This document provides 10 tips for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on using Twitter effectively. It advises NGOs to monitor discussions on relevant issues, identify and follow influential users in their sector, add a bio and link to customize their Twitter profile, engage with their audience by responding to comments and questions, and use hashtags to make their tweets discoverable on topics. The tips also include using apps to easily post tweets, not just repeating the same information, and checking their Twitter profile periodically to assess and improve their content. The overall message is that NGOs can raise awareness of their causes and engage supporters through Twitter by following these best practices.

1. by Brent Williams

5. What is Twitter? Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you to answer the question, "What are you doing?“ Sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers.”

7. 10 Tips for NGO’s on Twitter 1. Monitor discussions and relevant issues Once you’ve signed up, Start out by doing a search. There’s tons of services for searching Twitter users and messages and these are just a few.

8. Continued… Identify and follow the most influential and interesting Twitter users in your sector. Follow them and, while you’re at it, look up your friends and colleagues. You’ll probably be surprised who is on there. 2. Identifying and following

9. Continued… 3. Add a bio, a link, upload a pic and customise your page You can’t expect people to follow you unless you tell them who you are and what you are talking about. There’s just enough room for a short description in your Twitter Bio so use it; explain what you’re doing or, if you’re representing an organisation or campaign, use it to describe your activities. You can also put some more text onto the background image if you really need the space or want to brand it. Add a link to somewhere useful too.

10. Continued… 4. Create a voice for your organisation that is relevant. Perhaps you want to inspire debate by asking pertinent, open-ended questions or maybe you want to inform about issues. It’s up to you which tone of voice you use but avoid going into rants or being rude. A rough rule of thumb is: If you wouldn’t say it to your other-half’s mum, don’t say it on Twitter.

11. Continued… 5. Be Patient. There are techniques to build loads of followers quickly but you really want quality not quantity. Having 50,000 people who aren’t listening to you is not as valuable as 100 advocates who will evangelise your cause. Post often with relevant and interesting messages, respond and engage with friends/followers and you’ll grow a stronger following.

12. Continued… 6. Engage with your audience. If you post interesting stuff, people will want to talk to you about it. Twitter is two-way communication so don’t be surprised when people want to talk to you or ask questions. If you have a large following you won’t be able to keep up, but that’s OK as long as you explain that occasionally, especially when you notice the 100 messages you haven’t responded to.

13. Continued… 7. Look in the mirror. It’s not a pleasant experience but, every once in a while, check your profile page. There you can see all the tweets you’ve posted and can get an idea of just how funny, interesting or informative you have been. You may be surprised but you can assess, adjust and improve accordingly.

14. Continued… 8. Get an App The easier you make it for yourself, the more likely you will post messages more often. There are tons of tools for Twitter which mean you don;t have to to the website everytime. TweetDeck is one of the most popular desktop tools and there are apps for iPhone and Blackberry amongst others.

15. Continued… 9. Don’t just repeat the same information As a charity / NGO, the chances are that your followers are actually interested in what you have to say. They really want to hear from you, especially if they’re a donor. It’s quite common for people to post the latest blog article or retweet (forward) an interesting titbit and there’s nothing wrong with that but if that’s ALL you’re doing, then you’re not adding any value to your followers and they’ll stop paying attention.

16. Continued… 10. Checkout Hash Tags (#) You’ll often see words like #FollowFriday #Tipoftheday #impactdirect #SocialMedia They are known as hashTags and you include one in your tweet to make it easier for others to follow that topic (try searching for one of the above hashTags on Twitter). They’re also used for fun and games and all kinds of stuff so look around and you’ll soon pick it up.

17. And finally, don’t obsess A few years ago it was MySpace, then Facebook, now it’s Twitter. Next week it might be something else so if it doesn’t work out for you, don’t worry. There’ll be something else along shortly.

18. We as NGO’s can change the world 140 characters @ a time.

19. QUESTIONS

20. Facebook : Brent Williams Twitter : @brent007 Email : [email_address] Skype : brentwilliams2 My blog : www.brentsjourney.co.za C