Advocacy and Technology Expanding Your Reach PLAN Fall

Advocacy and Technology: Expanding Your Reach PLAN Fall Institute 2008

Four Corners Exercise Ø Using technology is: l l Scary Out of my League Makes my life easier Expensive Ø In terms of technology, my organization is: l l Ahead of the curve Behind the curve Not even on the curve What’s a curve?

What would you like to take away from this presentation?

The Benefits & Challenges of Online Outreach Benefits Ø It’s massive. l 71 percent of all adults are online • 91 percent of collegeeducated adults • 60 percent of people in rural areas It’s fast. Ø It’s (relatively) easy. Ø It’s (relatively) cheap. Ø Challenges Ø It takes time. Ø It takes money. Ø It’s intimidating. Ø It requires some technical know-how. Ø It can be hard to get buy-in from the organization. Ø It takes persistence.

Big Picture Ø What does your organization want to achieve online? l l l Fundraising Building an Activist Base Both Ø Choose a tool that makes sense. l l l Convio – $$$$ - Fundraising Focused Democracy in Action - $$ - Advocacy Focused Constant Contact - $ - Limited Options

Tools of the Trade Ø Recruit l l Ø Sign-on Letters Petitions Pledges List Sign-up Sheets at Meetings and Events Maintain l l l Plan Regular Communications Info-exchanges Letters to the Editor Edit Board Meetings General Press Ø Activate l Events • • l Press Conferences Rallies Lobby Days Special Deliveries Contacting Congress • • Action Alerts Calls In-District Meetings DC Meetings

Campaign Basics Ø Who are you? Ø Who do you need to know? Ø How do you communicate with them?

Path to Engagement Ø Recruit l Ø Educate l Ø One on Ones, List Mapping, List Serves, etc. Newsletters, Conferences, Coalition Meetings, etc. Activate l Call-in-days, Capital Hill Visits, Grasstops Calls, etc.

Which tool(s) to use? Ø Determine Success l Pass the bill, List growth, Get a vote on the bill, etc. Ø Scale l Local, State, National, International Ø Resources l Time & Money Ø Effectiveness

Key Concepts Ø What is the difference between Grasstops & Grassroots? Ø What is “the field? ” Ø What is the relationship between outreach and communications? Ø How do you know when the time is right to activate “the field. ”

Building Your E-mail Lists Ø Ø Ø Make sure it’s easy to sign up to your e-mail list from your website Hold events that require attendees to sign up through your website Distribute sign-up forms at conferences Stay connected with your supporters Be patient! Ø Ø Collect business cards Offer something useful or interesting – i. e. trainings, funny cartoons, regular policy briefings, event listings, etc. Volunteer to be the collection point for coalition work Get to know list serve owners – make friends!

Most People Don’t Read Their E -mail Ø Open rates average 15 -30 percent for blast e-mails. Ø The more people you send a message to, the lower your open rate will be.

www. convio. com

Types of E-mail Communications E-Newsletters Ø Advocacy alerts Ø Fundraising appeals Ø News Updates Ø Letters to the Editor Ø Events Ø In-district Meetings Ø Sign-on Letters Ø Job Postings Ø Cartoons Ø Coalition Updates Ø Any More Ideas? Ø

Think Big! Ø E-mail communications can help support offline work!

Online communications shouldn’t exist in a vacuum!

Tips for Creating Strong E-mail Alerts Use short paragraphs, bulleted lists, and lots of links Ø Use images wisely Ø Personalize e-mails using the recipient’s name Ø Think about your “From” line Ø Don’t use “Click Here” links Ø Keep an eye on your e-mail frequency Ø Make sure the subject line is short, does not include acronyms, Ø

What is Web 2. 0? “A perceived second generation of webbased communities and hosted services… which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. ” — Wikipedia. org

Web 2. 0 Technologies: Ø Blogging Ø Social networking Ø Video sharing Ø Photo sharing Ø Wikis Ø And many, many more

Today we will look at… BLOGS and SOCIAL NETWORKS What is it? l Who’s doing it? l Sign me up (or log me in)! l

What is a BLOG? A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. — Wikipedia. org

Top Blogs The Huffington Post 2. Tech. Crunch 3. Gizmodo 1.

Blogging 101 Ø 120, 000 new blogs are started every day Ø 57 million Americans read blogs Ø A blog isn’t a one-way speech, it’s a conversation Ø Blogging is a commitment

Before Starting a Blog, Think About… Ø Who’s your target audience? Ø What will make up the bulk of your subject matter? Ø How much time can you devote to blogging?

When Starting a Blog, Think About… Ø Who will write the posts? Ø How will you handle comments? Ø How will you promote your blog? Ø What blog platform will you use? l l l Word. Press (free) Blogger (free) Type. Pad (cheap)

Alternatives to Starting Your Own Blog Create a “Diary” on a larger blog, like Daily. Kos. com Ø Pitch news stories to bloggers who cover your field Ø Become an active commenter on other blogs and online communities Ø Use blog software to share information, rather than keeping a traditional blog Ø Guest post on other people’s blogs Ø

Social Networking Services My. Space. com Ø Facebook. com Ø Care 2. com Ø Change. org Ø Idealist. org Ø Flickr. com Ø del. icio. us Ø You. Tube. com Ø Twitter. com Ø Digg. com Ø Squidoo. com Ø Meet. Up. com Ø Wikipedia. org Ø Stumble. Upon. com Ø And on, and on…

Facebook Advocacy • Facebook was launched in 2004 • 64 million active users in last 30 days • More than half of users out of college • The fastest growing demographic are people over 25 • People spend an average of 20 minutes on the site daily.

Facebook Group Can’t message over 1, 200 members Ø Includes photos, videos, discussion forums Ø

Facebook Page Can’t send messages Ø Activity appears in the newsfeed Ø Includes photos, videos, discussion forums, and other applications Ø

Facebook Cause Ø Many, but not all people, have this application added Ø Can send one message per week Ø Five newsfeed notifications per week Ø Allows for donations

Key to Facebook (and other social networking tools) Ø Engaging members – allow them to participate by leaving comments, adding applications, join a discussion. Ø It’s a teaser – it allows people to get interested in what you are doing on an ongoing basis, at their own leisure. Ø It’s a long term commitment – this is to nurture advocates and not meant for immediate results.

Incorporating Online Outreach into Your Current Work Ø Add bloggers in your field to your press release list Ø Send an e-mail alert to all your contacts when you send out direct mail appeals Ø Plug your website and online network everywhere you can l l l Conferences Handouts Publications

Resources General: Ø NTEN. org Ø Fundraising 123. org Ø Tech. Soup. org Ø Epolitics. com Ø Beth. Kanter. org Ø Net. Squared. org E-mail Marketing: Ø Email-Marketing. Reports. com Blogging: Ø Technorati. com

Questions? Comments? Melanie Ross Levin Outreach Manager mrosslevin@nwlc. org Thao Nguyen Outreach Manager, Health & Reproductive Rights tnguyen@nwlc. org