Twitter Quick Start Guide for Associations

Many times people who are new to Twitter tell me that they are confused about what Twitter is and how it can help them. First, Twitter is a microblogging platform that allows you to send out 140 character long messages (tweets). All the big stars from Oprah to Ashton Kutcher are using Twitter, so why would associations want to use Twitter? Here are 5 reasons:

1. Help members find you! By having a Twitter account with your name, you’re letting Google know you exist! Anytime your associations name on the web, you need to take that opportunity (create GoogleJuice as @JeffJarvis would say). Think about how your association can use Twitter find members or be know as your industries source of the latest information.

2. Helps you build your Brand – Here we see the likes of Dell, Starbucks, Comcast, JetBlue, and Whole Foods using twitter every day. Those are corporate brands, but what about your personal brand? What can you do to stand out! You are the brand, and its independent of your current employer, so make sure your tweets show your expertise which builds trust between you and your current & potential clients.

3. Education & Networking – Here is a great opportunity to learn and network with others in your industry and your association counterparts. You will also find that most conferences have a special tweeter feed (i.e. #ASAE09). If you are attending as an attendee this is a great way to keep track with what is happening in all of the various conference sessions. If you are attending as an exhibitor, this will allow you follow the conference conversations, giving you inside information on what the “hot topics” are so you will be better prepared when they visit the exhibitor area.

4. Twitter is an additional client communication tool. Find and follow all the key players in your target industry (you can use www.Twellow.com to do this). Use Twitter to promote information from your associations e-newsletter, website, and/or blog. Show value by tweeting information that will help your members make more money and get the latest industry information (i.e. Read 5 ways to increase your revenues here.. or 3 Tips for holding successful open houses/staff meetings…)

5. Direct Marketing tool. I think associations can (and should) be using Twitter to promote their association & industry news (i.e. we use HootSuite to automatically tweet out the news that is published from our associations RSS feeds) and events. Sending out membership promotions can be done, but don’t make that the main reason you use Twitter. I think in this day and age associations need to give value first, and Twitter is great tool that can educate prospective members and show them the value you will bring to them.

How did I get started in Twitter?
1. I opened an account (www.Twitter.com).
2. Used Twitter’s search to find people I know (search.twitter.com).
3. Used Twellow.com to find people to follow in my target niche industry.
4. I Decided to open three accounts, one for my speaking and one in my niche (targeted to potential clients), and one for my Foodie alter ego.
5. Read Joel Comm’s (@joelcomm) book Twitter Power on better ways to use Twitter, and how to use it to make money!
6. I Quickly discovered I couldn’t keep up with all the tweeting going on started using TweetDeck to manage my incoming tweets.
7. Didn’t want to spend every minute of the day on Twitter and use Hootsuite to schedule my future Tweets and connect my RSS reader on my blog to automatically tweet out when I have a new blog entry. You can read my review of Hootsuite here: http://www.twitip.com/twitip-reader-review-hootsuite/

Summary
Since Twitter operates on PC’s, Mac’s and mobile phones anyone can get or send a tweet whenever they like. This will allow you make an offer or ask a question and get a response very quickly. It is one of the biggest differentiators over any other marketing modalities.

Ok, it looks like Twitter is the perfect tool, what is the downside? First, you have to remember you only have 140 characters to work with, so your message needs to be well thought out and concise. Sure Twitter is free, and most of the applications you’ll need to manage all those tweets and feeds only require donations. Regardless, it takes a large amount of time to go through the information, and send out tweets a few times a day. Luckily there are some tools that help. I like Tweetdeck as a platform to manage all of my tweets, and I use Hootsuite to schedule my tweets and automatically take my websites RSS feeds and convert them into tweets.

As you can see, Twitter can certainly be part of an associations marketing strategy. Good Luck!

You can follow our associations Twitter account here: http://www.twitter.com/IAPAM

Jeff Russell