When it comes to social media, sometimes non-profits and small business are left with trial and error, or the experimentation of well intentioned volunteers and employees. What they don’t realize is that tools like Twitter need guidelines, focus and organization, much like your monthly newsletter updates and website information. You need to set content boundaries and goals.

A good example of trial and error of Twitter is ACTE, the Association of Career and Technical Education.

ACTE held their 2009 conference in Nashville, Tennessee and had student bloggers, twitter and website updates. However, after a few hours of glancing at their feeds, I made some observations:

There was only one Twitter username, but at least four separate twitter-ers. This can create confusion for people following the stream.

They didn’t have any organization, which resulted in mirrored updates and comments about the content. What about the actual content? 

The only hashtag they used was connected to their conference(#09acte).

They didn’t have anyone giving directions or updates on the available seminars, lectures or vendors.

No Links. They mentioned links and student blogs, but I didn’t see links to them very often, if at all.

All of the participation in social media was well intended, but the tweeters lacked direction, organization and focus. 

What they displayed:

Enthusiasm. If you are going to have people tweet and update, they need passion and dedication, that’s what the members of the ACTE team did display. So, with some direction and a few improvements, they could be stars on the educational Twitter stream!

 What they could try next time:

Set up multiple twitter accounts for the conference so people can tell the difference, without wasting precious characters with things like ‘**Sam**’ to announce who is updating. Also, this will enhance organization on the Twitter stream if certain people are only tweeting on certain conference topics. Which leads to the next to-do…

Assign! Give different sections, topics and ‘beats’ to people to help in the organization of updates. This way you and your followers know where to go when you want to know something, and this will give guidance to the tweeters.

Create update guidelines. This will give the tweeters some direction. You would never ask someone to ‘go’ for a project. Instead, you would give them the boundries, project goals and messages, a time frame and the resources needed to complete the job. (Hint: some tools could be example updates, optional hashtags and website information!)

Diversify hashtag integration. There are a number of educational hashtags that could benefit from knowing about ACTE which this could help in enhance an educational presence on tools like Twitter. Everyone wants to increases the conversation and connect people that are also interested in the same topics! Research possible hashtags before the conference, and man your tweeters with tools!

As my old fire safety announcements used to say, ‘you gotta have a plan’ and part of that plan is get your message accross and start the conversation. Twitter can help, if you are prepared!

Kristina is based in the Twin Cities and eats and breathes social media. Her love for technology’s influence on culture can be found here.

Tags: conference, Social Media, Strategy, the right way, Twitter, twitter tools