Twitter, like other forms of media, is a way of communicating with the world about your organization and further developing your brand. But should your organization tweet just because everyone is telling you that “social media is the rage right now?” No, I do not think so. The first question you should ask is, “What does this do for our organization’s brand?” And from there, the next question is: “What exactly is our brand?” While your organization may have naturally (rather than strategically) developed a brand for itself, deciding whether or not to use social media and how you will use social media depends upon the answers to the following questions about branding: What does your organization do and what does it stand for? Who is your audience? Who else is talking to your audience? What do you want to say? How do you want to say it? Once you’ve answered those questions, then you can decide if Twitter and/or other social media tools are right for your nonprofit or business.
American Red Cross on Twitter
Much of the confusion about social media applications for businesses and nonprofits is that it is seen as an invasion into one’s personal life or that it is simply used for trivial purposes. But, you control what you publish. If you want the world to know that you are “Eating a burger at Shake Shack, good times!!!” (actual tweet via @hand2handnet) you can. But, if you want to let the world know that: “Ashoka Fellow Jack Sims is making a difference, one toilet at a time. How is he doing it? Your chance to find out & ask.” (actual tweet via @changemakers) you can do that as well. You can use Twitter as a means to publish headlines about activities your organization is conducting, events you are planning, conferences you are attending, and relevant news articles you are reading. You can even publish a headline about eating a burger at Shake Shack if it is relevant to the message your organization is trying to convey—for instance, maybe your organization is interested things to do in New York City parks.
To Do: Set parameters about the types of information your organization will publish on its social media accounts. This is part of your branding process.
What Do You Read About?
Twitter is a two-way street: you share information with others and you receive information from others. I tend to think of Twitter as my own personal newspaper with interesting headlines regarding my industry in general (Nonprofit and Social Enterprise) as well as specific niches within that industry (ie. Microfinance, New York City, Fundraising).
There are lots of organizations and individuals who tweet exclusively about issues that your organization is likely interested in. Twitter users publish information on upcoming trainings, fundraising events, news articles, blog posts, online discussions, films, and more. Twitter users will also “re-tweet” (see below) posts that they find particularly interesting or of high value—which can help highlight popular topics. Twitter offers an opportunity to have access to lots of information that is specifically tailored to your organization’s interests—while cutting down on the amount of work that would be required to gather that information otherwise. The type of information you receive will depend on the users you follow. Here is a sample of some of the users I follow on Twitter:
@FCWashington (Foundation Center, DC)
@kenscommentary (Ken Berger, President of Charity Navigator)
@NICentral (Net Impact)
@Philanthropy (Chronicle of Philanthropy)
@mashable(Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable)
To Do: Research potential Twitter users to follow by using Twitter’s Search function or by going to organizations’ websites (many people have Twitter buttons that link to their Twitter page right on their site). Scroll through their tweets and learn about the way they use Twitter and about the types of information they are publishing.
Re-Tweet
“Re-tweeting” (or RT) is when a Twitter user re-publishes someone else’s tweet. Standard practice is to reference the original poster either by “RT @username” if the tweet is identical or by “(via @username)” if the original content is modified significantly.
Getting Started
- Set up a Twitter Account at www.twitter.com. Include a link to your organization’s website, a 140-character biography, and a good icon.
- Commit to tweeting one or two times a day (to start).
- Research organizations you are interested in and follow them on Twitter.
- Select the best tweets of the day and send them out in a daily email to members of your organization to keep them abreast of interesting news.
