Twitter Guidelines
(Read General Social Media Guidelines First)Twitter is less successful than Facebook as far as reach goes, yet still a great way to reach people.
More can be done to develop our Twitter into a more consistent presence.
How to handle Twitter:
- Right now we adapt content posted on Facebook for Twitter, simply by changing the dimensions of the graphic.
- Twitter has not proven to be a very successful revenue stream for us, which is why we don’t put a lot of time/ effort into it.
- Make sure you only retweet things that are unbiased. DO NOT retweet partisan tweets.
Twitter definitions:
· Followers- twitter users who will see your messages in their feed when you tweet
· Following- you will see tweets from these users in your live feed
· Twitter handle- this is your screen name and your login name
· Tweet- a message you post to Twitter. Must be 140 characters or less.
· Retweet- re-posting a message from someone else on Twitter
· Direct messages- a private tweet sent directly from one user to another
· @- used to mention or to send a message to someone that you are not following
· Tweeple- people who twitter or people who follow you on Twitter (AKA Tweeps)
· Hashtag- # followed by a word, string of words with no spaces, an acronym, or a combination of letters and numbers. It is used for categorization and trending.
· Feed- list of Twitter post may or may not refresh automatically depending on how you are viewing Twitter.Card- A type of post where a link is presented as an image and headline w/text, but no link shows up in tweet.
Best Practices
- All posts should be nonpartisan in nature. This includes not only the tweet text itself but also the external sources in condensed links, retweets and hashtags.
- Be nice. Be thankful. Reply and Retweet. Retweeting is how Twitter users share interesting tweets from the people they are following. They copy and paste the original tweet and send it out. To give credit to the original person, users usually put "RT" plus the originator’s username at the beginning of the tweet. Always try to but something fun/interactive in an RT instead of just using the Twitter retweet function (which is sometimes necessary depending on the character limit).
Example:
@BenandRobot tweets "I love @VoteSmart sooooo much. Bst info evrrrrr! xoxo". We should reply with something like "We agree! RT @BenandRobot I love @VoteSmart soooo much. Bst info evrrrrr! xoxo", and not just click the "retweet" button. Clicking the retweet button will show all of our followers @BenandRobot's initial tweet. Only do this if you feel that you cannot cut the tweet down enough to make the characters fit. Meaning: If @BenandRobot tweets "@VoteSmart has the most up-to-date reliable and relevant information on the web about when it comes to specific senators voting records." We can't respond with "Of course! RT @BenandRobot @VoteSmart has the most up-to-date reliable and relevant information on the web about when it comes to specific senators voting records" because that is too many characters. You can either edit the tweet ("Of course! RT @BenandRobot @VoteSmart has the most up-to-date reliable and relevant info on the web") or use twitter's retweet function.
- Use #hashtags strategically. Hashtags may also be tacked on to the beginning or end of a tweet. They are as expressed on twitter by use of the symbol (#) are a way to organize individual twitter post by category or a trending topic.
- The first word of a hashtag should always be capitalized, especially when using multiple words. For example: #PaycheckProtectionProgram
- Here's some more examples of appropriate hashtags:
#gov - Refers to the government in general.
#politics - Use when referring to politics in general.
#president - Refers to the President of the United States.
#whyivote - Why you’re passionate about voting this election season.
Races by State:
#(state)gov - Use in posts referring to a state’s governor’s race. For example, #cagov (California governor’s race).
#(state)sen - Similarly, use when referring to a particular state’s senate race: i.e., #casen, #aksen, #desen (California, Alaska, and Delaware senate races, respectively).
Issues:
#dadt - The ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy
#economy/#finance/#taxcuts - In reference to the economy and/or tax cuts
#hcr - Refers to health care reform
To find more useful hashtags: http://tagdef.com/ http://tagalus.com
How to post a Twitter card: When you are posting a link, it is best if posted as a card to make our account look professional and improve link clicks. You will need a link, a headline, an image (1024 x 512 px), and tweet text (<280 characters). How to:- On the homepage, choose the "more" option, click "Twitter Ads"
- Select "Creatives" > "Cards"
- Select "Create Card" > "Website Card"
- Select the image you want to use
- Write a headline, try to keep it short
- Insert the URL to the page you want to direct users to
- Give the card a name (internal use only)
- Press "create"
- Now your card is created. To post, hover over your new card and press "tweet"
- Paste in your text to the open window. You do not need to paste the link.
- This step is very important: uncheck "Promoted-only" this allows us to post the tweet for free, rather than as an ad.
- Either select "Tweet" to post the card immediately, or schedule the tweet by choosing the drop-down arrow next to the word "tweet."
More Example Tweets:
Congress votes against removal of troops in #Libya http://bit.ly/mN2U3D
Voting records, speeches, campaign financing info available on 7 #GOP #pres candidates debating in #NH June 13. http://bit.ly/k7nANh
