Using Twitter to enhance your fundraising potential – part 1

Positioning your non profit to maximize the potential of higher public awareness has never been so easy, or so difficult, it all depends on your research and preparation. Over the last 3 years twitter has emerged as one of the strongest ways to engage your donor base if you use it effectively or to drive them away if your planning isn’t astute. There are dozens (hundreds) of articles that assess the potential of Twitter for marketing and promoting, and while some companies are on the right path others probably do more harm than good when using the social media tool. Many companies made the mistake of just using Twitter to launch an avalanche of tweets that are either not focused or result in little more than incessant self-promoting and self interest. As you can imagine neither of those mistakes will help raise the profile of your non profit, in fact there is an inherent risk of achieving the opposite results.

In a short series of posts I’ll try and take the guesswork out of Twitter for you to some extent so that you can add it to the methods used to build your donor support and reach. I’ll even look at how another business is using Twitter – I won’t select a non-profit as I don’t want to be seen to favouring any specific cause. Using Twitter effectively isn’t just as simple as building an account and launching your tweets upon the masses. Depending on the size of your non profit you might find that Twitter is ultimately worthy of becoming a part time or even full time role within your organization. It really is that far reaching and the right approach can bring support and increased awareness more rapidly than you might imagine.

You don’t need me to tell you that a huge corporation would have a dedicated Twitter team and strategy, with many businesses having more than 100,000 followers and then all of the retweets – the potential for connections are substantial. I recommend you develop an initial understanding of some Twitter matters before you get started.

Twitter Rules – Of course Twitter has clearly defined rules for use, etiquette and legality. You can read them via the official twitter link here.

Twitter Tools – Once you get up and running you’ll find there are a host of tools that will make managing your twitter account infinitely easier. I find the following useful and very easy to use, try a few to find which you prefer. Just Tweet It | Friend or Follow | HootSuite (probably the very best tool of all and recommended).  There are many others which you’ll want to consider when you are up and running.

Twitter Commands – There is far more to Twitter than just sending those tweets. Knowing how to follow, retweet, identify, direct message are all useful. A short summary is on this Twitter link.

In the next post I’ll help you identify your audience and begin to assess when and where you can participate. In addition some tips to building your profile and linking it to your business. If you have questions or comments please contact me. Miratel Solutions have been providing the very best in Telephone Fundraising and Lottery Management services for over a decade, please visit our site and see learn more about how we can help you with your non profit.