Ready, steady, tweet!Twitter for beginners

Let’s get started…

What will you learn today?• Ideas for planning your Twitter strategy• Set up a basic Twitter profile• Understand the anatomy of Twitter• Write your own tweets, respond to tweets and

forward on the tweets of others• Find people to follow and start building your

followers• Ideas to manage your Twitter account with

limited resources• Some useful Twitter tips and basic etiquette

What won’t happen today?

• You won’t become an expert – that only comes through use

• You won’t fund your project or reach everyone you want to in a week

• You won’t have a Twitter strategy• You won’t learn about every Twitter tool – but

you’ll get some great ideas to take away with you

How has the web changed?

C 1995 – 2005Broadcasting mode

The website was the centre

C 2005 - dateSocial mode

The user is the centre

Social media‘ is the term to describe websites and online tools which allow people to interact with each other – by sharing information, opinions, knowledge and interests. Social media involves the building of communities or networks, encouraging participation and engagement.

Why is social media important?

http://blog.tweetsmarter.com/social-media/spring-2012-social-media-user-statistics/

http://ansonalex.com/infographics/smartphone-usage-statistics-2012-infographic/

44yrs 39yrs 38yrs 28yrs 40yrs

Exercise

How much do you know about Twitter? Twitter quiz

What’s Twitter?

“The fastest, simplest way to stay close to everything you care about”.

Micro-blogging

The 140 characters is a caption, quite often it’s a caption that points to some deeper analysis or video

Peaked at 8,000 tweets per second during the first US presidential debate

http://www.commoncraft.com/video/twitter

real-time information

network

Twitter is not…

All about you!

Share and interact with other people

How are causes using Twitter?

FundraisingJust weeks after his adoption, Ugandan baby Joey was diagnosed with a life threatening heart surgery and given 1 week to live. They had 48 hours to get Joey to South Africa to receive critical hart surgery, at a cost of £10,000.

They did it.

Other tools used alongside:•JustGiving•Facebook•Email software (Mailchimp)•You Tube•Blog

How are causes using Twitter?

CampaigningLucy-Ann Holmes launched a Twitter-based campaign aimed at ending the Page Three girl feature in the Sun newspaper in August 2012.

Nobody had heard of the group, but on the first day she got 170 signatures and journalists followed their story.

They now have 90,000 signatures.

Other tools used alongside:•change.org petition

Win with the TWEET frameworkTarget – you can’t get anywhere on Twitter if you don’t have a target or goalWrite – start tweeting, let it flow, stop editingEngage – You’ve sent your first tweet but the world won’t come running – engage with others to get them to see you, listen to you, and interact with youExplore – Motivational speakers tell you to do one thing every day. Do it on Twitter tooTrack – you won’t know if you’ve met your target unless you’re tracking it

Claire Diaz-Ortiz – Head of Social Innovation at Twitter

Target – ask yourself…

1. What is the main purpose of your organisation2. Who are the people we’re trying to reach? (think

age, location, family life, interests)3. What do we want to achieve with our Twitter

account?4. What kind of conversations could we have? (what

content do we have to share, what can we learn?)5. What would success look like?6. What resources do we have?

Example

Religious building in Twickenham•We’re here to reach out and support the local community•We want to reach all the people living in TW9•We want to increase the numbers of people coming into the church, whether for services or using it as a venue to grow congregation, raise money for upkeep and continue to run homeless diners for homeless•We can share information about events, photos of people using the church and services, stories from people about the difference a meal makes•Success would be more room bookings and more money coming in•Our resources are a volunteer who manages the website, religious leader who enjoys technology, administrator…

Now over to you…

The anatomy of Twitter

Live demonstration

Target: ExerciseWho should I follow…?

Accounts you could followDonors @BigLotteryFund @jrf_uk Resources @Media_Trust@CharityComms Businesses @CroydonChamberJournalists @croydonnews @CroydonRadio Local groups @ZoomArtsCroydon @CroydonMumsUK

@MindinCroydon @CroydonXpressRegional charities @LondonFaiths @KidsCo_Tweets National charities @CarersUK @YoungAchieversCouncil/MPs etc. @yourcroydon @CroydonNbrhoods @croydonhealth @HealthwatchCR0 Individuals @PeterWanless (CEO NSPCC)

Creating your profile

What does or will your profile say about you?

Good description, location and web address – people will search using key words in your bio

Develop your profile…

Exercise

Create your profile and start following!@KingstonVA@otrcroydon @ let’s add the rest of our class!

What do I talk about?

• Inspirational quotes• Success stories• Original content – include video, audio, photo• Links to other stories• Requests for help• Useful information – events/resources etc.• Questions

Write and Engage

Types of messages on TwitterTweet: directed to no one, everyone sees it

@reply: directed to someone, everyone sees it

Direct message: private message to one person

A re-tweet is a message written by someone else that you pass on to your network, everyone sees it

If you include other user names in your tweet or re-tweet this is called an @mention

Example tweets

Tweet

Tweet with @reply and direct message (you can’t see this!)

Example tweets

Re-tweet (tweet includes hashtag)

Original tweeter

Sent out by CarersTweets to their followers

Tweet with @mentions

Exercise

Write and Engage - Tweet and re-tweet1.Write a tweet about what you’ve learned already today including @KingstonVA in your text

2.Re-tweet the resource I send you

3.Re-tweet a resource to the person next to you – you will need to copy the text and use RT with an @mention

4.Promote your cause with a link (you can use a link shortening website e.g. https://bitly.com )

5.Promote your cause to someone in the room

6.Re-tweet this cause by copying the text and use RT with an @mention and comment

Building your follower base• Build up audience of people you know• Ask – clearly spell out what you want people to do and

give them the exact wording• Interact with your ‘Tweeps’ – respond to your

@mentions• Identify and follow similar people and organisations• Use directories: e.g. wefollow.com / twellow.com• Promote, promote, promote• Timing - don’t send your tweets when people are asleep!• If you want to be re-tweeted keep your tweets short

(If you want your tweet link to be clicked go long)

Exercise: Explore and follow

1. Look at your followers list of followers and find 10 people to follow

2. Use the search box in the Connect tab to find 10 names of people to follow

3. Use the search box in the Discover tab to find 10 names of people to follow by tweet key words/topics

4. Use directories: e.g. wefollow.com / twellow.com if you are used to using the functions 1-3

Using hashtags to categorize Tweets by keyword

• Create hash tags around your campaigns and fundraising• Short, unique , no spaces, no strange characters• Great way to keep track of conversations• Identify people interested in you• Join in other’s conversations• May not trend but you never know!• Some chats have specific times and lengths just like a physical

meeting• #overuse of #hashtags #is a #bad #idea, makes your #tweet

#unreadable• Be careful using broad hashtag words #charity

Example: #lovekingston

#FollowFriday or #FF #CharityTuesdaySearch for chats at: www.hashtags.org

# and video = great contentWater is Life turned the #firstworldproblems on its head: ‘donate to solve real problems’

Tweet:My son got the wrong toy in his happy meal #firstworldproblems

Exercise

Engage in a hashtag chat

Let’s create one together…#.........................

orWe can use this...

#KVAchat

Top tips for Twitter success• Listen (you can use lists to keep track)• Use the TWEET framework• Plan your strategy – it should sit inside your marketing/

communications strategy and business plan objectives• Integrate campaign across all channels• Find the necessary time, tools and resources• Get all staff on board – Chief Executives key• Use volunteers – remember its your responsibility• Offline not just online• Content, content, content…audio/video/photo• Use your mobile – smart phone is the best!• Collaborate• Map your re-tweeting reach• Repeat yourself! (but try to write it a little differently)

Ettiquette• Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want

your granny to read! • Be personal and authentic• Say thank you • Don’t automate (too much) and over-schedule• Don’t overdo re-tweeting• It’s OK to un-follow someone• Direct message someone if you’re making one-to-one plans• Always respond• It’s OK to make mistakes • You can use ‘text speak’ but stick to the simple stuff• Spellcheck

Time management• Tools e.g. Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Twhirl, Seesmic to auto-

schedule (you can also auto-schedule re-tweets)• Use Twitter lists to keep an eye on important accounts – don’t

drown in the stream• Use Twitter alert tools (next page) • More than one person tweeting – think core values• Have a content plan – think ahead• Integrate Twitter into your day - think mobile• Tweet bankTry not to post from other platforms – people can tell it’s

automated. Twitter is about conversation

Tracking tools Analytics•http://twtrland.com •http://www.tweetstats.com •http://tweet.grader.com •http://twitalyzer.com • http://klout.com•https://followerwonk.comAlerts •http://tweetbeep.com •http://www.tweetalarm.com•http://www.twilert.com•http://nearbytweets.com

Further useful resources

• About that First Tweet www.unity.co.uk/guide• Superhighways www.superhighways.org.uk• NFP Tweetup www.nfptweetup.org @NFPtweetup• IT volunteers www.it4communities.org.uk• Charity Mash http://charitymash.com/ • Twitter! http://twitter.com

Don’t forget CharityComms and Media Trust too (you saw their @usernames earlier).

Ready, steady, tweet!Follow up support

Kate WhiteSuperhighways

katewhite@superhighways.org.uk 020 8255 8040

Ready, Steady, Tweet! Has been delivered as part of Kingston Voluntary Action’s Transforming Kingston’s Infrastructure Project, funded by the Big Fund on behalf of the Office for Civil Society.