Effectively Using Twitter And Creating Twestivals

Effectively Using Twitter And Creating Twestivals Speaker: Mark Van Baale

Mark Van Baale’s Bio
Education Chairperson for Social Media Club Kansas City
Helped organize 2 Kansas City Twestivals that raised funds for charities
Passionate about helping others learn social media tools and connecting people
Involved in Marketing/Web Design industry for over 8 years

Presentation Agenda
Effectively Using Twitter
- What is Twitter?
- Why should I consider using Twitter?
- Twitter statistics – growth #’s
- How Mark got started on Twitter/how he uses it
- How does one get started on Twitter?
- What should I write about?
- How can I connect with others?
- Training available for learning Twitter

Presentation Agenda
Kansas City Twestivals
- What is a Twestival?
- How Kansas City got involved
- How we promoted KCTwestival?
- Results of KCTwestival 1 and 2

What is
Twitter is a website where you can leave messages of up to 140 characters long for other people to read.
Think of it as the online equivalent of sending mobile phone SMS messages
Messages instantly appear on your page in the form of a timeline
People can choose to “follow” you and your messages will show up in their timeline
Your messages can be “retweeted” or sent on to other people by your followers. Like a forward in e-mail
You can reply (@username) to your followers
You can also direct message (d username) your followers to send a private message

Why should I use
Use it to connect with people/facilitating conversations
At a conference or event, “live-tweet” what speakers are sharing
Keep in touch with friends and family
Use as a rapidly updating search engine, powered by real people.
Tweet out links to your blog or website
Job networking tool (recruiters, companies use it to search for potential employees)
Getting the resources you need (recommendations on hotels to stay at, places to visit)

Growth Stats

How Mark got started on
Signed up for Twitter in August 2008
Twitter handle: @markvanbaale
Started connecting with people who I wanted to get to know from Social Media Club of KC
Eventually, started to find links/information I tweeted out to my followers
I use Twitter like an instant messenging/micro-blog tool
Use it today to talk to friends and connect with new people to learn from
Use it in events like Twestival, schedule tweetups

How do you get started on
Go to Twitter.com, select Sign up now
Set up your Username (the name everyone will see when you send out tweets)
Go under “Settings” on your profile to the Picture tab to upload a photograph (makes it more personalized, people like to see who is behind the tweets)
Go under “Account”, add your website URL (if you have one), i.e. blog, company website
Also under “Account”, add your location and a one line bio about yourself

What should I write about on
You may want to spend a few days reading what people tweet about
Links to interesting blog posts and webpages draw interest to your tweets
Perhaps tell people what you are doing that day
Rule of thumb: Don’t spam people
Contact your best friends and closest colleagues yourself and find out if they are on Twitter.

How to connect with others on
Contact your best friends and closest colleagues yourself and find out if they are on Twitter.
If you have access to Lists, create lists of people to follow or get on lists created by others
Send out a tweet mentioning your location and ask if there are others in your area
Mention an interest/industry you are in
Schedule a Tweetup (Twitter + meetup) to meet new people
Attend a Tweetup ( http://www.lawrencetweetup.com ), events listed on ( http:// socialmediaclubkc.ning.com )

Training available on
Free beginner’s class on learning how to use Twitter to be held on Nov. 11 in Lawrence.
Go to http://www2.ljworld.com/learntotweet/ to register
Choice of one of two sessions beginning at 8:00 a.m. or 10 a.m.

What is Twestival?
A Twestival or Twitter-Festival is a global series of events organized by volunteers around the world under short timescales, which bring people offline for a great cause.
In September 2008, a group of London Twitter users hosted an event called Harvest Twestival which drew a great response. Decided to take it global
The first Twestival Global was held in Feb. 2009. 200 cities participated. 100% of all proceeds went direct to charity: water. $250,000 was raised in total.
Twestival is run 100% by volunteers and independently from any not-for-profit.
Sponsors donate time/resources for event, usually held on one night worldwide

How did Kansas City get involved?
Someone mentioned on Twitter about Twestival and if anyone was interested in doing one for Kansas City
A group of 3-4 met to discuss ideas/plans
This group reached out to the community for help/donation of resources
Used Twitter, Facebook, blogs to encourage donations and raise awareness of the event
Kansas City Twestival Global was held only 3 weeks after the first team meeting!!
We raised $3,700 total for charity: water
Kansas City was in top 15 of all cities in world for $ raised

2 nd Kansas City Twestival
I led the charge with a few others to start discussing the idea of doing another Twestival.
This time, the focus was on a local charity
Group of 15 volunteered time to help with planning
List of charities was selected and narrowed down to top six for community to vote on
Top six charities listed on a voting site where people could vote for a few weeks
Wayside Waifs was chosen as the local charity to support
Used Twitter, Facebook, blogs, video to encourage donations and raise awareness of the event
Kansas City Twestival Local held on September 11
Everything was donated (food, beer, door prizes, etc.)
Raised $3,000 total without any corporate sponsors

Mark’s contact info
Twitter: http://twitter.com/markvanbaale
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markvanbaale
E-mail: [email_address]
Blog: http://passiondrivers.wordpress.com

Effectively Using Twitter And Creating Twestivals

by Mark Baale on Oct 30, 2009

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Effectively Using Twitter And Creating Twestivals — Presentation Transcript