Advocacy and Technology: Expanding Your Reach PLAN Fall Institute 2008

Four Corners Exercise  Using technology is: Scary Scary Out of my League Out of my League Makes my life easier Makes my life easier Expensive Expensive  In terms of technology, my organization is: 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  It’s massive. 71 percent of all adults are online 71 percent of all adults are online 91 percent of college- educated adults91 percent of college- educated adults 60 percent of people in rural areas60 percent of people in rural areas  It’s fast.  It’s (relatively) easy.  It’s (relatively) cheap. Challenges  It takes time.  It takes money.  It’s intimidating.  It requires some technical know-how.  It can be hard to get buy-in from the organization.  It takes persistence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Building Your Lists  Make sure it’s easy to sign up to your 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!  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  Open rates average percent for blast s.  The more people you send a message to, the lower your open rate will be.

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

Think Big!  communications can help support offline work!

Online communications shouldn’t exist in a vacuum!

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

What is Web 2.0? “A perceived second generation of web- based communities and hosted services… which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users.” — Wikipedia.org

Web 2.0 Technologies:  Blogging  Social networking  Video sharing  Photo sharing  Wikis  And many, many more

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

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 1. The Huffington Post 2. TechCrunch 3. Gizmodo

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

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

When Starting a Blog, Think About…  Who will write the posts?  How will you handle comments?  How will you promote your blog?  What blog platform will you use? WordPress (free) WordPress (free) Blogger (free) Blogger (free) TypePad (cheap) TypePad (cheap)

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

Social Networking Services  MySpace.com  Facebook.com  Care2.com  Change.org  Idealist.org  Flickr.com  del.icio.us  YouTube.com  Twitter.com  Digg.com  Squidoo.com  MeetUp.com  Wikipedia.org  StumbleUpon.com And on, and on…

Facebook Advocacy Facebook was launched in 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Resources General:  NTEN.org  Fundraising123.org  TechSoup.org  Epolitics.com  BethKanter.org  NetSquared.org Marketing:  -Marketing- Reports.com Blogging:  Technorati.com

Questions? Comments? Melanie Ross Levin Outreach Manager Thao Nguyen Outreach Manager, Health & Reproductive Rights