Introduction: Twitter As a Community Building Tool
Using Twitter is an easy way to share quick information to a wide variety of people. In social media, users are more likely to scroll past a lengthy message. This social networking service allows users to post messages up to 140 characters, called Tweets. That means that what you’re trying to say should be quick and concise. As an organization, Twitter is a great means to share your information. Users that follow you see all of your Tweets; they can share your Tweets by Retweeting, which allows their followers to also see your Tweets. You can also include images, videos, and links to help draw attention to the information you’re posting.
Messages: To The Point
Because Twitter has a 140 character limit, it's important to consider if it is appropriate for the messages you want to convey. What you’re trying to share should be to the point, and easy for the reader to pick out the facts. You can also consider linking to a longer post on a website, or other social media platform. It’s important that your organization's image across these platforms is cohesive and recognizable to the user.
Your Branding in Social Media
Picking a username and image that are related to your organization will make it easier for users to find you. If you have any other social media pages, consider sharing your Twitter name on there. If you don’t have any other social media pages check out these instructables on setting up Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and Youtube pages:
- Facebook As a Community Building Tool
- Instagram As a Community Building Tool
- Linkedin as a community building and marketing tool
- Youtube as a community building and advertising tool
It is common for Twitter users to follow organizations, whereas people primarily use Facebook for information on users they know. Many users flock to Twitter to get the newest information, and see what is currently trending. It is easy for users to mention your organization in their Tweets, which you can in turn Retweet for your users to see. This helps to promote the positive ideas and opinions of your group.
The easy part is setting up your account, now you need to focus on what you want to Tweet and how to convey your message. It is easy to write an effective Tweet, but it can also be easy to write an ineffective Tweet. The following step will give you some ideas for an effective Tweet.
Step 1: Twitter Basics
Here you have signed up an account and it is time to think about what to tweet and how to tweet to build up the community. To post an effective tweet, there are some very helpful tips for you.
#Hashtag
Hashtag is a short phrase with a “#” at the beginning such as “#journal”. It is a link to other tweets on Twitter. It lets your phrase become a topic, tweets with same phrase as the hashtag will be connected together. People can search the tag to get tweets that contain this tag and posted recently. Therefore, using one or two popular hashtags somewhere suitable in your post can bring you more viewers, and they may become your followers. However, it is important to keep checking hashtags you want to use whether they are being used recently. If you use it properly, it is also a shortcut for viewers to understand what is going on since hashtags are usually keywords of your post.
Links
When a tweet could not contain all of the information you want to post due to the 140 character limit, you can add a link to your website in your tweet. The link can be a link that take people to a related topic, website, or someone else’s tweet. Using keywords to provide a short summary and adding a link to tell people the whole story is a good idea. The hashtags will help you catch readers’ attention since people tend to skim feeds. And the link works when people are interesting in.
Locations
Twitter allows us to choose whether we want to show our location with the tweet or not, and it can make your tweet more effective in some situations. If you are looking for people in a university for a research or part-time job, you can attach your location with the tweet. People who still want to participant in the event should be able to arrive at the event location. And this is usually a good way to let the community come to you and this actually let you selecting your audience.
In short, hashtags, links, and location sharing are three ways help you make effective posts. There are some tricks we can use such as mentioning someone related to your tweet by ”@”. We don’t have to use all of them on all tweet we post. We need to be flexible in their use depending on what the content of the tweet is.
Step 2: Tips for Better Tweeting
Now that you’ve gotten a grasp of the basics of Twitter it’s time to focus on the power this social networking platform has to offer. Twitter has a number of features to help you connect with your community.
Multiple Interests, Multiple Accounts
School communities can offer a range of activities for students to join and it’s important to get your event or idea to stand out among them. We can use Twitter to announce when these events take place and what members should be prepared for. Twitter is also a great way for people to ask questions about what you are offering or to share the news to others who may not already be following your account. Depending on the size of the audience you want to attract, you may want to have different accounts for each event so that you don’t lose followers by spamming information some users aren’t interested in.
Respond and Listen
When using Twitter to help build your community it’s not only important to keep people updated but also to engage and listen to what they have to say. Responding to other users will allow you to understand what they are trying to get out of their online experience. It also gives you a better chance of sparking their interest in viewing your content. Twitter also has a multitude of features that can be used to get an insight into what the community really wants. For example, polls are one of these tools you can create to engage with people. It’s one of the best ways to get people’s opinions and even spark debate over controversial topics.
Updates and Staying Active
Updates and account maintenance can be time consuming whether you are running one network or many of them. Doing some research into Twitter bots can help to automate your social media and send out posts at peak hours. Using these bots on Twitter you can automate things like following, re-tweeting, posting, and even notify yourself when important items come up. This time saver is essential to keeping your community informed and keep you at the top of their feed. Twitter has many tips and tricks aside from the ones mentioned above. It’s essential to consider new features for Twitter since the platform constantly changes. Click below for more tips and tricks to help you out.
Step 3: Performing These Tips
Step 4: More Outreach Using Twitter
Now your Twitter account is all set up and you have the knowledge to post effectively. If you need more outreach, promoting your Tweets can help you reach more users. For more information on what a Twitter Ad campaign is and how to use it, follow the next Instructable here: