An American Opinion

Twitter – A Little Information

I have to admit that when I first started hearing about Twitter, I was somewhat doubtful as to its usefulness.  Essentially I saw Twitter as little more than text messaging on steroids and one of the first questions that came to mind was: “How much useful information can you really pack into 140 characters?

At the same time I had to acknowledge that Twitter has a huge user base, Twitter is extremely popular with youth and young adults and reaching out to this demographic is important for the future health of nonprofit organizations.  Knowing these facts, instead of asking IF Twitter can be used to promote involvement in nonprofit causes and organizations, we must focus on HOW Twitter can be used to promote involvement with nonprofit causes and organizations.

This question in some form should be asked in nonprofit boardrooms around the world.  It is time to stop thinking about IF Social Media can have an impact, accept that it is having an impact, and get down to HOW can Social Media positively impact you.  The future health of your organization and perhaps the nonprofit industry in general demands it.

This brief exploration of the subject will share some ideas on ways to use twitter to draw attention to your cause, publicize events and promote programs to twitter followers.  The principles should sound familiar to followers of this blog and are applicable to the use of social media tools in general.

In order to use Twitter you must of course set up a twitter account and attract followers.  Setting up a twitter account is fairly easy and it is free.  I won’t go into the details of setting up an account because it is pretty simple and there’s plenty of free information on the subject available free on the Internet.  The second step, attracting followers, is not difficult either but unless you’re a celebrity it may take a little while.

Once you have set up an account your first move should be to start following tweeters who share your interest in your cause.  The primary tool you will use to accomplish this is the twitter search tool, specifically the advanced search.  Using this tool you can, similar to Google search, input a word or phrase and perform a search to find tweets on the subject.  Once you have found tweets on your topic of interest, you simply start following them.  You will be pleasantly surprised to find that many of them will then start following you.  As you contribute positively to the ongoing discourse on related subjects, more Twitter users will find you and additional followers will ensue.  The trick is to contribute positively and regularly.

I recommend you spend a little time following tweets before you start posting.  When you do begin posting, as in any social media, don’t be one dimensional that every post you make points back to your website, your blog, your Facebook group.  To put it bluntly, it isn’t all about you.  Engage in social media conversation without blowing your own horn every time.  It will establish you as a contributor to the dialogue and not just a user trying to leverage the dialogue exclusively for your own benefit.  Your cause and your organization benefit, directly and indirectly, every time you contribute positively.  When there is an obvious connection, use twitter to point followers to your online content that will be of interest to supporters of your cause.  For example: events, new programs and new services can be announced or promoted through Twitter and links provided to your website for more information.

I repeat: your tweets should not exclusively point to your website, Facebook page, or blog every time you post, but if you’re providing quality content in those media tools, it will naturally happen frequently.  A good rule of thumb is to reference your content about half the time, assuming you’re providing good content.

Understand that regardless of where it comes from, linking to interesting and valuable content establishes your website, twitter page, Facebook group, etc. as a resource for individuals interested in your cause.  Having a reputation as a “portal” to valuable cause-specific content and resources is an excellent way to build Internet traffic which enhances your organization and builds support.

In other words, Content is King, regardless of where it comes from and if you don’t have the time or ability to generate much of it, link to the good content that is available.  After all, for the most part newspapers and news broadcasts don’t create the news, they just report it.  If content is a challenge for you, you can do essentially the same thing using Twitter, Facebook, your website, Linkedin and other social media tools.  Find the good content and report it regularly and you will as a result gain followers and fans.

©W. R. Cordle