Did you attend a Twestival in your town? We know we did! The WhatGives!? team made our Twestival debut this year and boy, oh boy, did we have fun. While Mj & Jim were busy livestreaming with Twestival attendees all over the world, I was scoping the LA Twestival scene at The Roxy in Hollywood. The vibe was fun – drinks were flowing, DJ’s were scratching, and everyone was enthusiastic about supporting the highly-deserving charity: Concern.
Knowing that almost 200 cities around the world were supporting the same cause at the same time made Twestival 2010 even more exciting. I took lots of fun photos during the event. Check out our full stream of Flickr photos if you want to see all the internet celebs (yes, that’s the awesome @iJustine in the photo; don’t we look great? 
), social media pros (@shiralazar & @ashong were our very entertaining hosts), and charity rockstars (@theoneinpink anyone?) I got to hang out with. Good times were definitely had by all.
So, enough about me and iJustine. What about you? What can you and your nonprofit learn from such a successful global campaign, especially when it comes to using social media for social good?
1. Make Online Giving Easy & Diverse
Our WhatGives!? PayPal donation widget was used on all of the Twestival city pages and it was an easy way to folks to donate online using PayPal. However, this wasn’t the only way that people could contribute to the cause. You could buy t-shirts, music, auction items, and of course, tickets to Twestival. Since not everyone may be able to physically attend your event, you need to find creative and fun ways for anyone to get involved and show their support.
2. Turn Social Media Into Social Happenings
One of the major reasons why Twestival is so successful is because it harnesses the power of Twitter and gets online friends together offline. Twitter not your thing? No problem. Focus on your nonprofits “favorite” social media site and use it to build buzz about your event. By focusing on one site, you give your event an elevated sense of importance — perfect for building support and awareness.
3. Individualize the Cause
The recipient of the almost $400,000 (to date) raised by Twestival 2010 is Concern Worldwide. 100% of all money raised will go to their programs helping to educate the poorest children in the world. Such a huge issue can be super overwhelming when you start to think about ways to help! Thankfully, the Twestival site broke out subcategories of “projects” from which people could choose. Listing specific projects or programs makes it less daunting for people to get involved with your cause. And as an added bonus, the cause gets more personal because people get to “own” their piece of the pie.
Do you have anything you’d add to my lessons learned? Drop them in the comments! Also, feel free to tag yourself in our Facebook Album or Flickr Stream if you were at the LA event.
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Tags: Concern, Concern Worldwide, iJustine, PayPal, Shira Lazar, social media, The Roxy, Twestival, Twitter, WhatGives Widget
I think Twestival was a great idea. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend a live event (couldn’t find one in Chicago for some reason?) but I did keep up with the online tweetstream.
This event, for me, is a great example of how social media’s influence should be used. Sure it can be another megaphone for a corporate brand/image. However, when it raises a record amount of funds for organizations out there doing good things, that’s when it really shines!
Totally. That’s why this event is so great! It puts all the social media influences to work
Thanks for your comment, glad you enjoyed the post!
Hey Kerrie,
Great post! Mobilizing people into real world action is the key:) Thanks for your thoughts.
Also, do you know anyone going to Atlanta for the Nonprofit Technology Conference? If so, pass this along to them:
http://10ntc.eventbrite.com/
Have a great week,
Joe
@brohamm