What is the Value of Twitter for Non-Profits?

If you wonder, “What is the value of Twitter for non-profits?”, then imagine if you could go and talk to thousands of people one-on-one about your non-profit agency to increase their awareness about the issues your nonprofit agency addresses.

This fantasy can become a reality if your agency uses Twitter. Twitter… Continue Reading…

If you wonder, “What is the value of Twitter for non-profits?”, then imagine if you could go and talk to thousands of people one-on-one about your non-profit agency to increase their awareness about the issues your nonprofit agency addresses.

This fantasy can become a reality if your agency uses Twitter. Twitter is an essential social media platform for a non-profit agency to engage the public in a cause, to educate the public about the mission and purpose of your nonprofit agency, increase the name recognition of your agency, and to involve the public in campaigns and fundraising.

While the using Twitter can be a valuable tool for non-profit agencies, it is vital to know how to reach people in this medium and maintain a positive reputation to avoid having your efforts backfire.

What is the Value of Twitter for Non-Profits?
The Cornerstone of a Social Media Strategy

Think of the 140-character tweet as a way to open the door to an audience. Tweets need to catch the interest of a reader and want them to learn more about your non-profit agency. Most sophisticated activists who use Twitter are going ignore sensational tweets or those that appear to sell something.

An effective tweet consists of a statistic or current event plus a call to action. For example, a tweet that is likely to be ignored would be “New Agency Commits to Fight Homelessness: Click link now to donate.” A more effective tweet would be: “New HUD survey shows homelessness on increase in City X. Help a new agency to make a difference.” The links in your tweets can go to your website, blog, or Facebook page.

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With hundreds of millions of Twitter users and billions of tweets, it is important to target tweets to an audience that will be most receptive to your message. The use of hash tags is the means of targeting an audience on Twitter.

The best way to find the hash tag to target your audience is to search a broad hash tag, such as #homelessness, and then narrow to the tags that fit your cause or campaign, which would be #invisiblepeople in this example.

What is the Value of Twitter for Non-Profits?
Engaging the Non-Profit World

In addition to connecting to the public, Twitter is also an effective means of connecting with other non-profits. If your non-profit agency is just getting started, getting listed by a larger, well-known non-profit will add legitimacy to your social media strategy.

Additionally, Twitter is a great way of engaging and collaborating with the larger non-profit agencies in real time, though tweets or Twitter’s direct messaging system. One way for your non-profit organization to engage with the national or international campaigns is to participate in one of their discussions on Twitter, which are usually designated with a hash tag.

What is the Value of Twitter for Non-Profits?
Effective Social Media Campaigns

Once you have established your non-profit organization on Twitter, it is time to develop an effective social media campaign. Many organizations use petition drives, the efficacy of these types of campaigns in eliciting lasting change is questionable, primarily because these petitions languish on the petition sites and never reach the entity being petitioned.

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One means to assure your audience their signature on the petition counts is to post a Twitpic of the petitions being delivered to the person or organization petitioned. A more effective type of social media campaign is to launch an e-letter campaign when you link to your website and have a letter already written, which can customized by the sender and then e-signed and automatically e-mailed to the recipient. Human rights organizations have found this an effective means of influencing policy makers.

What is the Value of Twitter?
Connecting Virtual Activism to Real Life Lasting Change

The true power of Twitter is harnessed when you interact with the activists who reply to you. Accounts that solely rely on pre-programmed tweets are destined for failure. A tweet team with likeminded activists that engage those who reply to your tweets is a sure fire way to develop a loyal following.

Once you have a loyal following, you can launch a campaign to convert your virtual activists into real life activists for your non-profit.

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