How many people have heard of Twitter? I’m guessing a fair few seeing as Twitter receives 55,000,000 visitors a month, with 6 million of those being unique visitors (i.e. non-repeat visits)

How many people have setup a Twitter account? Probably a fair few again. There are a massive amount of people who have opened Twitter accounts in the last few months alone.

How many people have posted more than 10 updates and regularly return to the site? Ah, now that’s where the number drops off slightly. Twitter has just a 40% retention rate, i.e. 60% of the people who visit Twitter think, “This isn’t for me,” and never return.

My hope is that those people, and those who have never been to the site, return for a second look. Twitter really does have its uses like no other provider can offer. And best of all, it’s free, quick and simple!

Why was there a need for a site like Twitter?

In 2005, a fella by the name of Jack Dorsey joined a blogging site called LiveJournal. Despite being “Live”, Jack felt that the posts weren’t updated frequently enough for him to get a good idea of people’s daily lives and the entries were often so long that he really couldn’t be bothered reading through them. Jack saw the need for a quick, short, more frequent update and so Twitter was born.

What is it?

Twitter is a facility for posting short (140 character) text updates to an online page. When you log on, you’ll see the last 20 posts from your network and you’ll be able to quickly add your own post to the Twitterverse.

Your network consists of those people that you “follow” and those that are your “followers” (although many will fit into both categories).

Twitter allows you to add personality to your brand and create a personal face for your business. It’s used by many corporations as a facility to generate two-way communication with clients.

Who uses it?

Twitter is becoming the next big thing. It’s trendy AND geeky, which is the new cool! It’s used by lots of celebrities and politicians, but most commonly it’s used by mature business professionals.

Twitter experiences the highest social network growth of over 1,300% in the last 6 months leading up to February this year, and it’s most popular with the over 30′s age groups.

How can it be used?

Generally, the people that use Twitter are part of a new wave of information sharers. They value information from others and so freely give it when asked.

As any other social media tool, the Twitter community loves network building and also loves to show their support for a particular cause. There are millions of users out there and many of those users will happily connect with an organisation that shares a common interest in supporting a particular cause. For this reason, non-profits should find it fairly easy to build their network.

An example of a possible use: Once a network of supporters has been established, a non-profit could ask its followers if they would prefer to see their money spent on one thing or another simply by asking the community. Responses would be echoed throughout the community and so, by default, would encourage more attention, more awareness and more of a following.

Any non-profits already using it?

An example of Twitter use by a non-profit in New Zealand can be seen at http://www.twitter.com/tearfundnz and also at http://www.twitter.com/anzacpoppy

The RSA have used Twitter for a short ANZAC campaign to increase donations. Tear Fund are different in that they maintain a continuing online presence by constantly updating their Twitter account with relevant news stories and information about countries in need. They also encourage traffic to their own site by posting links and giving updates on recent additions to the Tear Fund website.

10 Best Practices:

1. Create your Twitter account with either your own name or the name of your organisation (if you need authority to do this, be sure to obtain it from the relevant parties).

2. Post 3 or 4 messages. Something along the lines of “<your organisation or cause> is now on Twitter!” and a couple more posts about your cause, and perhaps something you have been involved with recently. This means you have something “pre-entered” on your account so anyone checking you out will see a little of what you are about before they decide to follow you. If they see a blank screen, they may move on without following you.

3. Head to the likes of “www.twitter.com/marklincoln” and “www.twitter.com/donatenzwishes” and “www.twitter.com/tearfundnz”. If you are logged into Twitter, you will see a “follow” button next to their name. Click this to add them to your network and begin recieving their updates.

4. Take a look at the people following the accounts in step 3 (by clicking on followers). Find people who may be interested in your cause, i.e. people who are in New Zealand and perhaps in your home city, or people who are already following other causes (such as Tear Fund NZ) and click “follow” next to their name. Their updates will now show each time you log on to Twitter.

5. Observe! Before posting too much, be sure to observe what others are doing and get a feel for the updates that get the best response.

6. Use material that may already be available to you. If your site has a blog, or an online newsletter, write the heading in your Twitter update and add a link to the article on your site (use www.tinyurl.com if you want to make your links shorter to fit in the box).

7. Participate. Once you have an understanding of the basics, get communicating! Add relevant updates about your cause and you’ll find your network growing. You can also communicate directly with your followers by adding an “@” sign in front of their name before your message, or by clicking on the small arrow next to their post. Note that these “replies” are public. To communicate privately, click click the envelope icon.

8. Use the search tool. Find out if conversations are already taking place about your cause or your organisation. See who are posting the comments and join them to add value to the conversation.

9. Give it time. Many people are put off by Twitter in the first few attempts at using it. Put some time into seeing how people interact with other and the extra tools that are available to ensure you get the most from Twitter. If you use Twitter in the right way, your network will grow itself.

10. Enjoy it! But realise it’s not for everyone. If you find you are really not getting into it, find someone in your organisation who is a champion for your cause and will enjoy interacting with your supporters through Twitter and then set them up with an account!

Posted on May 21st, 2009 by Wendy Riley-Biddle
Filed under: Marketing, Social Media for Not-for-Profits