In the past eight years, the number of Twitter users has risen dramatically, growing from a mere 18 million monthly users in 2009 to over 328 million monthly users today! While Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, the social media platform can be a useful tool for nonprofits to increase awareness about opportunities to volunteer, and to alert supporters of breaking news related to your cause.

The following list of tips can help your organisation better manage its Twitter account.

It’s Still About Content

Use Twitter to tweet links to content your target audience will enjoy. While you should mix up the length and style of your content, stories that include a compelling image that illustrates your NFP’s impact and connects with your supporters on an emotional level are ideal. Use Twitter to be a resource to supporters by tweeting useful links and other helpful content.

Don’t Forget to Brand Your Tweets and Other Content

Using Twitter and other social media is about building your brand along with recruiting supporters and raising awareness about your cause. Some simple ways to use Twitter to build your brand include using an image of your NFP’s logo for your profile picture on Twitter. Include your nonprofit’s tagline or slogan, along with the hashtag, in the short description field of your Twitter account.

Make it Easy and Compelling for Your Supporters to “Stalk” Your Twitter

Harness the power of the hashtag to make it easy for supporters to find your tweets. Encourage greater engagement by tweeting questions.

Keep the conversation going by hosting Twitter events that will appeal to your supporters. For example, you could Tweet Chat around a specific topic that concerns your NFP’s mission and then make yourself, other officers or VIPs connected with your organisation, available to answer questions from supporters. Create a unique hashtag for the event and include it in your tweets so that others can follow the discussion and get in on the conversation!

The Importance of Tools

One of the negatives associated with social media is that it can eat into your time throughout the day and week if you insist on only making manual posts on the fly. For Twitter and other social media to be effective, nonprofits should invest in learning how to use social media management tools to semi-automate the process.

Use a calendar to plan out your posting schedule, including your primary Twitter tweets. Make sure that any content that you post on any channel aligns with your brand and your mission.

Use tools like Hootsuite or Buffer that will allow you to create and schedule Tweets and other types of posts weeks to months in advance. Post and tweet on a regular schedule so that your most loyal supporters have some idea how frequently they need to check back with your Twitter account.

Use the analytic tools that Twitter provides to learn more about your most successful tweets and to discover more information about your followers, their specific habits and demographics. If you see that certain types of tweets or posts do exceptionally well, or particularly poor, use this information to craft tweets and posts that are more likely to be popular. This will encourage greater dialogue between your nonprofit and your followers.

Use the lists tool that comes with Twitter to organise your followers and segment them based on demographics or level of support for your organisation. If supporters or other Twitter users have created lists that you find helpful, go ahead and follow their lists to stay up-to-date!