Presenter

Webinar Agenda

1. What is Twitter?

2. Decoding Twitter Lingo

3. What Can Twitter be Used For?

4. Creating a Profile that Gets Noticed

5. Twitter Tips

6. Q & A

WHAT IS TWITTER?

What is Twitter?

Twitter = Instant Messaging + Blogging Source: www.johnhaydon.com

Features of Twitter

• It’s built for speed

• It’s simple to use

• It’s public

• It has private messaging capability

So…what does Twitter look like?

Let’s take a look!

DECODING TWITTER LINGO

Tweet

An individual message on Twitter with 140 characters or less

@username

• This is your name on Twitter

• Usernames on Twitter are displayed with an @ symbol before them, like so: @canadahelps

• Your Twitter profile page is: www.twitter.com/username

Follow/Following

To follow somebody is to subscribe to their tweets

Followers

People who have chosen to follow your tweets

Unfollow/Unfollowing

People that you have chosen to stop following

Direct Message (DM)

A private message on Twitter. DMs can only be exchanged if you’re following each other.

@Mentions

A mention is any Twitter update that contains @username in the body of the tweet

@Reply

An @reply is any Twitter update that begins with @username

(Home) Timeline

Your home timeline is a long stream showing all Tweets from those you have chosen to follow on Twitter. Newest messages are at the top.

Lists

• Organize your followers into groupings

• Lists can be followed

Retweet (RT)

To repost a valuable tweet by somebody else on Twitter and give them credit

The original tweet:

Old-Style Retweet

• Copying the tweet and adding RT to the front of it

New-style Retweet

• Click the Retweet link below the tweet

• With this method, the tweet cannot be edited and comments cannot be added

Hashtag

• The # symbol followed by a term

• A way of categorizing all the posts on a topic, event, group, etc.

Some tweets with the hashtag #ncwk from www.hashtags.org

Tweetup

An offline meet up with Twitter friends

Favourites Tweets that you have “starred”

(bookmarked). A way to organize and save tweets.

Trending Topics

The most-discussed terms on Twitter at any given moment

URL shorteners

Used to make long links smaller (since you are limited to 140 characters in a tweet).

WHAT CAN TWITTER BE USED FOR?

Building your brand

• Raise awareness of your cause and for your organization

• Drive traffic to your website

• Build trust, legitimacy and authenticity

Getting News

• Keep up-to-date with news from your network or field

• Your Twitter feed is a specialized news feed

Gathering support

• Gather online and offline support

• Tweet opportunities to get involved

• Calls to action should be simple and easy

Educating your followers

• Educate followers about your cause

• Tell people something surprising and interesting about yourself/charity

• Provide resources and tips

Adding personality to your organization

• Providing supporters with a real human connection within your organization

• Don’t be afraid to show who you are as a person

• Relate and connect on a personal level

Asking Questions

• Get feedback, help and advice in real time

• Ask for opinions about your website, latest e-newsletter, new graphics, etc. – people love to help on Twitter!

• Brainstorm and share ideas with others

Answering Questions

• Give feedback, help and advice in real time

• “Customer service” tool

• Brainstorm and share ideas with others

• Have conversations and build relationships

Showing Appreciation

• Thank and RT your supporters & their initiatives on your behalf

• Promote others that tell your story

• Support your supporters!

Promoting a Fundraising Campaign/Event

• Invite your followers to your events and fundraisers

• Provide campaign status reports

• Use www.twitpic.com to tweet photos from events instantly!

• Ask for donations and link to your donation page

Listening & Monitoring

• Listen to what is being said about your organization, cause, event, etc.

• Conversations are already taking place online about your organization

• Valuable to listen to the discussions & respond accordingly

Providing updates and information

• The majority of your posts should not be one-way

• Remember: Twitter is NOT an RSS feed

• Make sure your tweets have value

CREATING A PROFILE THAT GETS NOTICED

Figuring out your Twitter Personality

Organization with Personality

Pure Organization Brand

Pure Personal Account Employee with

Organization Association

Choose the right @username.

• Limited to 20 characters

• Options: • Your charity’s name (i.e. CharityName)

• Your name + charity name (i.e. KellyAtCharityName)

• Make sure it’s easily recognizable

Fill in your full name.

• If your @username is simply the name of your organization, make it known there is someone behind your account

• Remember: people want to talk to people

Customize your page.

• Customized Twitter background

• Add more information about your organization

• Add some visual appeal

Start Tweeting!

• Post some tweets

• First tweet suggestions:

• Say hello. Tell people what made you decide to join Twitter

• First impressions of Twitter

• Interesting fact about your charity

• Show some of your personality

Finding Followers

• Start by following people you know (friends, sponsors, community partners, supporters, volunteers, etc.)

• Follow us at www.twitter.com/canadahelps

• Being in the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community

• Check out the “Who to follow” suggestions

TWITTER TIPS

Find the balance between conversation and promotion.

• Don’t only tweet your own content

• Twitter is not a place to simply push out your own messages and agenda

• Inspire conversation, ask questions, answer questions, share resources

Don’t be afraid to follow your followers.

• If you’re not following people, it’s one-sided relationship

• If you are not following someone, they cannot direct message you

• You don’t have to follow everyone that follows you – check out their profile and see if they are appropriate

Make use of the “Favorites” feature.

• Save memorable and important tweets

• People often check what types of tweets you’ve “favourited” before deciding to follow you

Say thank you!

• If you’re nice and polite on Twitter, people will notice and remember!

Save relevant search terms on your Twitter dashboard.

• Set up search terms:

• Org. name

• Campaign

• Event

• Trending topic

• Listen to what is being said about your organization

• Respond accordingly (ties into next tip!)

Reply and Retweet.

• Take the time to chat with your followers

• Check your @ replies and engage fans directly by asking/answering questions

• Retweet interesting content

T-shirt by www.ThinkGeek.com

Provide value to your followers.

• Don’t spam people! You can run the risk of losing

credibility and followers.

• Respect the interests of your followers: direct them to interesting and relevant resources, tools, etc.

• Be social: connect with others and be helpful.

Twitter is a tool – not a strategy.

• It’s a communication & engagement channel

• Important to have the basics covered (website, donation processing, email marketing, etc.)

• Remember to integrate Twitter with other social media networks you are a part of

Set up a schedule for yourself.

• Make it part of your routine

• Devote a set amount of time per day to tweet, retweet, follow, reply!

Keep Tweeting

• Not enough to just create your profile

• Success requires meaningful and ongoing participation

Stay organized!

• Consider using a Twitter “dashboard” application to help maintain your Twitter account

• Easily monitor, interact, retweet, sort, categorizing, follow trends, create lists, search and much more!

ABOUT MYCHARITYCONNECTS

Free online resources

• Information about technology

• Video demonstrations

• More webinars

• Past webinar recordings

• Learning opportunities

• Events

Next Webinar

“SEO, SEM and Analytics for NonProfits”

PRESENTED BY MARK FARMER

NOVEMBER 10

1PM – 2PM (Eastern Time)

www.mycharityconnects.org

Question and Answer

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Thank you for attending!

Webinar slides and recording will be up on:

www.mycharityconnects.org/pastwebinars

Check out www.mycharityconnects.org for resources!

Questions, feedback, comments? Email us at:

amyh@canadahelps.org