Networked Campaigning in the Third Sector

simon collisterSenior lecturer @ University of the Arts, London

PhD candidate @ Royal Holloway, University of London

> Who Am I?

Bio in a tweet-worthy 140 characters:

> Snr lecturer University of the Arts, London> Phd student @ RHUL, University of London> Ex-(and occasional) we are social consultant

> What we’ll cover today

• Set out some context around social media and the third sector

• Map out a conceptual framework to (hopefully) help us make sense of our increasingly networked environment

• Bring the framework to life with pertinent examples of campaigns

Social Media & The Third Sector: some context

> Social media is mainstream

Universal McCann SocialMedia Tracker Wave 5October 2010

> No longer ad hoc

> Professionalised

• Organisationaladoption of socialmedia becomingincreasinglyprofessionalised(and commercialised)

Source: Alimeter Social Readiness Report 2010

“How do you consider yourorganisation’s use of social media?”

> What does this mean for the not-for-profit sector?

> Period of intense change

“If the late 19th century was the ‘golden age’ of mutual institutions, clubs and societies, the early 21st century is a new golden age

of networks and online communities” (Griffiths 2007)

> Helped by the social web

• Early Internet built by corporations and Government

• Emerging social web being built by networks of individuals

> Causing power shift

“Organisations are increasingly being by-passed and power is shifting away from top-down hierarchies and towards more fluid and participative networks”

(Griffiths 2007)

Image via Dave Gray

> And internal challenges

Image via Dave Gray

Source: Visceral Business Social Index 2012

> The challenges

1. Maintain a balance between traditional and networked campaigning

> 2. Identify and adopt new repertoires of networked campaigning

> 3. Develop new organisational structures and cultures

1. Networked campaigning

> Networked campaigning

“Networks and campaigns can be allies, but they ultimately have cross-purposes. Campaigns share tasks but not authority with their supporters.”

(Sifry 2008)

> Think about

> Networked campaigning> Shared authority> Hard to control> Scales and spreads rapidly

UKUncut

> Traditional campaigning> Shared tasks> Centrally controlled> Capacity building takestime and resources

> New strategic drivers

• These emerging networked campaigns characterized by two key drivers – social and technological:

1. Social capital > Networks motivated by rewards from social cooperation to achieve shared goals

2. Self-organisation > Advocacy networks being created by self-organised groups enabled by the Internet

> Obligatory Obama reference

• My.BarackObama balances networks and campaign tactics

• 2008 campaign was primarily powered by email to mobilise supporters

• 2012 campaign made greater use of social…

2. New network repertoires

> Reper-what?

• Charles Tilly developed notion of ‘collective action repertoires’ which identify:

“a limited set of routines that are learned, shared and acted out through a relatively deliberate process of choice. Repertoires are learned cultural creations”

(Tilly 1995)

> New campaigning approaches

• Chadwick (2007) updated notion of repertoires to ‘digital network repertoires’

• These:a. Build (distributed) communities of trustb. Create appealing (and convergent) forms of online action c. Fuse (sub-)cultural and political discourses d. Create and tap into online networks

a. Communities of Trust

> 38 Degrees

• UK’s first community-led campaigning organisation?

• Community determines campaign agenda

• Mobilised rapidlyacross range of actions

> Robin Hood Tax

• dsd

> Robin Hood Tax

• dsd“Once the campaign launched it become clear that people were keen to engage with the RHT coalition brand, and the place for those conversations became social media, particularly Facebook. Within a week of launch we had a community of 100,000 plus. From there we invested approx 80% of digital capacity of the campaign to social media. This was not something we had planned to do but it happened organically and we responded by shifting resources.” (Interview with Anna Nolan, RHT)

> My.actionforchildren

• sasa

b. Fun, convergent actions

> Amnesty and S-Hell

• sasa

> Love Lewisham

Waterside Challenge

Ecover Blue Mile

Earth Book

Choose Good Wood

> Panda Made Me Do It

c. Fuse cultural and political discourses

> Fuse cultural/political discourse

> Not just big budget!

> Lots of scope with memes

#firstworldproblems

d. Create and tap into networks

> MyDavidCameron

• dsdsd

Lush’s #FoxyForce

3. New organisational structures

> Internal challenges

“This new stuff – let’s call it social media – is disruptive and transformative inside the organisation.”

(Bridger 2010)

But in what ways…?

> Organisational hybridity

“New organisational forms are emerging that exist only in hybrid form and could not function in the ways they do without the Internet.

These “hybrid mobilization movements” blend functions traditionally associated with political parties, internet groups and social movements.

Fast “switches” between online and offline realms, and within and between campaigns, are emerging as characteristics of contemporary … mobilization.”

(Chadwick 2007)

> Organisational responses

• Digital network repertoires and organisational hybridity force charities to reconsider their structure and reorient activity around demands of new networked dynamics

• What might this look like?

• Oxfam case study follows…

> Reconfiguring a non-profit

Re-configuring a UK-based charity’s strategy for a networked world meant aligning three activity strands:

1) Movement building – e.g. long-term establishment of and engagement with core Oxfam supporters for fundraising, campaigning and service delivery

2) Advocacy and Influencer campaigns – e.g. short-term campaigns delivered through Oxfam and by co-opting strategically aligned networks

3) Strategy planning and innovation – e.g. Ongoing research, planning and co-ordination of Strands 1 & 2 to ensure all activities aligned with strategic vision

> Strands 1 & 2

Advocacy Advocacy Advocacy

Movement building

TIME

> Adding Strand 3

Advocacy Advocacy Advocacy

Movement buildingPlanning and innovation

TIME

> Plotting Repertoires

. . .

> Foster communities of distributed trust

> Create appealing and convergent forms of online action> Fuse (sub-)cultural and political discourses

> Create and build on sedimentary online networks

> Creating a networkedcampaigning strategy

> Strategydevelopment

> Setting objectives

• Top-line objectives need to be refined for movement building and advocacy:1. Movement building• Longer-term; generic pro-poor change;

emphasis on engagement and authority sharing2. Advocacy• Short-term; linked to specific issues; emphasis

on task sharing

PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4

Research & benchmarking

Establish foundations

Movement building

Advocacy

• Identify relevant

audiences/networks

• Identify and analyse relevant

conversations

• Campaign / issue

benchmarking

• Planning & creating value

frames

• Devise actions

• Align with wider internal

strategy documents

• Create internal guidelines &

toolkits

• Activate on and off-sit

community engagement

• Real-time community engaging

• Execute proactive actions

• Execute reactive actions

• Activate on and off-site advocacy

• Execute proactive actions

• Execute reactive actions

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> Mapping activities

. . .

>Movement building- Ongoing engagement with core organisational networks/communities

> Research- identify audiences, understand value frames & benchmark; ongoing tracking to feed-back into planning

> Establish foundations- set-up operational toolkits/guidelines; devise frames; create actions

> Advocacy- Create, co-opt and activate advocacy networks/communities

> Phase 1: Research

• Research needs to be completed to understand and plan both movement building and advocacy activity. It should:– Identify: volume and themes

of conversations about organisation/key issues

– Who’s having these conversations and whereare they taking place?

– Where are the points of influence within this space (bloggers, forums, forum members, etc)

> Phase 2: Create foundations

• Foundations should be developed centrally to support both delivery strands, yet remain flexible to allow switches between activity

• Foundations should include:– Using research insight to create specific online frames or to feed into

broader strategic frame development– Using research insight and wider campaign strategy to devise

appropriate actions– Establishing roles and responsibilities, e.g. community managers vs

campaigners; national vs regional etc– Creating internal guidelines, frameworks and protocols for effective

management and measurement

> Phases 3 & 4: Activation

• Content planning– Specific content & action strategy should be created to meet objectives– Content could include: existing materials repurposed for social media;

conversational content created in line with guidelines; original social media content where appropriate; relevant third-party content

• Channel planning– Again, specific channel strategies should be created in line with agreed

protocols, e.g. defining the roles and priorities of the organisation’s central platforms vs regional or campaign specific ones

– It’s likely movement building activity will focus on the organisaiton’s current core platforms, e.g. Facebook, Twitter; blog(s); etc with advocacy being dovetailed or conducted across third-party networks/platforms

OPERATIONAL

> What this might look like

FRAMEWORK

ORGANISATIONAL

• establish relevant social media platforms

• define their roles• agree national / regional

management structure• align campaign strategies• integrate with wider

campaign activity• monitoring and

measurement framework

EXECUTIONAL

• content creation& distribution

• community management• conversation management• social advertising• influencer engagement• internal launch• Internal reporting and

comms• listening, responding and

measuring

ESTABLISHFOUNDATIONS

• Conversationmanagementguidelines

• Tone of voice guidance• content strategy• content sign-off

process• social media training• internal comms• crisis protocol

Phases 1 & 2 Phases 3 & 4

> Questions?

simon.collister@gmail.com@simoncollister

www.simoncollister.com

> References

• Bridger, S. (2010) Putting People at the Heart of your Social Media Strategy. Slideshare Presentation. [Online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/mexicanwave/putting-people-at-the-heart-of-your-social-media-strategy

• Chadwick, A. (2007). Digital Network Repertoires and Organisational Hybridity. Political Communication, 24:283–301.

• Griffiths, M. (2007) ICT Foresight: how online communities can make the internet work for the Voluntary and Community Sector. London: NCVO.

• Shirky, C. (2009) Here Comes Everybody. London: Penguin. • Sifry, M. (2008) Keynote lecture at ‘Web 2.0 Politics‘ [Online] Available at

http://www.simoncollister.com/simonsays/2008/04/royal-holloway.html• Tilly, C. (1995). Contentious repertoires in Great Britain, 1758–1834. In M.

Traugott (Ed.), Repertoires and cycles of contention (pp. 15–42). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.