Your organization is on Twitter. You have a follower base. You have interacted with the people who reach out to you and you have created small trends among your community. But how can nonprofits continue to grow on Twitter? By using various tools, your organization can continue to engage your audience on a number of levels. 

1. Store Your Tweets: Hootsuite

It is useful to look back and be able to see what the organization was doing in prior tweets and how well those tweets were responded to by their followers. Furthermore, if an ethical situation were to arise at any point over Twitter, the organization can quickly and efficiently look at what was happening on their Twitter page at the time of said situation. You can save the organization’s tweets, forever! The social media tool hoot suit can do this. It will create a database that is easy to access for any current or future social media specialist within the organization. This is important to consider for a number of reasons.

2. Fundraise Through Links: Bitly

Although twitter does not offer a direct fundraising component to their site, the organization can post about various ways to give. The most resourceful way to do this is by tweeting something such as this: #GlobalWarming is on the rise. Help save the arctic polar bears now! (Insert link here). If the link is longer than the character amount will allow, then consider using the source bitly.com to shorten the link. This tool will also enable the organization to view how many clicks the link has received and from where. Create a fundraising campaign that is developed around twitter!

3. Petition Using Twitter: Act.Ly

Going back to our previous example of #GlobalWarming, if there is a development somewhere in the world that is effecting the situation in a negative way, the environmental organization may wish to address the issue on a much larger scale. For example, if a company is producing a chemical that could potentially worsen the global warming crisis, the organization can start a petition on Twitter using act.ly. This tool is simple to use and can create a massive impact in a short amount of time.

4. Be Creative and Active: Twibbon

Be creative and engaging with ways that the organization’s followers can show support of the mission/brand. Using Ttwitter avatars is a great way to generate exposure and boost the organization’s presence. Enabling users to add your logo/brand to their avatar (profile picture) is very useful. To view various example of this use, visit twibbon.com. The example below is a twibbon used by LIVESTRONG which has been used on over 22,000 avatars!

5. Meet Followers: Tweet-Up

A tweet-up is an opportunity for people on Twitter to come together. In cases for an organization, it is a chance to cultivate the followers with a goal of creating donors in the process. A tweet-up can be as simple as a day in the park to bring together family and friends. The organization can request that the followers who come wear something specific such as a plain blue shirt. Additionally, it may excite people even more if you invite them to wear their twitter handles on their shirts so they can make some twitter friends while spending the day with the organization. Based on the location of the organization it may be a good idea to organize a tweet-up.

6. Upload Photos: Twitpic

A twitpic is a a photo uploaded onto Twitter. This will allow followers to see the organization at work fulfilling the mission that is support by the public. The organization’s followers will also be able to re-tweet the picture so that others who may not be aware of the organization can develop their own aesthetic for the mission. Whenever possible, share pictures from events, programs, activities etc. using twitpic.

7. Track Your Growth: SocialBro and Twitalyzer

By using tools such as socialbro or twitalyzer, the organization will be able to visually track who, where and to what extent their tweets are impacting the Twitter universe. Furthermore this tool will provide specific insight to the organizational follower base, including verified (celebrity/famous) followers. It will give detail as to when the best time to tweet is based on location of the most active followers. Socialbro also includes real-time charts that help determine a number of other statistics. These tools will enable the organization to create benchmarks and track the Twitter growth through various statistics.

Travis Flores is an NYU Graduate candidate, studying for his MS in fundraising. Travis joined the Red Rooster Group to assist in the enhancement of the social media and technological experiences for both the company as well as their clients.