Boost Your Campaign with Social Media

Matt StempeckNew Organizing Institute

http://neworganizing.comThanks to Julielyn Gibbons at NOI and Alan Rosenblatt

of Center for American Progress for some of these slides

Overview

• Who’s online• What’s social media• Online -> Offline• Advanced Facebook• Advanced Twitter• Q&A

Who’s Online?

• 74% of Americans have regular access to the Internet*

– Socio-economic barriers have been crossed– Age, gender, geography no longer matter

• 60% have broadband at home• 55% connect wirelessly

*Pew 1/10

Who’s Online?

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project April 2009 Survey

What People Are Doing Online

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Surveys 2000-2009

Who’s Online in the U.S.

% of Internet population% of adult population

What is Social Media

• The fancy name we’ve given network-based social platforms

• Facebook, Twitter, but also any tool that allows people to interact with one another

Who’s on Facebook

The way things were

Campaigns send email blast to

activists (very few forward it)

Congress gets the email (but no one

knows for sure)

Activists send email to Congress

Email is a closed communication loop

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Social advocacy opens the loop

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Anatomy of a Tweet

Hey @ChuckGrassley read our report on repealing #DADT (http://bit.ly/dadt) & vote FOR Defense Auth Bill. FYI @desmoinesdem @OneIowa #IA #p2

• Publicly targets Member of Congress• Trackable link to measure click throughs• Pushed to hashtag audiences

– Issue specific (#DADT)– State speicific (#IA)– Ideological group (#p2)

•Alerts watchdogs– State blogger (@desmoinesdem)– State issue group (@OneIowa)

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Twitter Petitions

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

OK, but how will it help us win?

• Online -> Offline• Clear Theory of Change

The Netroots: 21st Century Grassroots

• An excellent supplement, not a substitute

• Viral information sharing

• Recruit new members/supporters

• Extend traditional organizing

• New Avenues of Fundraising

Why People Respond• Engaging them where they

spend a large amount of time

• Tapping into what they’re already interested in

• Connecting with them visually through video and pictures

• Timeliness and sense of urgency

• Meaningful action

Offline Activities to Reach Goals

http://www.flickr.com/photos/couragecampaign

• What do you want to do?– Fully-scalable national

days of action– High-bar national days

of action– Distributed actions– Ongoing actions

Important Principles• Some principles to keep in mind:

– Clear theory of change– Keep it simple and fun– Expect that your volunteers can move the world

wishfulthinking.co.uk

Offline Goals• What do you want to

do?– Recruit volunteers– Hold volunteer meetings– Build leadership teams– Fundraise– Collect / deliver petitions– Visit elected official’s office– Attract earned media– Organize a canvass or phone

bank– Hold a rally

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bordersforatlanta

Step-By-Step Guide1. Choose Your Goal

2. Create Your Ask

3. Take People Offline

4. Provide Resources

5. Track Your Progress

6. Take People Back Online

1. Choose Your Goal• Is it timely and

relevant to your supporters?

• Is it a core part of your larger campaign narrative?

• Will reaching your goal *actually* create change?

• Rooted in crisi-tunity (crisis + opportunity)– Crisis: something bad is happening or is going

to happen– Opportunity: you can do something to prevent it

• Solid theory of change– By acting now, this is how you will create the

change you want to see– Work backward from your end goal, step by

step

• Real-world impact– Participants in offline action make a real impact

2. Create Your Ask

3. Take People Offline• Provide clear ways for online

supporters to engage in offline action

• Post and promote the action widely, across platforms and communities

• Ask allies to help promote it

• Ask supporters to tell a friend/bring a friend

• Give a 24-hour reminder email/call

4. Provide Resources• Create an online resource

center for participants– Next steps– Data entry– FAQs– Flyers/pamphlets/posters– Graphics to share online

• Make it easy• Empower your supporters• Let supporters connect

with those they met offline

5. Track Your ProgressMonitor your initiatives and track the progress:• Email metrics

– Open rate– Click thru rate

• Website metrics– Visits– Event sign-ups– Tell a friend submissions– Social network activity– Blog articles / trackbacks

6. Take People Back OnlineAfter the event:• Use online forms to collect info

– Feedback– Data– Pictures and Video– Personal stories

• Give the next ask to keep the conversation going and provide the resources

• Always think at least one step ahead!

Full Circle EngagementSTEP 1: ONLINEA. Post it.B. Promote it.C. Engage people.D. Provide

resources.

STEP 2: OFFLINE (at the event)

A. Provide resources.B. Collect names, email

addresses, personal stories.

C. Take pictures/video.D. Give the next ask.E. Have a great time!!

STEP 3: ONLINEA. Collect info.B. Provide recaps of

the event.C. Provide progress

updates on your theory of change.

D. Give the next ask and promote it (repeat the steps).

Example: 350.org Day of Action

350.org: Map of Events

350.org: Action Ideas

350.org: Creative Expression

350.org: Taking People Back Online

Q&A

Advanced Tips

Managing Social Media Engagement

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Managing Engagement: Tweetdeck• Multiple accounts

• Twitter• FB (Profiles/Pages)

• Essential Columns• Mentions• Direct Msgs• New Followers• Best Friends• Key Twitter Lists

•Tweet Later• Key Services

• Bit.ly

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Managing Engagement: HootSuite

• Multiple Twitter accounts• Columns• Tweet Later

• URL shortener & stats•Allow several staff to draft, prioritize tweets

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Searching For Impact. Twitter.com• Keyword search• Location search• Attitude search• Hashtag research

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Measuring Social Media Impact

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Campaign action links: clicktotweet.com• Auto-generates a link to

provide supporters• If they click, they’ll

tweet it out

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Measuring URL Referrals: Backtype.com• Track URLs on:

• Twitter• Digg• Reddit• FriendFeed

• Your Influencers• How many links 2 U?• Who’s linking 2 U?

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Measuring Tweeters’ Influence: Twitalyzer.com• Analyze your influence• Analyze your RTer’s

influence• Analyze influence of

your target audience

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Measuring Reach: Thrive/SmallAct.com

• Monitors• Keywords

• Engages• Tweet Later

• Measures• Mentions, RTs• Likes, Shares• Reach!!!

• Suscription/SaaS

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Measuring Mentions: SocialMention.com• Monitors• Measures

• Sentiment• Reach

• Free

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Measuring Engagement on Facebook: Insights• Page stats• Adjustable timeframe

• See what works• And doesn’t work

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Shortening & Tracking URLs: Bit.ly

• Track clicks• Use on all social media

• Differentiate from web traffic

• Upgrade to Bit.ly Pro

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Building Your Twitter Audience-Community

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

#Hashtags

• Events or conferences, e.g.: "Tara's presentation on communities was great! #barcampblock"

• Disasters: "#sandiegofire A shelter has opened up downtown for fire refugees."

• Memes: "My #themeword for 2008 is conduct." • Context: "I can't believe anyone would design software like

this! #microsoftoffice" • Recall: "Buy some toilet paper. #todo”• Quote: "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss

events. Small minds discuss people." ~Eleanor Roosevelt #quote

http://twitter.pbworks.com/Hashtags

Finding Twitter Lists: Listorious.com• Search Twitter Lists• Find the right people for

your audience-community

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

FindingTwitter Influencers: WeFollow.com• Find influencers by

• Location• Issue

• Register yourself• Choose tags carefully

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Automating Audience Growth: TweetSpinner.com• Automate Twitter

follower recruitment• Highly targeted

• By keyword• By Influencers

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Find Tweeps by Geography• Add entire geo-based Twitter packs at once:

http://twitterpacks.pbworks.com/Twitter-Pack-by-Geographic-Location

• Twitter.com’s Advanced Search by location:http://search.twitter.com/advanced

Other Tools

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Analyzing Communities: TagDef.com• Crowdsourced deictionary for

hashtags

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Analyzing Communities: FollowerWonk.com• Analyzes overlap among

people on Twitter• Search all bios

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Analyzing Communities: Twiangulate.com• Searches for interconnections

among tweeters• Mutual Friends• Obscure Friends

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

Analyzing Communities: TagHive.com• Creates conversation clouds

• Keyword• Username• Hashtag

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol

More Resources• Social Media Benchmark repo

rt: http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/socialmedia/

• Official Facebook stats: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

• http://twitter.pbworks.com/

Slide via Alan Rosenblatt, @drdigipol