How Associations Can Use Twitter

I started using Twitter on a whim. (I actually created an MHA Twitter account long before I created a personal one - I just never posted anything to it.)

It seems I do better using new technology personally first. Then I slowly begin to realize the business applications. But I've immersed myself in Twitter for a few months now, and I'm ready to report back on how you can add it to your association's Web mix.

• Advocacy - Lobbyists can post updates during a legislative session via cell phone - as they happen. "Call 800.000.000 now and tell legislator to vote no on S. 2345!" "Health Committee Conference at 2:30 p.m. in Room 101."
• Link blog - If you've ever wanted a place to store interesting links for your members - without much in-depth discussion (as you're limited to 140 characters) - Twitter would be a good application. And Typepad has a Twitter widget that will let you seamlessly add it to your Web site.
• Blog Referrer - Some use Twitter to draw attention to postings on their blog. (Do this judiciously, however. I don't recommend providing a link to every entry - just one you would like to draw special attention to.)
• Conferences - Set up a Twitter account just for your conference and post updates about activities, speakers, events, etc. (Or set up one for your association and use it for this purpose during the conference. But I have discovered that people are much less scared of technology if they are going to use it on a finite basis...like three days during the conference.)
• Cell phone updates - A post I wrote a while back on the Acronym blog led to some asking me how they could communicate with members on their mobile phones. At the time, it was a pretty expensive undertaking (not amenable to zero-budget association marketing departments). With Twitter, interested members can set their account to receive cell phone updates from your postings. And the beauty of it is that is opt in - members who don't want updates on their cell phone can just view them on the Web.
• Networking - I have met many people on Twitter that I never would have met otherwise. I have learned from people who do what I do every day (generally not for associations) but do it much better than me. I have seen support spring up over night for everything from victims of wildfires in California to those who discovered they had cancer. (See www.frozenpeafund.com for that support in action.) In addition to personal networking, you can help other association members find each other by asking if they have blogs, Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts, etc.

In the meantime, I am trying to keep track of association folks on Twitter. (I found Ben, but if you are on Twitter and would like to be added to my informal TwitteRoll, let me know.)

Comments

[Britt Bravo]

Hi Shawn!

I've included your post, and peavatar in this month's Net2ThinkTank roundup:
http://www.netsquared.org/blog/britt-bravo/net2thinktank-how-can-nonprofits-use-twitter