Group Tweeting

or finding your

organisation’s voice on Twitter

Ali HolderWestminster Libraries

@WCCLibraries: a work in progress

• Started at beginning of March 2009• Currently a lone tweeter, yours truly• First tweet:

‘Planning to put all news and events in libraries here. Also additions to the 24/7 library of exclusive online resources for library members.’

Why we took the plunge:

Immediate, updateable from anywhere – and fed into site, so

not just for Twitter users

Push news to interested parties:

… so they don’t have to check our web site to find out

Getting others to broadcast for us!

How we got started• Got buy in from senior

management, because speaking in Libraries name

• Set up @WCCLibraries account in name of Westminster Libs (Libraries = too long, grrr)

• Completed biography and added link

• Posted!

Aims

• Tweet once or twice a day, most days – not too much, not too little

• Set up business continuity manager with mobile phone access for emergencies & last minute closures etc.

Aims• Mainly post news & events, but also

draw attention to existing / regular / ‘hidden’ aspects of service

Issues• Organisational voice (- more of which later)

• Broadcasting, not conversing

• Access within work setting = restricted

• Getting customers & potential customers to follow us – how to increase proportion of followers who are customers

Lessons• Most RT success is with ‘typical Twitter user’

interests, ie: free wifi

• Use search tool to find out what people are saying about us

• Need to find out who our followers are

More lessons

• Proactive use allows us to build trust and demonstrate use to organisation

• Ditto for users – create a product that gives them a reason to sign up, instead of waiting

Who would you rather follow?

...or perhaps...?

Finding our voice: Who’s tweeting?

• Organisational voice – Cons– Not ‘naked’– Can sound cold or officious– Difficult to engage in conversation

Finding our voice: Me, us – or them?

• Organisational voice – Pros – Builds trust from the organisation– Does not alienate people– Keeps wider user group - and potential

user group - in mind

Future plans

• Group tweeting – or group of tweeters?• More, more, more feeds• More use of hashtags?• Tweeting through events?• Feedback and conversation• How do we measure success?

– it’s a process not a project

Tips

• Never forget the biog section• Work out who’s speaking• Provide links (notlong.com etc.)

• Don’t protect updates• Watch how others do it• Don’t exclude – have a feed

References & links

• www.twitter.com/WCCLibraries• www.westminster.gov.uk/libraries• http://blog.mrtweet.net/ • http://technologizer.com/2009/05/11/ten-twitter-mythc

onceptions/• http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=17722

Thank you