THOU SHALL TWEET

eBook - 10 pointers from the Pontiff

10 pointers from the PontiffHe’s one of the biggest players on Twitter and made it to the front cover Rolling Stone but he’s not an A-list Hollywood celebrity and doesn’t get papped on a regular basis by tabloids.

Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, may not be the most obvious Twitter icon, but since his election in March 2013 he has surprised many by embracing Twitter as a valuable tool to communicate with his global congregation of followers and in 2013 he was named “the most influential world leader on Twitter”.

Here at SocialBro we’ve been so impressed by the Pope’s work on Twitter that we decided to delve deeper into what makes his tweets so popular, offering some pointers from the Pontiff and showing you how to apply them to your business.

From reaching his target audience to understanding what it is they want, the Pope has quickly realised that Twitter is the best social media tool to bring the Church into the 21st century.

We’ve created a list of 10 ways the Pope is getting it right on Twitter along with our suggestions on how they can work for your business - we’re convinced that if the Vatican can, so can you!

Up first is our look at how the Pope compares with another member of Twitter royalty, Justin Bieber…

The official @Pontifex Twitter accounts, at the time of writing, have more than 12 million followers.

What’s more, the Pope’s regular, informal tweeting style has made him the single most re-tweeted world leader!

What can we learn from Pope Francis?

THE POPE VS JUSTIN BIEBERhow do they compare?

Joined Twitter No. followers

No. tweets First tweet Typical tweet Lessons learned?

The Pope @Pontifex

March 2013 12+M 300+ Dear friends, I thank you from my heart and I ask you to continue to pray for me. Pope Francis

In the Gospel we can hear Jesus speaking to us every day: may we always carry with us a small copy of the Gospel!

Offering insight and words to live by can quickly gain you a large following.

Justin Bieber @justinbieber

May 2009 50.8M 26.5K Check out my single "ONE TIME" on my myspace and spread the word for me. Thanks. www.myspace.com/justinbieber

The #BelieveMovie is now out on DVD in the US/Canada & other countries! Make sure to grab your copy today! Tweet me @shots with your copy!

Self-promotion can lead to financial success if you have a loyal fan-base..

From world leaders to pop stars, Twitter is truly the great leveller of social media, allowing anyone to broadcast their message to the world and receive instant feedback.

We decided to compare the Twitter accounts of two of the world’s most popular tweeters to see how they use them and what we can learn...

(Source: Twitter, April 2014)

1Pointer no.

Get yourself seen

The Pope reaches his followers online

With a recent study showing that around 62% of US Catholics - that’s just over 36 million people - have Facebook profiles, it seems Pope Benedict’s description of social media as a “digital continent” isn’t too far off the mark.

Some conservatives in the church may have initially questioned the use of social media by the Papacy, but Pope Francis’ belief that a multi-faceted digital profile (including Twitter) is required to reach the young people who represent the future of the church, is bearing fruit.

Business Takeaway

GO WHERE YOUR FOLLOWERS ARE

It’s vital to take your message to wherever your target audience can be found. Find out where they are and what they’re interested in and you’ll have a better chance of

successfully engaging with them.

2Pointer no.

Speaking your followers language

The Pope is overcoming the language barrierAccording to a recent survey, 9 out of 10 European internet users

prefer browsing in their own language. To increase his online

followers, the Pope tweets in several languages. His Spanish-

language account is the most popular with over 5.3 million

followers, with the English-language account coming in second

with 3.8 million. Official Papal Twitter accounts have also been

established in Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish

and, perhaps most interestingly, Latin, the latter gaining more than

230,000 followers to date despite it being a “dead” language.

Twitter account/language No. followers No. tweets

@Pontifex_es (Spanish) 5.36M 299

@Pontifex (English) 3.89M 301

@Pontifex_it (Italian) 1.64M 299

Table: The Pope’s top 3 Twitter accounts (Source: Twitter, April 2014)

Business Takeaway

THINK OUTSIDE YOUR OWN LANGUAGE

Don't assume that all your customers want to be spoken to in English, even if they speak

the language. Tailoring tweets for other languages (either on separate Twitter accounts

or on a single account) shows you're responsive to customers and willing to go the extra

mile, something that's always welcome in the business world.

3Pointer no.

Develop a routine

Pope Francis is a regular tweeter

Studies have shown that by tweeting regularly, users are

more inclined to follow an account. While Pope Benedict XVI

was the first Pope to establish a Twitter account, his tweeting

momentum was sporadic at best, sometimes leaving weeks

between tweets. Pope Francis, on the other hand, tweets on a

regular basis, normally at least once every day.

Business Takeaway

MAKE TWEETING A DAILY TASK

Creating regular tweets provides followers with an incentive to check out an account more

often, increasing engagement and loyalty in the process. Consider scheduling tweets (it’s

simple with SocialBro) through the day or over a weekend if you know you'll be away from

your computer for a prolonged period.

4 Be timely

Pointer no.

Keep an eye on the calendarPope Francis often tweets on topical or timely matters, increasing the potential of the tweet to be shared by other Twitter users and picked up by the wider media. For example, on Valentine’s Day this year, the Pope tweeted the following:

“Dear young people, don’t be afraid to marry. A faithful and fruitful marriage will bring you happiness.”

As a result of the timing of this message, the tweet was almost instantaneously covered by every major news provider on the planet.

Business Takeaway

KEEP A DIARY TO HAND

Be aware of key dates in the global calendar and ensure you're ready to tweet relevant

messages. Use Twitter’s new calendar that provides information on key events from

around the globe, allowing you to pre-plan your content. Major sporting events and

celebrity weddings generate millions of tweets but remember that dates such as

Mother's Day are different everywhere, so don't focus on your home country and

neglect followers in other countries.

5Pointer no.

Get the hashtag habit

Be part of the wider community

Since September 2013, Pope Francis has issued a series of tweets asking his followers to pray for a speedy and peaceful resolution to the civil war in Syria, which have included the hashtag #prayforpeace.

Creating a hashtag that can easily be adopted by Twitter users encourages the sharing of thoughts on the subject.

Business Takeaway

DON´T MAKE A HASH OF HASHTAGSThere's no harm in using established hashtags to get your message across, but be wary of being

seen to be jumping on bandwagons. Consider creating your own hashtags for special events such as

sales or product launches and encourage followers to use them.

6Pointer no.

Keep it short and sweet

Fewer characters = better resultsWhile a tweet can be a maximum of 140 characters in length, a recent report suggested that tweets with fewer than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate.

Pope Francis avoids complex language in his tweets and uses each individual tweet to make a single point, clearly and succinctly. Not only does this approach encourage engagement from a wider range of readers, it also aids the accurate translation of each tweet into a range of different languages.

Business Takeaway

KEEP IT SIMPLEWith only 140 characters to play with, it pays to keep your message succinct and to the

point. The more space left in a tweet, the more likely it is that followers will retweet it and

add their own comment, another reason to be brief.

7Pointer no.

Reach for the stars

Believe in the power of the re-tweetWhile many people consider the total number of followers to be the key benchmark of success on Twitter, an important statistic is the total ‘reach’ of your tweets, i.e. the number of times your tweets are shared by others.

For example, while US President Barack Obama has almost four times as many followers as Pope Francis, Obama’s tweets are re-tweeted on average 2,300 times, while the Pope’s Spanish-language tweets are re-tweeted an average of 11,100 times and his English-language tweets are re-tweeted an average 8,200 times.

Business Takeaway

UNDERSTAND WHAT´S POPULAR

Businesses should closely track how often individual updates are re-tweeted, so to better

gauge what is important to their followers and what sort of content they will actively engage

with.

8Pointer no.

Multi-platform minded

The Pope is on numerous social networksWith an estimated 200 social networking sites in existence, it’s sometimes difficult to know where to start. Having shown enough insight to create a strong Twitter presence, the world’s first digital-savvy Pontiff is now shrewd enough to be keeping an eye on the rest of the social media market and establishing a presence on new influential social networks as they rise to prominence.

In October 2013, Pope Francis created an official account on Instagram, which has since racked up around 18,000 followers.

Business Takeaway

KEEP AN EYE ON NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Social media never stays still, and neither should your social media presence. Keep an

eye on what networks are on the rise and consider being a part of new platforms.

There's no harm in creating an account on a new platform to guarantee your name isn't

taken by a cybersquatter, even if you don't use it.

9Pointer no.

Make it universal

The Pope thinks outside his traditional audience

The fact that the Pope's tweets are inspirational in nature and

contain many universal truths means they're not just relevant to

Catholics. Spreading useful messages that are relevant across the

globe means the Papal Twitter account is followed by both

religious and non-religious people and often reported as news by

the media in many countries.

Business Takeaway

THINK GLOBALWhether a business is appealing to a local or global audience, chances are it can always

do with attracting new customers. Keep your tweets relevant to as wide an audience

as possible and try not to be too niche.

10Pointer no.

Be spontaneous

The Pope keeps his tweets varied

Reacting to world events and personal experiences means

nobody knows what the Pope will say next. By being

unpredictable and spontaneous his followers are kept

guessing about what he'll tweet next, though they're confident

that the style and tone will stay roughly the same from tweet to

tweet.

Business Takeaway

TWEET THE UNEXPECTEDBusinesses can keep their followers engaged and curious by giving them the

unexpected, from exclusive previews of product launches to behind the scenes gossip

that can't be found elsewhere.

While it’s unlikely that your business will break the 11 million follower barrier, that doesn’t mean that by following some of the lessons laid down by the Pope you can’t become a popular and well-respected member of the Twitter community.

Being creative and understanding what your followers want can lead to a fantastic experience for all involved and you’ll soon see results from the time and effort you spend on Twitter.

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