To Tweet or Not To Tweet...

Twitter is the fastest growing social media platform in the world. The latest stats indicate that more than 32 million people are using this service for communication, collaboration, marketing, customer service, advocacy, market research, and fundraising. Everyone seems to be tweeting these days. If you aren't using Twitter already, you might want to check it out to see what everyone is buzzing about.

Amazing What You Can Do With 140 Characters…
Twitter, a real-time micro-blogging platform, is free and fairly intuitive. Posts are limited to 140 characters. Unlike Facebook, the Twitter interface gives you just two basic options: reading other tweets or composing your own. That's it. More good news: Twitter is about making new friends and building relationships. It's about making new contacts, giving, and receiving. It's also easy to build a following fairly quickly on Twitter.

There's not much of a downside to Twitter unless you have zero self-control. You can get sucked in to reading pages and pages of Twitter updates. But don't! Read what's on your screen, post an update or two, and leave. You can also get sidetracked by all of the fancy applications available to Twitter users. Don't do that either--at least not in the beginning. Start by identifying a few people or organizations you care about…then follow, observe, listen and learn the ropes.

You Probably Won’t "Get" Twitter Initially…
Until you have been using Twitter consistently for three or four months, you might be frustrated and have every reason to be. Twitter might very well be too simple. Don't look for it to be more complicated than it is or to reveal a deeper meaning. It will take time to understand what Twitter is all about and to learn how to use it effectively to build a following.

I have been using Twitter for more than a year, and my account sat mostly neglected for the first couple of months. I couldn't see or understand the possibilities and very few people I knew were using Twitter or had even heard of it. When Twitter exploded last year during the election and I rejoined the fun.

Give it a try. The longer you are on Twitter, the more you will understand the benefits and the more people you will meet. Twitter is now a key part of my marketing strategy. To sign up for your Twitter account, just go to http://twitter.com.

You can follow me http://twitter.com@davidlsharp or http://twitter.com@sharpconsults

Please share your thoughts...
Cheers!

Dave Sharp
Sharp Consulting Group, LLC

Nonprofits on Twitter...

Not a day goes by when someone in the Nonprofit world or Public Sector doesn't ask me about Twitter. Here's a great post by Lon S. Cohen (Director of Communications at the ALS Association of Greater New York) listing "26 Charities and Nonprofits on Twitter".

Lon's list includes great examples of organizations that have embraced Twitter for building awareness, making new friends, engaging communities and raising funds.

And, it's clear that more and more local, national and global groups are experimenting with Twitter everyday.

It's very easy to get started. Twitter provides a free easy-to-setup interface; the potential to reach a huge engaged audience; and, the ability to engage with people in stimulating conversations. It's a natural platform for any organization seeking recognition for their mission or building a following.

Please share your thoughts.

Cheers!
Dave Sharp
Sharp Consulting Group

Tools and Tips for Monitoring Conversations about your Organization on the Web…

There are lots of ways to keep track of the conversations taking place on the web regarding your group or organization. Here’s a short list of social media marketing tools to help you keep track of what is being said about you on the internet.

1. If you don’t have a personal profile on Facebook, create one. Then create a business page on Facebook. Invite your friends, stakeholders, members and customers to become fans. It will help you keep track of your “friends” as well as start, facilitate and track conversations surrounding your org. Depending on your goals, you can also create a Facebook Group page and/or Cause page.

2. Want to follow conversations on Facebook? Signup for Facebook Lexicon.

3. Sign up for a Twitter business account. Start following tweets and joining in the conversations about your group or organization.

4. Once you are on Twitter, you can use Twitter Search to follow keywords across the millions of conversations and posts.
5. You can also search for any word on Twitter using Tweetscan.

6. Twilert allows you to receive email notification when something is mentioned regarding your organization.

7. GoogleAlerts is a great tool that helps you track your org and relevant conversations.

8. Sign up for an account on HowSociable. This is a great tool for tracking conversations.

9. If you come across a negative comment about your organization or group, respond with kindness and transparency. Craft your response strategically. Most of the time, you can turn the negative comment around just because you were listening.

10. If you are interested in tracking industry trends in the online space, you should check out Trendpedia.

11. Create a LinkedIn group for your organization or group. This is a great way to keep stakeholder communicating, collaborating and sharing.

12. There are many monitoring services if you have the budget. Just Google “reputation management” or “web monitoring” services.

13. If you don’t have a blog… start one. Be topical, relevant, and keep at it. Encourage comments and sharing. And, it’s ok to fall off the wagon. Just get back on (I’ve fallen off many times) and try to keep at it (at least once a week). It gets easier once you have established the habit.

14. Finally, set aside some time every day to monitor conversations about your group. It is important to stay on top of the conversation.

Social Media is here to stay. It’s very dynamic and keeps on changing. Jump in and start using a couple of the tools listed above.

Cheers!
Dave
Sharp Consulting Group, LLC

What’s all the buzz about?

The big buzz in marketing for nonprofit organizations and government agencies these days is all about social networking, viral campaigns and Web 2.0 tools. Organizations of all sizes are starting to ask…Do we start a Facebook page, set up a new blog, start using Twitter, Flickr and YouTube?

Before you start using the latest and greatest social networking tools, take a moment to review your strategic business plan.

Keep it simple. Who are you trying to contact, what is your message and what benefits do you have to offer?

After all, if you just start using web 2.0 tools just because you don’t want to miss out on the latest technology or popular website, you can end up wasting a lot of time, effort and money…

So with this in mind, you may want to ask yourself three simple questions prior to starting a big, new marketing effort using the latest and greatest social networking tools:
1. Is this tool going to help us reach our target audience(s) with the appropriate message?
2. Do we have valuable information to provide via these networking venues?
3. Are the resources available to regularly update and enhance our new, social network marketing campaigns so we experience the best results?

If you answered “Yes” to these questions, then please move forward and plan how you are going to incorporate these social networking tools into your marketing and development plans.

But if you answered “No,” it may be best to do some more research about the tools and trends. This way, you’ll be able to focus your efforts on the marketing activities that will give you the best results while still being aware of new tools and technologies that are available.
Cheers!
Dave