I’m very excited to announce the first guest post on
The Direct Approach – especially when it’s none other than non-profit social media guru John Haydon. John’s a long-time Social Media Consultant and the publisher of CorporateDollar.Org
Twitter tips are like cottage cheese – they should always come with an expiration date. 
The viral nature Twitter makes any attempt to differentiate your organization – whether you are a non-profit or a fortune 500 company – with the latest tip obsolete in a matter of days.
So, instead of seeking to differentiate your organization with tactics, go back to your strategy. Understanding the difference between tactics and strategies can unlock a wealth of ideas about using social media.
Here are five ideas from my recent discussions:
1. Use Jott.com, a voice-test translation service to post tweets with your cell phone. It will allow you to stay in the conversation while you pick up your kids from school.
2. Buy a cheap graphic design tool and make your avatar “pop”. I use photoshop elements because it’s easy to use and only cost me $49.
3. Include an “interesting fact” on your background – not one about your non-profit, but about you. The folks you converse with will want proof that you’re human. Don’t be scared.
4. If you choose to use an autoresponder (using tweetlater.com), make it human, useful and about the person following you.
5. Create a second Twitter account, to use as a broadcaster about your non-profit.
The take away?
Make up your own Twitter Tips – remember, success depends on who leads, not who follows 
Rebecca Atkinson (Muller) is a freelance web marketing/analytics consultant with more than seven years of direct experience helping businesses create and implement online marketing and communications strategies. Her clients come from all industries including finance, technology and not-for-profit. She specializes in helping her clients determine how to improve their advertising programs, focusing on visitor behaviour – beyond the inital click-through. Full bio available
Excellent share. Love the tips. Can steal?
Tojosan
@Tojosan, Glad you like. Final word rests with John – but as long as you give proper credit, I don’t have any issues.
John unfortunately has gremlins in his computer preventing him from commenting – so pretend I’m him for now..
“@Todd – Talent borrows, genious steals. Steal away!”
I see a recurring theme here – finding a way to keep the ’social’ or humans part of social media in the forefront of strategy, whether it’s tools that help you to fit tweeting in around family life and other commitments, or avatar/bio that give a sense of personality. And the idea of setting up a broadcaster account to handle the bulk of basic announcements is one for which, more and more, the benefits are becoming clear. If I were to *bold* one phrase here, however, it would be *the difference between tactics and strategies*!
@rjleaman, I like the way you’ve tied this together with both personal and other committments.
I also definitely agree with understanding the difference between tactics and strategies. Too often people get confused and think that Twitter itself can be a strategy, when in fact it is just a tactic.
Great comments!