10 Tips to Help Nonprofits Optimize Reach and Engagement via Twitter

I am adding to our Social Media Summer Series series with this look at useful tips to help nonprofits manage and get the most out of their Twitter activity. Our list today was inspired by Simply Zesty.

1. SEO Benefits. If your nonprofit has a developed Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan then Twitter can be used to complement existing strategies. Make sure you complete your full profile and include your website along with your SEO keywords at every opportunity like in your bio and your Twitter handle.
2.  Embedding Tweets. You can highlight a tweet on your website or blog if you want to reference an exchange. By embedding the tweet readers will be able to interact with the tweet as if they were on Twitter. “To do this, find the tweet you want, expand it and click details. You will see the option “Embed this tweet” appear in a new screen.”
3.  TwitLonger. If it’s difficult to get your message within the 140 character limit of Twitter, “TwitLonger will cut you some slack and then post a link to your extended tweet on Twitter just so everyone won’t miss out on it.”
4.  Learn the Best Times to Tweet. You can optimize the impact of your tweet by knowing when your followers are more likely to see/read your message. According to bit.ly, 1pm-3pm Monday through Thursday is ideal and posting after 8pm is not recommended. Also, tweeting after 3pm on a Friday should be avoided completely. There are third-party tools like Tweriod, TweetStats, TweetReports and TweetWhen that can analyse your tweets and determine your individual best response time.
5.  Schedule Tweets. You can use one of the many third party sites available to help you schedule tweets like Tweedeck, Buffer and Hootsuite. This way you can optimize your “best time to tweet” windows so you reach the most followers and can do so in multiple time zones. This is especially helpful to spread out your tweets if you have multiple to send out.
6. Less is More. Even though Twitter allows 140 characters, you’ll be better served staying with the 100-120 limit so your followers can easily comment and retweet. People may forgo retweeting a message if it needs too much adjusting to do so. Having said that, if you have a lot to say there is always Qwitter (see #7).
7. Qwitter. It is important to include goal setting in your Twitter strategy and part of that is charting the number of followers you have and that is where Qwitter comes in. Qwitter is a third party tool that tracks your +/- followers and the free version allows you to track one account and sends you a weekly email outlining the details.
8.  Images & Videos. A great way to get your followers more engaged is to vary your content and incorporating images is a great way to do that. Not only do they help personalize your cause to your supporters but they also add interest to your Twitter content and page. “If you’re not used to taking photos or need an excuse to take some snaps, then things like the ‘photo a day challenge‘ on Instagram is a great way of getting practice.” Just, remember that a few pictures go a long way so you don’t want to overwhelm everyone with over-sharing.
9.  Get to know your followers. The list feature on Twitter is really helpful in organizing your followers into categories which makes referencing and sourcing them easier. Your lists can help you get to know your followers by identifying key characteristics about them and then creating and selecting the categories they fit best. Examples of categories can include business type, location and/or classification within or relationship with your organization (vendor, supporter, volunteer, etc). If you have a significant number of followers you may want to consider using a third-party tool like SocialBro which will give more detailed data and also not be as time-consuming as list management can be.
10.  #Discover. This is a relatively new Twitter feature that is definitely underused. “Alongside presenting the major stories appearing on Twitter, the activity section shows you everything that’s been happening with those you follow, such as retweets, follows and favourites so you could find new content and users to follow.”

I hope these tips help. You can browse our Social Media Summer Series for nonprofits which includes several Twitter posts along with Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and other related topics.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.