JustGiving blog

A site like Twitter is a real gem when you’re fundraising. As one of the ten most popular sites on the internet and with over 500 million users, it’s a great way to spread the word. If you’re completely new to Twitter, or if you’re still trying to get to grips with it, here are our top five tips.

1. Set up your profile

Like with any social media site, Twitter is all about personality. Before you start tweeting, make sure your profile reflects exactly who you are, what you’re doing and why. Upload a profile picture, add a bio and include a link to your JustGiving page.

If you need a hand setting up your profile, this Twitter FAQ takes you through the different steps

2. Follow people with similar interests

Twitter is a really great way of connecting with fellow fundraisers and people interested in your cause. With other social networking sites, you tend to only socialise with people that you already know. On Twitter, not only can you follow all sorts of different people, you can also follow companies, charities and celebrities. Start by searching for the charity you’re fundraising for and see who else is following them. If you’re taking part in an event, search for the event name too. Hopefully you’ll find a few fellow participants.

And of course, don’t forget to follow JustGiving for the latest fundraising tips and stories :)

3. Use hashtags

Hashtags (the # symbol) are used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. They give Twitter a real community feel, enabling people to see everything being said about a particular topic.

A really good example is the London marathon. When people on Twitter were talking about the race, whether they were training for it, watching it on the TV or wishing the runners good luck, they often included the hashtag #LondonMarathon. The hashtagged words can then be clicked on, bringing up every other tweet that includes that hashtag.

Try and hashtag one or two things in your tweets that you think will help you reach potential supporters. Things like event names, charity names or just simply the word charity will help you reach fellow fundraisers and people interested in charitable giving.

Here’s an example tweet.

4. Ask your followers to retweet

One way of reaching more people on Twitter is by asking your followers to retweet your message. If anyone does retweet you, word of your fundraising will then spread to all of their followers. If one of their followers also retweets your message, you’ve reached a whole new group of people again. You could see if your local radio station or newspaper are on twitter and ask them to retweet your page.

People on Twitter commonly refer to a retweet as RT, so whenever you tweet about your fundraising, end it with ‘please RT’.

5. Ask your donors to tweet about your page

Social sharing is a huge deal – the more people talking about your fundraising, the better. That’s why we’ve made it really easy to share your fundraising page on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and of course, Twitter.

Encourage your donors to spread the word on their social networks by updating the story on your JustGiving page. Point out the sharing buttons in the top right hand corner of your page and let them know that they’ll also be asked to share after they’ve donated.

Finally, here are a few Twitter don’ts.

Have you got a great tip for fundraising on Twitter? We’d love to hear it! Leave us a comment on the blog or send us a Tweet

Tags: Fundraising, hashtag, retweet, Tips, top 5, tweet, twitter