Make sure your house is in order to participate in - or set the stage for - conversations that will arise during the election season.
With over a decade of experience working with social change organizations and businesses, including several candidates and political parties, Raised Eyebrow has plenty of wisdom to share about how to ensure your online communications plans are ready for election season.
You’ll learn:
-How to make sure your organization has the right tools ready to communicate effectively online during election season.
- How to use an election period to build an effective list of long-term supporters for your organization.
- How to make the most of your resources and, where appropriate, partner with others to get out key messages during this critical time.
Making the Most of Your Online Communications During an Election
1. Making the Most of
Your Online
Communications During
an Election
Emira Mears + Lauren Bacon
Friday, September 16, 2011
2. Q&A
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
3. Q&A
Type question here
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
4. Your Hosts:
Emira Mears Lauren Bacon
Partner Partner
Raised Eyebrow Web Studio Raised Eyebrow Web Studio
Twitter: @emiramears Twitter: @laurenbacon
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
5. Online Election Strategy:
1. Opportunities & risks of election season
2. Communications judo: making elections work for
you
3. Tools assessment going into an election
4.Collaborating for greater impact
5.Viral campaigns: are they in your reach?
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
6. Quick Poll
Has Your Organization Run Election-Based
Campaigns Before?
• Yes
• No
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
7. Election Strategies.
Opportunities & risks ahead
Image credit: dvanvliet on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
8. Election Strategies:
Opportunities Ahead
• Stakes are high/urgency
• Issues & policies are top of mind
• Media will cover issues if there’s an election
tie-in
• Public events to engage in: townhalls, rallies,
candidate debates, etc.
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
9. Election Strategies:
What are the Risks?
• Relevance: Any non-election related campaigns will
tend to be overshadowed during the election period
• Resource Drain: Short timelines and fast turnarounds
are required to take advantage of any opportunities
• Horse Race: Backing any one candidate or party
platform can backfire
• Donation Competition: Parties will be campaigning for
dollars
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
10. Election Strategies:
Politics is Not Polite
• Member alienation: Even if the choice seems very
clear to align your issue with one party or candidate,
remember that not all your members will agree. You
risk alienating or upsetting members by playing
politics.
• Have a plan: Don’t let managing individual members’
concerns about political affiliations take up too much
staff time/resources; have a plan for how you’ll
respond to upset members.
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
11. Election Strategies.
Communications Judo
Image credit: MightyMe! on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
12. Election Strategies:
Communications Judo
• Work with the election, not against it
• Try to get your issue on the agenda
• Be ready to act quickly
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
13. Election Strategies:
Speak the Language of Votes
• Familiarize yourself with the party platforms
• Find candidates you can leverage
• Know your numbers
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
14. Election Strategies:
Mobilize Your Members
• Make sure you have the tools to mobilize your
community quickly in support of the issue at
hand
• Do you have your lists in order?
• Are your tools in place?
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
15. Election Strategies.
Audit Your Toolbox
Image credit: James Brauer on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
16. Tools Assessment:
Audit Your Existing Toolbox
• Email List(s) • Video
• Blog • Online Donations
• Facebook/Twitter • Offline Tools
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
17. Tools Assessment:
Strategy Before Tools
• Have a strategy
• What is your primary message? (You probably only get
one.)
• Who are you targeting? Members? Parties? Candidates?
• How will you measure success?
• Can you switch gears quickly if necessary?
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
18. Tools Assessment:
Email Newsletters
• How up to date is your list?
• Are you adding to your list?
• Is your list segmented? Should it be?
• Are staffed trained on using the software?
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
19. Tools Assessment:
Blog
• Do you have an existing blog you can use for election
coverage?
• Valuable tool for fast turnaround/discussion
• If you don’t have a blog, is there a partner blog you
could contribute to?
• Don’t expect to create a blog during an election
period and expect traffic to naturally appear
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
20. Tools Assessment:
Facebook/Twitter/Google+
• Do you have an existing presence you can leverage
here?
• If not, what are your goals with the tool?
• Is it to get people to take action? Or is it to raise
awareness?
• Figure out what metrics you’re going to use for
success
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
21. Tools Assessment:
Facebook/Twitter/Google+
• Make sure you’re thinking long term as well
• How can you make sure you own your contacts?
• If you run a separately branded campaign , how will
you bring those people back in to your org?
• Cross-pollinate your lists
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
22. Tools Assessment:
Online Video
• Can you create multimedia content?
• Does your content lend itself well to multimedia?
• Are your website and other channels currently set up
to share/display multimedia content?
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
23. Tools Assessment:
Online Donations
• Are you already set up to take donations?
• Can you target donations for a particular campaign?
• Can you set up quick landing pages/donation funnels
related specifically to an election related campaign?
• Can you integrate your online donations into your
other outreach easily?
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
25. Tools Assessment:
Make Sharing Easy
• Make sure your set up with the tools so that your
community can spread your message.
• Post video to YouTube/Vimeo so it’s easy to share
• Have “Share This” widgets on your site
• Include your Twitter/Facebook page in email newsletters
etc.
• Give supporters sample tweets and don’t be shy about
asking people to repost
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
27. Tools Assessment:
Offline Follow-up
• Don’t forget the offline follow-up
• Particularly important when it comes to mobilizing
people on voting day: how are you going to get them
out from behind the screen to make the change?
• Your strategy should be geared at using online tools
to motivate offline action: be clear about this and set
measures for success.
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
28. Election Strategies.
Join forces and increase impact
Image credit: booze-a-holic on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
29. Collaboration:
Joining Forces & Increasing Impact
• Should you act alone?
• Partner to share media space/centralize message
• Can you share lists/communities?
• Guest blog posts, shared newsletter content, cross-
promotion in social media
• Share resources
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
30. Collaboration:
Joining Forces & Increasing Impact
• Risks of Partnering:
• Who will be the spokesperson?
• Building consensus can take time
• Where will donations go?
• Who “owns” lists and supporters after the election?
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
31. Election Strategies.
Going viral
Image credit: naturalhomecures on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
32. Going Viral:
Can You Make it Happen?
• In a word: No.
• What you can do:
• Focus on content strategy
• Make sure you have the tools for sharing -- as we
discussed
• Be prepared to respond if it happens
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
34. Conclusion:
Reporting Out
Image credit: Adam Tinworth on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
35. Conclusion:
After the Election
• Report Out:
• Let your community know what impact they had -
even if it wasn’t the result you were hoping for
• Include reporting out as a part of your content plan
and schedule it in
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
36. Conclusion:
A Good Election Strategy
• Understands the Risks and Opportunities
• Uses Communications Judo: work with the election, not
against it
• Know what tools you have and what you need
• Collaborate where it will increase impact
• Be ready to go viral - but don’t depend on it
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
37. Need more help?
Raised Eyebrow offers:
• Online Communications • Usability Consulting
Strategy Consulting
• Email Newsletter design,
• Information Architecture and development and management
Interaction Design
• Accessibility and Search
• Website Design & Engine Optimization
Development Consulting
• Web 2.0 and Social Media • Custom workshops for your
Consulting organization
www.raisedeyebrow.com
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
38. Questions?
Please use the “raise
hand” feature, or type
a question into the
Q&A box.
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011
39. Questions?
Please use the “raise
hand” feature, or type
a question into the
Q&A box.
Type question here
Twitter: #raisedeyebrow
Friday, September 16, 2011