How to use a Twitter Moment

Twitter Moments were launched in 2016. They are generally underused in charity comms. A quick survey of 50 charity’s Twitter accounts found that only 18 had ever done a Moment. Most of the 18, had only done one or two. Yet they are a quick and easy way to present and preserve content.

Engagement levels of Moments seem to be generally low but if you are using them infrequently and only sharing them once, this isn’t surprising. You need to have a content plan for sharing and integrating them within your comms.

Value shouldn’t just be based on likes, shares and opens. Having a permanent document of something is useful for lots of different reasons. For example a Moment can make it easier to share the story of an event during and afterward. Having an archive of Moments can help you to take stock and plan future comms. A Moment can be a great way to show Twitter activity to colleagues. Moments can also be used and reused as evergreen content.

Here are the most common uses for Moments:

• to share an event
• to preserve or share fragmented content
• to have a permanent record of something important
• to showcase your community
• to present content in a different way.

1. Events

Runs, fundraising challenges and other events can generate a lot of tweets. The good ones can get lost in the noise or missed altogether. Having a Moment is a great way to showcase and celebrate what happened. They can brilliantly show the live atmosphere and hype of the event better than any write-up. And they can be useful months later when recruiting for next year or sharing the impact of what happened.

• Macmillan’s London Marathon 2019 Moment captures the energy and atmosphere of the day. It starts with scene setting (number of runners and a map of the route), includes videos and lots of people in green.
• Young Minds made a Moment of their #HelloYellow fundraising and fun day in 2017.
• British Red Cross shared highlights from Red Cross Week 2019.
• Social CEOs documented their awards night.

Top tip: Try and make the Moment as soon after the event as possible. People get home and want to relive it. If your Moment is ready then, more people will look at it and share it with their friends. A Moment made a week later has missed the boat.

2. Content curation

Moments are also a great way to curate content on Twitter. Think of them as a simplified, single channel (much missed) Storify or Wakelet.

A Moment can be used to bring content together that would otherwise be hard to find. For example, responses to a question (user-generated content) or a series of tweets not made into a thread or when you want to include tweets from other people into your messaging.

• Time to Change share lots of Moments collecting views from their community. See ‘These are the reasons people say they are fine when they are not.’
• This example from Virgin Money London Marathon shares tips for and from runners. They created another one after the event with the responses to Show Us Your Medals.
• The Association of Chairs made a Moment of tips for effective chairing.
• Whizz-Kidz made a Moment of ‘Stupid questions wheelchair users get asked‘ using 10 different videos.
• JRF marked the launch of a big piece of research including press coverage and responses from other charities – UK Poverty 2017.
• Oxfam GB shared Hifsa and Jacqui’s story of their visit to Nepal in See for Yourself.
• Blue Cross shared favourite images for the International Day of Happiness.

3. A permanent record

If something big is happening, why not make a Moment of it? Tweets will soon get lost in your back catalogue, never to be seen or used again. Document it live or after the event to help others follow what happened.

• Heads Together marked the #MentalHealthMinute for those who missed it.
• Sue Ryder make Moments of their Twitter takeovers. Fight Bladder Cancer made a Moment of their 3-day MADL takeover. The curated @nhs account have been doing Moments since they started – 98 to date!
• NCVO Volunteering documented a Twitter chat.
• Scope documented events in their Say Sorry Phil Moment.
• The Prisoners’ Education Trust shared tweets from an important meeting. Likewise, The Young Foundation who curated tweets from a conference.
• UK Parliament curated tweets from multiple partners telling their bit of the story of The Gunpowder Plot.
• Orkney Library shared the story of how they helped get a book into every school in Orkney.
• Could you use a Moment to mark a significant anniversary? See RNIB’s 150th anniversary Moment.
• Amnesty UK’s shared footage and tweets from #FootballWelcomes 2019. The Princes Trust created a Moment to share highlights from the National Prince’s Trust Awards 2019.

See also: Rocur and Twitter takeovers – blog post from 2017.

4. Community building

I didn’t find very many examples of Moments being used to showcase community action. How could you use a Moment to thank or celebrate your community?

• Cambridge CVS showcased small charities during Small Charity Week 2018.
• Cats Protection gathered some of the best responses to their #CatMenDo campaign.

5. Fun / interesting content

Be creative. Moments can work in lots of different ways. Could you use a Moment to show your impact or as a brochure to your services or present complicated information (such as symptoms or research) in a Moment? Here are some examples of more unusual uses.

• The British Red Cross make Moments of their year in review. Take a look at 2018’s review.
• The Princes Trust made a quiz (although this is only one tweet).
• Eight things you didn’t know about St George – nice list from English Heritage.
• Charity Comms shared highlights from #InternationalDayOfHappiness to share the joy and inspire good comms.
• Marie Curie used a Moment to document the night shift of one of their nurses on clock change night.
• RNLI shared a story from their archive about When lifeboats went to war.
• The Museum of English Rural Life shared unsolicited duck pictures they were sent by other museums. Gaining 1.3k likes – the most I saw in any Moment.

How to make a Moment – tips

If you haven’t ever made a Moment, they are pretty simple to do, just follow the steps once you click ‘Create new Moment’. Here’s a how-to guide from Twitter if you need one.

Here’s are some tips on how to do them well.

• Choose a great cover image which will will be eye-catching and sets the scene for your Moment. I tend to put this tweet at the end of the Moment so that people don’t see the image twice straightaway.
• Think of a Moment like an essay with an introduction, main points in the middle and conclusions at the end. Ease people in with a tweet which introduces the topic and at the end finish with something fun or silly or thoughtful. Don’t just trail off. I have sometimes written a tweet purposefully to use at the end of a Moment either in thanks or to ask a question or to signpost to further reading or a donation.
• There should be a rhythm to your Moment. You have to curate it, so it flows and tells a story. For example you might put tweets next to each other which use the same colours.
• Try not to include tweets which are very similar to others. Be ruthless. Not many people will make it to the end of a 20 tweet Moment. Put some good ones at the end – reward people for getting there!
• Try to use tweets which only have one image. Tweets will multiple images take up more space and can disrupt the flow.
• Include tweets with video or gifs or graphics to keep it interesting.
• Make the title clear and short. Include the #hashtag if you are using one.
• Tweet your Moment and @mention some of the accounts you have included to broaden engagement.

Top Moment makers

• Scope wins at Moments, using them in lots of different ways.
• See also The British Red Cross’ collection of 11 Moments.
• And RNIB who use Moments to share rich content and campaigns.
• @ZurichVolSec now have a collection of 48 Moments documenting awareness days and charity comms. If you want inspiration for Halloween or Pancake Day, start there.

More about Moments

• Charity Comms guide – Making the most of Twitter Moments.

Do you use Moments?

Have you used Moments? Do you like them or think they are a waste of time?

Share your favourites and top tips in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.