Join us for our MyCharityConnects Conference Tweet Chats

If you are trying to get to grips with using social media in your organization, have a question about our conference, or want to share your organization's social media successes, please join us for our MyCharityConnects Tweet Chat!

Topics will include:

• What is your current biggest struggle with social media?
• What topic are you most excited to hear about at the conference?
• How do you currently measure social media successes and failures?
• How did you get buy-in for your organization's social media use?
• What session are you most excited to attend?

We will be hosting 3 interactive chats on Twitter leading up to the MyCharityConnects 2012. Here's how you can participate: join the conversation by adding the #mcc12 tag to your tweets, no matter what Twitter tool you use. If you don't use Twitter, you can still listen to the conversation by following the #mcc12 hashtag in your web browser. Join in at the times listed below and tell us what you hope to learn at MyCharityConnects!

• May 15, 1pm ET
• May 22, 1pm ET
• May 29, 1pm ET

For an hour, we look forward to some stimulating discussion designed to help you see how to engage and interact more effectively online, learning from the experiences of others who have leveraged social media.

Give us a shout @canadahelps if you are going to participate! We look forward to chatting with you!

Creating a Twitter Profile that Gets Noticed

With over 300 million Twitter users as of 2011, how do you make a Twitter profile for your organization that stands out?

We've compiled some tips and strategies to ensure your Twitter profile has everything it needs to get noticed!

1. Figure out your Twitter personality – People are friends with people, not brands. Even if your Twitter name is your organization's name or acronym, make sure that your tweets are engaging people on a human level. No one wants to talk to a logo.
2. Fill in your full name – let people know who’s behind your awesome Twitter account. At Canadahelps, our Marketing & Communications team takes care of tweeting so under our name we put “Amy & Kirstin” so people know who they’re talking to.
3. Choose the right @username – You only have 20 characters to work with so choose wisely! Try not to be too ambiguous with acronyms, and make sure it’s easily recognizable.
4. Fill out everything – The more information you include, the better! New followers will want to know more about your organization so write a blurb about the amazing work you do. Upload your logo for a finished look!
5. Customize your page – We recommend creating a customized Twitter background on your profile which will give you more room to showcase important and interesting info about your cause (your mission, vision, URLs to your other social network profiles).
6. Find followers – Start by following people you know (like @canadahelps!), find people with similar interests, local people, organizations in the same sector, etc. Being in the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community.
7. Use the “Favourites” feature – Some updates are just too good to be forgotten. When you stumble upon such a gem, save the tweet as a favorite by hovering over the tweet and clicking the yellow star that pops up.

Any Twitter profile tips to share? Please leave them in the comments section!

How can my organization use Twitter?

Often, Twitter is described as a “micro blogging” tool because like a blog, the posts are public, but it is “micro” because posts are limited to only 140 characters.

Like all other social media, Twitter is designed to be SOCIAL and FRIENDLY – meaning it’s all about sharing information and keeping in touch. Whereas Facebook is about keeping in touch with people you already know, Twitter is a great tool for building relationships and spreading more widely to new networks.

A question we get asked a lot by charities and nonprofits is "how can my organization use Twitter?" We've put together this list to describe some of the amazing uses of Twitter

• Building your brand – raise awareness for your cause and organization, drive traffic to your website, and build trust and authenticity.
• Getting news – Keep up-to-date about your field, sub-sector, network.  
• Gathering support – Let people know how they can have an impact on your organization and what your current needs are.
• Educating your followers – Tell people something surprising and interesting about your organization, and provide resources and tip.
• Adding personality to your organization – Provide followers with a real human connection within your organization.
• Asking and answering questions – Get and give feedback, help and advice in real time. Ask for opinions about your campaigns, newsletters, website, resources, etc.
• Showing appreciation to volunteers, staff and donors – Thank and retweet your supporters and initiatives; promote others that tell your story for you.
• Promotion – Invite your followers to your events and fundraisers, provide campaign status reports, and upload photos to Twitter from your events.
• Listening and monitoring – Use Twitter to listen to what is being said about your organization, cause, event.

How does your organization use Twitter? Let us know in the comments!