What is your charities name and Mission?
We are Action for Children, committed to helping the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK break through injustice, deprivation and inequality, so they can achieve their full potential.
How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We started using Twitter via @TimeWarp_Plinth in July 2009 to promote our 1 hour slot on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square dancing the TimeWrap. We joined up as @aslongasittakes in September 2009 in preparation for our Neglect Appeal launched 12th October.
What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Communicating with our supporters on a very real, one to one non-corporate human basis, and being able to chat with them instantly. We've discovered a whole new online world that just has so much potential for any charity or orgnisation we're really excited about moving forward in!
It's a no nonsense approach to engaging with our supporters but it can be so much fun, sharing pictures, videos, links and discovering new followers! We've shown followers ways that they can support Action for Children through our Tweets, and it works!
It's also a brilliant learning tool, helping nonprofits grow their social media strategies through online articles and tweets, with no costs involved!
Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
@White_Box recently ran a re-tweeting competition to win cash prizes, and we won £100! We have been shortlisted for 4 @GoldenTwits awards thanks to our supporters voting for us to get into the Public Vote category.
We have also had fantastic support from our followers who have tweeted celebrities to encourage them to tweet about our cause, 2 of our supporters managed to campaign @stephenfry to mention our Neglect Appeal which was a truly fantastic day for us!
So many supporters have come out of Twitter telling us what they are up to, what they would like to do, which for us is truly fantastic, as despite the fact we are amongst the UK's largest charity, and one of the largest Children's charity's, we do not currently have a very large supporter base.
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
We chose @aslongasittakes as our username as it accurately reflects what Action for Children does, but this has meant people don't always know that it is us, also factoring in our rebrand from NCH in October 2008.
So getting us and our message out to all our supporters has been challenging, but we're getting there with 688 followers, seeing as we did very little promotion or publicity before our rebrand!
Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Make sure you're on your account everyday to see what's happening - even 2 hours is a long time in Twitterworld! Engage and communicate with all your supporters that show interest in commuincating with you! Reply to their comments and queries, retweet and include them in activities!
Before you tweet make sure you read and check what you're about to send into Twitterverse...and then check again!
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