How can Twitter be used to boost crowdfunding donations? This post shows 7 ways to use Twitter during your crowdfunding campaign.
This post looks at:

• #1 how to thank donors
• #2 using language to create urgency
• #3 why you should ‘pin’ tweets
• #4 how to engage influential tweeters
• #5 making the most of images
• #6 optimizing the use of #hashtags

#1 Thank each donor (properly) on Twitter

Gratitude goes a long way.

Tweeting donors with a public thank you can:

a) make the donor feel appreciated
b) encourage others to donate knowing they’ll be publicly thanked if they donate
c) offer an opportunity for your project to reach more people
A quick thank you tweet will look something like this:

‘thanks for the donation @twitter_example!’

This (importantly) offers appreciation to the donor for their support. But, does it encourage the donor (& others) to retweet so the project reaches more people? Not really.
A ‘great’ thank you tweet can encourage retweets.

#2 Create a sense of urgency to encourage action

How often have friends asked you to donate to their fundraising campaign? How often do you donate straight away? How often do you wait until the deadline? People have great intentions but we’re natural procrastinators!
Creating a sense of urgency with your tweets increases the chances of an instant donation.

#3 ‘pin’ a tweet on the top of your Twitter account

This is a simple tip that most crowdfunders don’t maximize on:
Pin a tweet about your crowdfunding campaign (with an image, project url) to your Twitter page for the duration of your project.

Why ‘pin’ a tweet?

– Whenever anyone lands on your main Twitter page, you’ll have a tweet explaining your campaign at the top. Carry on tweeting away & the pinned tweet will stay right at the top.
– Throughout your campaign you will slowly get more likes & retweets (provided you are regularly tweeting, to attract people to your Twitter page). More likes & retweets give your project momentum. More momentum means people are more likely to click on your project link to see what the fuss is about!

#4 Increase the chances of influential people tweeting about your project

Are there tweeters with a big following that you would love to share (or donate to) your project? If you simply tweet them saying ‘please can you donate/retweet my project @influential_person?’ – they probably won’t.
To increase the chances of them doing so, I suggest you do the following:

Make a Twitter List

Make a Twitter ‘list’ of people you would like to retweet or donate to your project. Ideally this list will include people that would have an interest in your project, not random celebrities. When you click on your Twitter list, you will only see tweets from these people.

Engage with your list

When your project launches, start engaging (favouriting, retweeting or, even better, commenting on) people in your list’s tweets.
Keep doing this for a few weeks to build trust & encourage them to visit your page (where there should be a pinned tweet about your project at the top). The more you consistently engage with others on Twitter, the more likely they’ll engage with you.

Make a personal twitter ask

Once you’ve been engaging with lots tweets for a while, it’s time to make an ask (preferably at the point when your project has hit at least 20% of its target). A good ask will include a link to the project, stats.

#5 Making the most of images

When you include an image with your tweet, you can tag up to 10 people (which doesn’t eat into your 140 characters). Tag relevant people/organisations with lots of followers – getting a retweet from them will broaden your project reach. As suggested earlier in this post, retweet some of these people/organisations’ tweets too so they’ll be more likely to retweet yours when you tag them in an image.

#6 Optimize your use of #hashtags to increase reach

Why bother with hashtags? Hashtags tie all content about your project to your crowdfunding page into one place.
‘Think of a catchy name for your campaign and create a hashtag. Be relentless in spreading the word on ALL forms of social media – Twitter and Tumblr are great for spreading news fast. Using a hashtag will bring your posts together and make your campaign easily identifiable.

Resources about optimizing hashtags

This post from social media experts, Buffer, show why, scientifically 2 hash tags are often most effective
Twitter itself recommends 2 hashtags per tweet