Using Twitter for Campaigns like #GivingTuesday

Using Twitter for Campaigns like #GivingTuesday
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If you’ve been following the #TwitterSmarter chat for at least a year, you’ll know that every November, we dedicate a week to talking about Giving Tuesday. It’s the biggest day of the year for nonprofits and social causes, and we love chatting about how nonprofits can use Twitter to amplify their fundraisers and other campaigns. This week, we spoke to Camber Clemence from GiveWP about using Twitter and Giving Tuesday. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Camber Clemence
Topic: Using Twitter for campaigns like #GivingTuesday
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
Q1: What is #GivingTuesday?
Giving Tuesday is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It’s a global movement that encourages people to give back to their communities and causes they care about.
A1: Giving Tuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and is the most significant global giving day of the year. #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/jAQlLbcmLj
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
Q2: What are the benefits of using Twitter to amplify a fundraising campaign during #GivingTuesday?
One of the biggest benefits of amplifying your campaign on Twitter, is that you get to engage directly with your donors, as our guest pointed out. What’s more, you can also check in with supporters, share milestones, and even widen your reach with branded hashtags and promoted tweets.
A2: There are so many ways to use Twitter to bring awareness to your campaign on #GivingTuesday !
???? Engaging with donors/supporters
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
As our friends from VirtuDesk added, Twitter is a great place to build a community around social causes. It’s an ideal platform for nonprofits to leverage.
A2: Twitter is a great platform to help spread awareness, and reach new audiences. They can also use it to build communities that support non-profit organizations. #TwitterSmarter
— VirtuDesk (@virtudeskcom) November 10, 2022
Q3: How can nonprofits utilize Twitter for proactive campaigning during #GivingTuesday?
Camber’s biggest tip is to be strategic and not to let it overwhelm you. Nonprofits are always short of help, and social media often takes a back seat. If you know you can’t allocate the required resources to doing a social campaign properly, then it’s best not to do it at all. But of course, it’s even better if you can run a comprehensive campaign, because chances are, a large chunk of your target audience is already active on Twitter.
A3.1: Please be strategic ???? We know many nonprofits are strapped for time/resources. It’s better to not use Twitter at all than to not plan accordingly.
Nonprofit social media is frequently an afterthought despite how often most demographic groups use social! #TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
Identify your target audience, and think about what kind of content you want to share, when, and how you’ll post them consistently. If you need to schedule content, ensure that you have the right tools to do the job. Thoughout the campaign, engage with your supporters and showcase your brand’s personality fearlessly.
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
Q4: Should nonprofits use a branded hashtag in conjunction with #GivingTuesday?
It’s optional, but branded hashtags are a great way to establish your brand. That said, don’t crowd your post with too many hashtags either—two is the optimum, and every hashtag should ideally be in Camel Case (capitalizing the first letter of each word) and shouldn’t read inappropriately when placed together.
A4: Too many hashtags can look spammy but there’s nothing wrong with using two. Branded hashtags should be easy to remember, in #CamelCase , and should not be inappropriate when all the words are side-by-side. #TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
Madalyn also supported using a branded hashtag. As she said, a branded hashtag is more likely to appeal to donors who want to endorse your campaign.
A4: Absolutely use a branded hashtag on #GivingTuesday ! This will help generate more awareness for your cause and can be used by donors to boost your fundraising efforts. #TwitterSmarter
— Madalyn Sklar  Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) November 10, 2022
Q5: How can nonprofits thank donors and share campaign updates through Twitter?
Listen. As Camber mentioned, social listening is a great way to know who’s talking about your brand and can help you engage with them swiftly and appropriately.
A5.1: Social listening can help nonprofits determine who is talking about and supporting their organization and allow them to engage and say thank you. #TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
If you have recurring donors, use Twitter to thank them and share what an impact they’ve made to the cause. It’s a lovely way to thank donors and encourage more people to support the cause.
A5.3: And of course, last but not least, nonprofits should be using Twitter on #GivingTuesday to keep their supporters informed about how close to their goal they are. Thermometers are a great way to do this! It helps to see how close/far you are to your goal. #TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
Of course, Giving Tuesday is the perfect day to be on Twitter and share the progress of your fundraiser. You can do a visual progress bar or a thermometer that shows how close you are to achieving your target.
Pavel also recommended doing thank you videos. It’s a really good way to showcase your appreciation—and videos generally perform well on the platform, propelling your tweet to a broad audience.
A5: Thank you videos are enough. They can also tag those people they were thankful for. #TwitterSmarter
— Pavel Stepanov (@pavelStepanov77) November 10, 2022
Q6: How can you tell an impactful story with just 280 characters?
Storytelling is an art. Twitter is no exception. Instead of thinking of it as a single tweet, be strategic about your campaign as a whole and even your entire Twitter presence. Every tweet you ever post should be a small part of the bigger story you’re trying to convey. That way, when you’re posting a single tweet, you’re not trying to cram everything into one, but instead trying to place a piece in a bigger puzzle.
A6.2: Focus on your audience, share the story at the right time, be concise but descriptive, and always include a DIRECT call-to-action. #TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
This is easy to do if you know who you’re talking to. As Camber pointed out, understand what your audience wants to see on Twitter. That way, you can tailor your message to show up at the right time at the right place. Check out this article for more insights about telling a story with few words.
You can also use media to extend your story. As Howard suggested, consider using an infographic to go with your tweet. Videos work well, too. So do threaded tweets, images, and GIFs.
#TwitterSmarter A6: Use infographics to accompany the text. https://t.co/e59dMMVx8D
— Howard Cheng (@LifeByStills) November 10, 2022
Q7: How can Twitter Moments help during #GivingTuesday campaigns?
Twitter Moments are great for compiling a series of tweets, regardless of who posted them. A nonprofit can collate all tweets that use their branded hashtag and use that Moment as a way to drive more engagements and awareness for their Giving Tuesday campaign.
A7:As a nonprofit with a branded hashtag for a their #GivingTuesday campaign, how fun would it be to compile all the tweets about your organization into a Twitter moment? Let’s everyone feel engaged, part of a larger community, and it’s instant recognition! #TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
Besides, as Benjamin added, when your Moment includes tweets that have gotten a lot of organic engagement, it’s a subtle way of showing others how successful you campaign is. It’ll also help drive your reach.
A7: Just like with your #TwitterSmarter moments, nonprofits can compile and recap any content they had for their campaign. You can even include user engagement in moments, which speaks volumes about your impact and can encourage others to get involved!
— Benjamin Katz (@BKatz301) November 10, 2022
Q8: How can supporters help nonprofits gain more visibility on #GivingTuesday?
The most effective way to show support is to tell others why you support a nonprofit or a cause. Why we do things is a powerful motivator and evokes strong emotions. When you share your why, it helps others resonate with you. They’ll be more inclined to learn about and support your cause.
Otherwise, just like you would uplift anyone else on Twitter, you should engage, like, comment, RT/QT, etc! Social proof is so important to nonprofits. #TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP ???? (@GiveWP) November 10, 2022
If you’re not comfortable talking about it, give nonprofits more feed time, instead. This means retweeting, engaging, and actively showing your audience that you care about this cause. It adds to the campaign’s social proof.
Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading through and for more great insights from our chat with Camber, have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together for us. If you like this summary, you’ll love the real-time chat. Join us next Thursday at 1 pm ET for #TwitterSmarter. We also have an after-chat on Twitter Spaces at 5 pm ET. See you there!
 
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the things—marketing stuff to pay the bills; haiku and short stories so I feel wholesome. A social media enthusiast, I hang out with the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and am always happy to take on writing gigs.
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