My Two Cents- on Twitter

A school communication colleague of mine asked our group for the best way to use Twitter in their district. The following is my response, not necessarily an answer to her question. I just wanted to share with you. Please remember that every school district, business, and organization is different. You will need to clearly define your goals for using Twitter, or any social media, in your communication plan.

I am a huge fan of Twitter, but I have not had a lot of success with Twitter for organizations.

For me- Twitter by real people is the most authentic use of the tool. I, Michelle Herpich, post my views and questions to my circle of followers, who are, for the most part, real people.

I really feel that organizations/groups use Twitter as a way to "broadcast/bulletin board" information, not a "2-way method to communicate." This is fine to get your message out to people, but you are not necessarily maximizing the use of Twitter. Most of my "organization" interactions are very "shallow", but my personal interactions are deeper and are more about "relationship building."

I think that admins should be using a personal Twitter and staying connected with other educators and keep in the loop with technology. However- their posts will be their personal posts to their followers, not necessarily of interest to all district followers. This is for them to build relationships!

Options for Posting to a District/Organization/Business Page:

Twitter is great because one account (district/organization) can have any number of people that can post to it. You just have to share the login information with those in the "circle of trust!" (Yes, one person can have multiple Twitter accounts.)

The most simple method of posting is a Generic post from the page:
"Twitter Tip: Follow industry leaders for inspiration and you will learn so much"

If you want to add a little more "personalization" you could have each person could "sign" their tweet with their initials. (Maybe you could sign w/ location?)
"Twitter Tip: Follow industry leaders for inspiration and you will learn so much /mh"

If the district has a Twitter Account, the admins (or anyone) can RT the original tweet, therefore increasing the reach of your original tweet. THAT is what Twitter is all about! Example:
SCKESC posts: "Twitter Tip: Follow industry leaders for inspiration and you will learn so much"

Michelle Herpich ReTweets; "RT @SCKESC
Twitter Tip: Follow industry leaders for inspiration and you will learn so much"
(Now all of Michelle Herpich's followers see this and may click on @SCKESC and if they like what they see- they will click "FOLLOW" :)

Don't Forget: If you have several people posting from one Account you could become more of an annoyance to your followers.

You also want to make sure that people are not making duplicate posts, not realizing someone else had already posted that information.

Be sure that the content that your provide is more valuable than it is annoying or they will stop following you.

OK- I'm going to stop now. I could talk about this all day! :) Feel free to post your thought here or find me on my personal Twitter!