how to start using twitter

TWITTER

TWITTERSTARTING UP …

Twitter – Choose a name

Keep in mind branding Personal name vs. Company name

CharlesAtDell or DellSales Following stays with name

Be careful of length – the shorter the better

Retweetability – the “My Number” rule

Twitter – Choose an Avatar (picture that represents you)

Branding Recognizability Do not change lightly Determines first impression

Twitter – Creating a background

Branding Be careful of width Second impression Be innovative,

impressive, creative

Twitter – Creating a brief Bio

Others use this to decide if you are worth their time

About 160 character limit Remember that the bio is searched for

relevant terms when people are looking for various services

Twitter Tools

URL Shorteners

A URL shortener takes what may be a very long URL (web address) and shortens it so you have more room out of the 140 characters allowed in a tweet to give your message.

One of the better URL shorteners is Http://bit.ly. The reason for this is that if you have an account with bit.ly it also tracks the number of clicks on each link and more.

RSS Feed tools

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) can be used to automatically tweet new information from designated sources, such as the Einstein news feed.

You can use any of a number of tools to facilitate this. Just a few are: Twitterfeed Feedburner Yahoo pipes

Searches

Search is a powerful way to find out what is going on about the institution on twitter or on the internet.

Just a few powerful search tools are: Search.twitter.com Google blog search Tweepsearch Tweetalerts Geo search

Backups As with anything, backup is essential. But

backing up something that exists primarily on the internet can be a problem. Luckily there are at least 2 tools that will help.

Tweecious (tweecious.com) This solution backs up up all your tweets which

contain internet links. You must also have a delicious.com account

(social bookmarking site) Backupify (backupify.com)

This backs up everything in your twitter account. If you go beyond the free version you can backup other online entities.

Analysis Tools online TweetEffect (tweeteffect.com) shows which tweets were followed by

follower jumps up or down Tweetree (tweetree.com) displays your tweets in a conversation format TweepML (tweepML.com) lets you create lists of tweeters (twitter is

currently rolling out it’s own list feature) Twittercounter (twittercounter.com) shows your twitter followers statistics Klout (klout.com) gives you a “klout” score and categorizes your tweets Twtbg.me (twtbg.me) is a site that lets you check your twitter

background in various screen resolutions and even gives you a template to help correct errors

Twitter grader (twitter.grader.com) generates a grade out of 100 for your account and notifies you of any problems

Twit Analyzer (twitanalyzer.com) analyzes your profile for Influence, Signal, Generosity, velocity, and clout.

TweetStats (tweetstats.com) creates a graphical representation of your tweets – bar graphs and cloud graphs

Twitter Clients

Clients

There are many different types of twitter clients and the one you use depends on a couple of things.

The way in which the organization has decided to use twitter

Who is going to be tweeting How the tweeting will be done Time investment

CoTweetThe client used by many

businesses is Cotweet (cotweet.com).

CoTweet is a web client – which means you must have a web browser opened to use it.

Best for use if more than one person is tweeting on the same account.

This client can schedule tweets ahead of time for convenience

Cotweet uses “CoTags” which identify the person tweeting (^TZ)

Cotweet can also integrate the bit.ly URL shortener

Can have multiple twitter accounts as well

Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a desktop client (stand alone application).

Like CoTweet TD can have multiple accounts.

You cannot schedule tweets with TD Although you can manage multiple

accounts it does not lend itself to multiple users

Seesmic DesktopLike TweetDeck, Seesmic

Desktop is a desktop client.

SD manages multiple accounts

SD does not lend itself to multiple users

Seesmic is more multimedia friendly

There is a version of Seesmic on the web called Seesmic Web

Twitter Website

This is the way a majority of tweeters use twitter.

You must be in a browser to access the site. There are fewer capabilities than the stand

alone apps such as tweedeck and seesmic desktop.

While stand alones access Twitter through the site’s API – which will work many times when the site itself isn’t working, if you are using the website it must be working for you to do anything

Peoplebrowser

PeopleBrowser can be either a stand alone or a web app.

PB does many of the things that the other apps do. It does not measure up in many ways though.

Branding site

Knowem.com is a site that lists ~120 popular social media sites. Use this site to check that your brand is not being used/stolen/spoofed by someone else.

10 things to do BEFORE setting up Social Media

1. Determine your message

What are you trying to say? Do you have more than one message? Develop a short paragraph that encapsulates what you want to say and continually reference it as you work on social media tools.

Source: http://notesfornonprofits.blogspot.com/2009/03/top-ten-things-nonprofit-should-do.html

2. Determine who the audience is

Who is your audience? Are they tech savvy? Creating a plan to enter the social media arena is irrelevant if none of your audience will follow you there. Consider surveying your donors to determine how they want to hear from you.

3. Develop goals

What do you want to achieve from social media? Donations? Awareness? Determine your goals and remember to keep them handy as you progress.

4. Determine the exact ROI expected

This goes hand in hand with #3. Get specific about the return on investment you are expecting. If you want donations, what's the amount? If you are looking for new supporters, how many?

5. Research and determine which social media tools work for you

There are multiple social media tools out there. It's important to determine which ones work for you. Signing up for everything isn't going to be the best use of your time.

6. Create a strategy

Developing a strategy for your social media activity is extremely important. You need to determine what content you want to create and where you want to put it.

7. Create the analysis method

What's your method for analysis? It's important to track what you do on social media tools so you can examine whether you are achieving the ROI that you want.

8. Determine the main contributor as well as the sub contributors

Who's writing the content for your social media sites? Is it the same person who's posting them? Are there more than one person contributing? Hashing this out ahead of time will make the process flow much smoother.

9. Develop content ahead of time

Create some of the content you need ahead of time so you aren't scrambling to find something to post/write about everyday.

10. Develop response procedure

What's your procedure if you recieve a negative comment from someone? Or even a positive one? Determine how you handle questions and comments from your audience.

The 5 Rules of Social Media

For Non Profits (and everyone else)

5 Rules of Social Media for Non Profits

1. Listen. Social Media is not about you. It’s about people’s relationships with you. Listen before you speak.

How to Listen …

Use the H.E.A.R. method of listening:

MPATHIZE

NALYZE

ESPOND

Listen carefully to what is being said

Put yourself in the speakers “shoes”

Determine what the goals of the speaker are and if there is any underlying meaning

Reply with a meaningful, constructive, thought out response

2. Get involved. Social Media is about conversations and building relationships. It takes effort.Don’t just talk about yourself. Ask questions, engage people and link, Most of all be inspiring.

3. Give up control. You can’t control the conversation. If you want people to spread your message, you have to trust them.

Listen. Inspire. Engage. Let go.

4. Be honest. You can’t spin the truth with Social Media. Be open, honest and authentic in everything you say and do.

5. Think long term. Don’t expect immediate, easily measurable results. It takes time to build trust and make connections.

11 THINGS TO AVOID WHEN TWEETING

Source: http://technmarketing.com/web/11-things-to-avoid-when-using-twitter/

1. Words not to use in your Bio

Don’t use the following words in your bio, no matter how much you think they will attract followers: Social Media Expert Guru Make Money online Affiliate Marketing Increase your Followers

http://technmarketing.com/web/11-things-to-avoid-when-using-twitter/

2. Don’t only answer the question “What are you doing” in your tweets.

3. Do not only promote your blog/ business in your

tweets

4. Do not tweet the same thing more than twice a

5. Do not tweet about your followers more than once a

6. Do not tweet exclusively in another language

7. Do not tweet sensitive / private information

8. Do not auto DM people who follow you

9. Do not auto follow

10. Do not consistently make spelling, grammar, or

punctuation mistakes in your tweets

11. Do not use twitter like you use Facebook

Social Media Metrics

There are 2 distinct ways to measure the effect of Social Media

Qualitative Quantitative

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

(Sign hanging in Albert Einstein’s Princeton office)

We are building better relationships with constituents by learning more about them to fine-tune Einstein’s focus and programs.

Messages delivered to the community are being shared member-to-member and with the outside world.

Blog posts are building momentum in the number of quality comments that give insight into supporters’ opinions.

Members are using the community to actively trade knowledge and insights and are meaningfully supporting fellow constituents’ concerns, passions and goals.

Source: Bob Cramer: http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/comments/what_are_the_metrics_of_success_for_your_online_community/

Measuring Qualitative success by the relationships to members

Such indicators reveal how well we are communicating with our members, and how well they are communicating back to us – and with each other. Again, all this points back to more engaged and passionate supporters, something essential to meeting fundraising goals.

Increases in the number of people joining the community. Increases in page views on our website, and in the

average duration of site visits. Conversion rates of member to member-donor. Number of days from community registration to first

donation. Increases in donation averages, or in members who

donate multiple times.

Measuring Quantitative success, some possible metrics:

Social Media and ROI (Return On Investment)

Social media networking is the process of interacting with other individuals through the specific social media tool or community. For example, you could talk to people with similar interests in a forum or communicate with them through a more fragmented platform like Twitter.

Whatever method you choose, there are usually four main goals:

http://www.doshdosh.com/social-media-networking-and-roi/

1.Increased brand awareness. 2. Improved reputation. 3.Personal Development. 4.Relationships with benefits.

Increased Brand Awareness

You’re interacting with others on the social media channel in order to build awareness for your personal and business brand. You’re increasing your visibility in the right areas and trying to stick in the minds of others through active interaction on many different levels. From this perspective, networking also works to drive traffic back to your website.

Improved reputation

You want to improve how others think about your website so you hang out in forums or networking sites, in order to respond to feedback. You want to keep the communication channels open on all social media fronts. You may also want to improve your reputation as an expert by being consistently involved in discussions on topics that are relevant to your business or website.

Personal Development

Networking with the right people will keep you in the loop on industry happenings and will also improve your knowledge levels. A big part of networking is observation. Seeing how others reflect or participate in conversations is a great way to improve your own experience in the field.

Relationships with Benefits

One can network with others with the aim of extracting future benefits such as testimonials, links or recommendations. Others are more likely to provide you with a benefit when you’ve taken the effort to interact with them. Networking is a way to build relationships that can be mutually beneficial.

Sources Aaron Stiner (November 6, 2008). Nonprofit 2.0 http://aaronstinerdrb.blogspot.com/2008/11/

nonprofit-20-how-nonprofits-can-use.html ComScore Inc. http://www.comscore.com Convio, Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research (March 24, 2008). The Wired Wealthy: Using the

Internet to Connect with Your Middle and Major Donors. http://my.convio.com/?elqPURLPage=104 Hubspot (December 2008). State of the Twittersphere: Q4 2008. http://cdnqa.hubteam.com/

State_of_the_Twittersphere_by_HubSpot_Q4-2008.pdf Pew Internet & American Life Project (January 14, 2009). Adults and Social Networks Report.

http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/272/report_display.asp Universal McCann (March 2008). Power To The People - Wave3 Study on Social Media Trends.

www.universalmccann.com/Assets/wave_3_20080403093750.pdf YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits Nielsen Social Media QuickTake for May 2009 Bob Kramer:

http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/comments/what_are_the_metrics_of_success_for_your_online_community/

Lindsey Patten, Notes for Non-Profits, http://notesfornonprofits.blogspot.com/2009/03/top-ten-things-nonprofit-should-do.html

Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report http://nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com Some images from Google image search Blog post at Tech N’ Marketing – 11 things to avoid when using twitter http://

technmarketing.com/web/11-things-to-avoid-when-using-twitter/

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