I had the pleasure of running a couple
of group sessions at the ACOSVO Annual Conference in Edinburgh earlier this month.
Here's the Q&A of the 3 main issues raised on the issue of how Third Sector CEOs can use social media effectively.
How can I use Twitter to connect with and influence key
stakeholders in my area?
You should follow people you want to
hear from and those you want to connect with.
There are a few tactics you can employ
to achieve this.
Firstly, Twitter can search your
address book to find your existing contacts who are already on Twitter which is
a good way to start out. Click on ‘Discover’ at the top of the Twitter homepage
and then select ‘Find Friends’ from the boxes at the top left of the page.
The 'Activity' stream in the
'Discover' tab of Twitter also shows you which people your followers are
following. Twitter also recommends people who have similar twitter networks to
you.
If you attend an event which uses a
hashtag e.g. #ACOSVO12), a search for that on Twitter will show you tweets from other
attendees as well as a (hopefully) interesting selection of comments/observations/contributions
from the day. (Likewise fans of X Factor can find likeminded souls via #xfactor, etc etc). Looking though the follower lists of other Twitter
users can be a good resource in finding similar people.
Some people create Twitter lists to
group similar users together. @BIGScotland has created a list of the Scottish
Third Sector on Twitter which currently has 500 members from
across the sector. You can either click on the button on the page to follow the
list, or scroll through the list members to find individual users at you'd like
to follow. Other useful lists may include @newdirect's comprehensive list of MSPs on Twitter or @stevebridger's Charity
CEO list.
How can I get enough of the right people to follow me?
· Follow them! Most Twitter users will follow back someone who follows them,
especially if your Twitter profile demonstrates that you share
interests/sectors/friends in common.
· Use appropriate hashtags for events etc so that other users can find you (but please bear
in mind that #overuse #of #hashtags #is #unnecessary #and #annoying).
· Say interesting and informative things (!) that are appropriate to your audience. This can involve:
· Sharing links to articles that you find interesting and/or useful
· Retweeting content from others (always credit your sources)
· Talk to people. It’s nice to be nice, so thank people who have shared a link
that you found helpful. Ask questions, as everyone knows it’s flattering to be
considered an expert so you might be surprised who you can get into a Twitter
conversation with.
How do I find time for this additional activity when I'm already
so busy?
Don’t letter Twitter hoover up your
time. Instead set aside a few minutes every day to catch up on what your
followers are saying and thinking about what you might say to them.
I know of one CEO who only uses
Twitter when on the train to and from work, and when sitting in waiting rooms
or receptions for his next meeting. This approach means that he’s not using up
time on Twitter when he could be doing other things in the office, but still
keeps up with what people are talking about today.
