Tips for institutions (and others) to succeed on Twitter

A friend who recently started working for a journalism institute e-mailed me for advice about how to grow the institute’s Twitter following. My response applies to both institutes and institutions, including newspapers, and somewhat to individuals as well. So I thought I should share it.

Here is a summary of my advice to him:

Don’t act like an institution

One big challenge is that the personal voice works better than the institutional voice on Twitter and in general social networking. An account identified with a person’s name, or at least a person’s image, also seems to be more appealing to users than one named for an institution and using a logo.

I think this is a reason the Chicago Tribune went with “Colonel Tribune,” to try to personalize themselves. Their institutional account, @ChicagoTribune, has far fewer followers.

Anything you can do to use the institutional account in a personal way — conversation, replies, asking questions — will help. The more engagement you send out by retweeting others and replying to people, the more you will get back.

You may want to keep the “institution” username but change the “real name” on the account to the tweeter’s name. Also say in the account bio who actually does the Tweeting. In short, act like a social human and be identifiable as one, while still being related to the institute’s important work.

Be insanely useful

Beyond that, the most important way to get new followers is to be useful. You get some exposure by following other people, and then they check your profile to see if they want to follow you. But most people will stumble across your account through someone’s retweet or otherwise, and they will look at the recent tweets to see if they are useful, engaging, entertaining.

Be sure to fill your Twitter stream with useful content for the audience you’re seeking, including tips, tools, links to blogs and news.

Give people a chance to discover you

Once you’re doing all that well, it just takes time and exposure to let people discover you. You can help that by getting your Twitter account linked from everything else your institution does — the web site, e-mails, newsletters, conference materials, etc.

Big jumps in followers come on days when something you post to Twitter goes viral, and that’s often done by getting users who already have big follower counts to retweet you or your work. You can find some niche leaders by looking through MrTweet.com, WeFollow.com, and other directories, and get to know the most-followed people in the categories you want to rise in.

Also, in-person contact helps a ton. People who actually work with your institution or come to conferences are the easiest recruits.

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