Getting BBBS on Twitter

Back when being on Twitter wasn’t considered risky for a family-friendly nonprofit, I took the opportunity to do just that for the Sudbury agency. You have to understand that the agency relies on Facebook almost exclusively to communicate to the public, but somewhere along the line I came to the conclusion “Facebook is for the community you already have… Twitter’s for the community you haven’t reached yet…”

I’m sure the truth isn’t so cut and dried, especially with the potential availabe with sponsored ads and paid targeted posts… but at its peak, with its hashtagging and suggestion algorithms, Twitter was an excellent way to find people with your interests, or in your geographical community… for free.

I’m not going to rehash all the details of getting them online. I’ve written two blogs on the subject:

Chantal Gladu, Agency Director, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sudbury
“Geoff has provided his professional services to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sudbury since 2002 on various design projects. During this time he has shown exemplary initiative in creating a wide variety of design artwork including logos, posters, banners, greating cards, business cards, advertisements, web graphics, pamphlets and more. His eye for design is first-rate as are his skills in leading design software. Geoff is a team player with a “can-do” attitude. His strong work ethic and ability to quickly complete any job thrown at him has made him an asset to our agency. Geoff is creative, reliable, flexible and personable. I highly recommend Geoff to any employer or individual seeking a talented, motivated graphic designer.”

CASE STUDY: Getting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sudbury on Twitter

CASE STUDY: Getting BBBS of Greater Sudbury on Twitter – pt 2

This was years before the rebrand in 2019, so I used the appropriate colours and imagery available to all the agencies. The generic postables would use that “look”, but there was also room for the agency’s more unique posts, such as the calendar promotional, the Sweet’N’Scary fundraiser and the Bowl For Kids Sake Goes To The Movies promotion.

By the time my experiment had run its course and I’d decided to let the agency focus on Facebook without actively pushing the Twitter account anymore, I’d gathered almost 300 followers. I’d continue to update the account with fundraiser event posts just to keep the Twitter account in parity with the Facebook account with regards to promotions.

I created a series of posts utilizing the resources available to agencies at the time for a generic messaging campaign. I believe I was operating on the 20% rule at the time… one in five posts would be direcly promotional on behalf of the agency, and the remaining 80% would be informational posts of all kinds, some about mentoring, some about children, about parenting, about everything that would possibly appeal to people in the demographic that Big Brothers Big Sisters services. I’d be sure to retweet materials posted by other Greater Sudbury nonprofits, such as their own fundraisers, or weather reports, or even comment on other posts with a persona appropriate to the agency… everything to help get BBBS out there in the community conversation.

All in all, it was a lot of fun… but a lot of work. Because you can’t just post random stuff and wash your hands of it… if you’re managing social media, it’s got to be targeted, professional, in character… and you have to be looking out for opportunities to join conversations, and make that joining matter.

Back To School

This was something I pushed on the agency a few years back – posting Back To School warnings on all the socials asking anyone paying attention to their Twitter and Facebook feeds to actually pay more attention to the roads as the kids themselves might not be.

It was one of those cases where a public service warning actually dovetailed perfectly with the agency’s mission of looking out for the kids. It was also an unobtrusive way of slipping the agency into a topical conversation… back to school.

Getting BBBS on Twitter

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