Heather McLeodSherwood Park Elks #481

What is Twitter? Why use Twitter? Twitter 101

◦ Key Twitter Terms◦ Getting Started◦ Examples

Twitter Tips Demo

Being able to send a text message to 100,000 people who share an interest in your topic…

Being able to see what people are talking about right now….

Knowing what the hottest links are, the products everyone is excited about, or what events are coming up in your community….

Imagine your words being passed on by 5 people. Then 20. Then 100. Imagine that happening in seconds…

Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets.

These messages can simply be text or a link to an article, web page, or photo.

It's an easy way to discover the latest news related to subjects you care about!

People use Twitter to talk about what they are reading, watching, experiencing, or doing

Breaking news -Twitter is the world’s real-time newspaper◦ Through Twitter: 23 seconds◦ Via traditional media: 43 minutes

Promotion and connection of people attending organized functions – concerts, festivals, events, etc.

It is FREE advertising!

You can connect with other groups and individuals in your community to:◦ Share ideas◦ Exchange experiences◦ Network and create change◦ Attract new members

It is a way to share your events and celebrations on the virtual stage

Understanding the terms – 99% of the work Getting started -setting up a profile Examples

Hastag

Tweet

Re-tweet

Following

Followers

Handle

Tweet: The message you send out to your followers from your Twitter account.

Handle: How you are identified on Twitter. It’s the @ symbol, plus the name you have given your account (@sp_elks)

Following: What you do to receive/view tweets from someone

Tweets are public You choose whose updates

you want to receive This opt-in model is called Following

Followers: Those people or organizations “following” your tweets.

These people or groups are choosing to receive your updates!

Retweet: When you resend a tweet from someone else. Expressed with an “RT” followed by the tweeter’s handle (RT@sp_elks)

Hashtag: A hashtag is a term, prefixed by the # symbol, to mark keywords or topics in tweets so they are easily searchable. Anyone can create their own hashtag!!

Messages categorized by a hashtag head to Twitter search

#YEG#ILoveTacos

#Elks

#Cookies

#thisisahashtag

#isitfridayyet

Direct Messages “DM”: Private notes are called (direct) messages. In order to send a DM the recipient has to be following you

Term Definition Usage/Example

Tweet A 140 character update or post sent via Twitter

“I just got a Tweet from Susan”

@ message/reply Using the @<twittername> syntax let’s the twitter user know your mentioning them.

“@YEG @sp_elks The provincial conference is this weekend!”

Follow What you do to receive/view tweets from someone

@YEG@sp_elks@City of Edmonton

Followers Number of people subscribed to receive your tweets

@ Oprah has over 19,000,000 followers

Hashtag A “hash tag” is included in tweets to group them by topic (i.e. #followfriday)

Memebers of @sp_elks are excited about the conference #YEG

Direct Message “DM” Send a message to someone so only they can see it

I would like to learn more about your organization

Re -Tweet “RT” The act of forwarding/repeating another person’s message to your followers with attribution

HSMcLeod RT@sp_elks The provincial conference is this weekend!

It is not as scary as you think it is!!!

…..it took me less than 5 minutes to create a Twitter account for the Sherwood Park Elks!

Go to Twitter.com Sign up

◦ Name◦ Email Address◦ Password

Add a photo (logo) Change your background Write a 160 character bio Add a link that will help people learn more

about you

The good news is when you are going through this process there is a “Twitter Teacher” that walks you through it!

You know the jargon, you have an idea of how Twitter works, and you have created a profile…..now what?

Let’s look at some examples!!

Problem: I live in Gopher Gulch Alberta – how would I use Twitter to promote our pancake breakfast?

Answer: Use hashtags (#) with the airport letters of large cities in your province (#YEG), with what you are doing (#Pancakes) with the name of your town (#gophergultchalberta). You can tweet the same message with more than one hashtag! Get your members to retweet the message!!

Problem: What would I need to do in order to advertise an upcoming movie night in the park with my community?

ANSWER: Create your message and tag the date, the movie, the location of the park, your local municipal government, as well as the actors. You can send more than one tweet to include these different hash tags. Get your members to support it by retweeting the message!!!

Check it often Create hashtags!!!! Build a voice: Retweet, Reply, React Click links in other’s Tweets to view:

◦ Images and videos they have posted◦ Profiles of users mentioned in their message◦ Tweets related to a hashtag they used

Mention: Include others in your content Push the 140 character limit!!!

This unusually helpful sentence, including all of the spaces and all of the punctuation, is precisely one hundred and forty characters

long.

https://twitter.com/sp_elks