If you’re feeling like your organization cannot ignore the calls of Twitter, you’re not alone! According to a 2011 article by Kyle Lacy, author of two acclaimed books, Twitter Marketing for Dummies and Branding Yourself, 90% of Nonprofits have a Twitter share button on their website. We believe that using social media tools such as Twitter can be simple and efficient when following the basic strategy we’ve created to help get you started.
It’s important to note that social media is a great way to listen to the people who support your organization. It gives an opportunity for the organization to address feedback, both positive and negative, on a very large scale.
So your organization is ready to expand its reach into the universe that is twitter? Great! Let’s get started!
1. Sign Up
To begin, go to twitter.com to sign up for your new account.
Twitter Sign Up
2. Create A Twitter Handle
A Twitter handle is the username that will identify you to other users on Twitter @yourname. This handle should reflect your organization, its mission and its brand. Having a good handle can be the difference between having a large follower base that is interactive with the organization versus having a small follower base that will not find it necessary to reach out to the organization via social media. If you are unsure about what the organization’s Twitter handle should be, try finding similar organizations that are already on twitter to see what they have used to represent their brand.
3. Be Consistent With Your Page
Consistency is truly key factor toward the success of a Twitter presence. Your brand should be consistent across the board, from your web site to your Facebook to your Twitter to any other social media platform the organization is represented on. Consistency will make it easy for anyone to find your organization and subsequently connect with you.
The next few paragraphs will detail the set-up of the actual page. Please note that at any point you can go back into your Twitter account settings to make any necessary changes to the page design.
Select Your Avatar
Once the initial registration process has been completed, the organization will need to choose their avatar, or profile picture, that will be associated with their Twitter handle. The profile picture should fit in the dimensions as provided by Twitter. If it is to large consider resizing it so that the organization’s logo will not be cut off.
Select Background
You will be given the choice to change the background of your page. In most cases, a professional or business Twitter accounts background should either be a plain color, or a photo that is owned by the company, organization, corporation etc.
Make the Header
You will also need to make sure the header is representing the organization properly. Although your Twitter handle may not be the exact name of the organization, the title/header (name) above the handle should be. For example your twitter handle may be @wcftrees, but the name displayed at the top of your page should be “We Care For Trees”.
Create A Bio
Twitter will give you a certain amount of characters to post a small bio to be featured at the top of the page. Make sure that the bio is precise and concise so that people that come to the page by chance will know exactly who and what the page is for.
4. Establish Credibility by Using Twitter Regularly
One of the biggest mistakes that happens time and time again is a company, organization, entity will sign up for Twitter and be extremely active for the first week, but decline as time goes on. The followers of your organization have expectations. They want to see the organization in its everyday form which is possible through Twitter. Empowering the followers of the organization is truly an element of social media that determines your success, especially with your twitter experience. Even for an individual using twitter, if their tweets cannot be applied to their followers, they may not thrive on the network. It’s important to tweet things that will excite the followers and make them want to come back to your page to see more tweets in the future. Remember that the organization’s credibility is on the line so be present, active and listen to your followers.
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.