Using social media in your campaigns Sorting out your tweets from your pokes

What’s social media? 50m active users on Twitter (100m total) – 50% under 34 years old – 52% female 23m UK active Facebook users (660m worldwide) – 63% under 34 years old – 54% female 2bn Google searches every day worldwide 35 hrs of vid uploaded to YouTube every minute

What’s this about “slacktivism”? You may have heard the term “slacktivism” being used. Certain parts of the media have been using it to belittle the use of social media and online campaigning in general. They argue that anyone can easily click a link to your MP etc – and that it doesn’t mean they really care about the issue.

Online campaigning is certainly only a tool It’s one of many we can use to win campaigns and tell people about our work. It should be used alongside the others (like public meetings, street stalls, press releases, placard waving, paper petitions, MP visits). No single thing will work on its own.

Maintain the interest We need to keep people interested whatever tool we use – people may come along to a meeting but never come again. Or they might sign a paper petition and then forget all about it. The problem isn’t confined to online stuff.

Before we go on… #foegath

Some examples of campaigning with social media BP vs BPGlobalPR April Gulf of Mexico oil spill

How Friends of the Earth uses social media We mainly use Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr. Twitter : All of our news stories, actions, press releases etc get tweeted. Plus our Media Team keep an eye on whats in the news and tweet about it. We tweet about our events, and give updates on how our actions are going.

Not just broadcasting A crucial moment of our Food chain campaign came shortly after the announcement of the result of the private members bill ballot. When a select number of MPs get the chance to put a bill before Parliament. Two MPs in the Stoke on Trent area were selected in the draw. So we tweeted for help in the area.

Success! Astonishingly – an ex-employee of local MP Rob Flello said he’d try and persuade his ex-boss to adopt the Bill. And quite soon afterwards, Rob did. Later, we asked Rob to be the voice of the campaign. He produced videos and wrote s to them.

Ask for help – you don’t know who’s out there Use social media channels to crowdsource ideas for new kinds of actions. During the elections we asked for help visualising the numbers of MPs who had signed our green pledge. Someone suggested a ballon stunt- which got us featured throughout the media the next day.

“Imagine Twitter etc as a party where you don't know many people. You wouldn’t stand in the corner and shout, “I’m very interesting!” Start with existing friends & contacts, and meet additional people via conversations” Tom Allen, Actionaid

What social media won’t do

It’s just a tool like any other. It’s not about how many fans you’ve got on facebook, views on YouTube or followers on Twitter. It’s about action and influence. Social media is only a small part of the picture. Most of our online action still comes via our lists.

Many politicians or others you’d seek to influence don’t get or social media. An awful lot of our wins come from face to face lobbying – from people like you visiting their MP in their office, or calling or writing. In the end – you probably need to run an integrated campaign incorporating on and offline tools and tactics.

Some example of local groups using Twitter/Facebook

Re-tweeting interesting articles symbol to get attention of fellow user Links to actions Punchy statements

Engaging people directly Hashtags Links to actions Publicising events

Cumbria Friends of the Earth – an integrated strategy Background Network Launched in October 2010 But transport is particularly challenging – hard for activists across the region to connect. The realised that if the Cumbria Network was going to work they had to be innovative with Social Media

One year on… 110 friends of Facebook with about 1400 page views a month 84 follower on Twitters Webpage gets about 480 views a month The network has been able to help a number of local campaigns reach a wider audience. Cumbria Friends of the Earth – an integrated strategy

What do they get right? Regular relevant updates They encourage interaction, rather that simply broadcasting messages They vary their content They promote their sites well The use social media as a tool rather than an end to itself. Cumbria Friends of the Earth – an integrated strategy

Forwarding interesting content Promoting events

Locally relevant information Meeting people where they are at!

Campaigning tool

Campaigning tool and getting out information across multiple channels Retweeting useful local info. Using hashtags to join up the issue Personal interaction

Campaigning tool and getting out information across multiple channels Retweeting lifestyle info. Getting info out quickly Informality, networking.

Twitter – some basics Username, profile, pic Tweets, following, retweeting Lists Hashtags

Some accounts to @fleetstreetfox local media and councils

Planning your own campaign Your chance to plan how social media can fit into a campaign. Use an example of your own or one from the handout.

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