Tip of the Day from NOI twitter

Last week, Melissa Foley encouraged you to get to know your Twitter followers. Here's a little followup tip: Pay attention to your community, and respond accordingly.

By paying attention, you can engage people around the things they're interested in. If you don't pay attention, you might miss opportunities, or have a poorly timed tweet that makes you look out of touch. Here are a few suggestions for staying abreast of the moment, and staying in the good graces of your larger community.

• Follow your followers. A quick scan of your followers' tweets can yield a wealth of information, and lets you know what your community cares about in a given moment. (Twitter has follow limits, so follow back a random cross section, not every follower.)
  
  
• Identify key audiences and communities. Who are your base audiences? Who are the influencers in your arena? Basic categories may include local activists, national figures, elected officials, and press, as well as any other constituencies relevant to your work.
  
  
• Use lists. Once you identify key audiences, create lists. This enables you to scan different constituencies and see what they're talking about.
  
  
• Weigh your responses. You probably have multiple constituencies to consider. Before you tweet, check to see if the timing and content is right for what people are talking about. If there's a major trend or storyline and your content doesn't match up, you probably want to hold off for a better time.

Seen a person or organization kneecap themselves with a poorly timed tweet? Share your stories in the comments on our blog!

Evan Sutton is Communications Manager at NOI, and a Twitter skeptic turned Twitter addict.