Social Media Advocacy & Public Affairs

June 9, 2016

CACV Quarterly Meeting

Overview

Why Social Matters

Social Media 101

Social 2.0 Tools

CACV: Moving the Conversation

Why Social Matters

Why Social Matters

Ubiquitous: 73% of U.S. adults on Internet use social networking sites;

Highly Engaged Users: 23% of Facebook users check the site 5x or more daily;

Primary News Source: Significant increase in number of users who use social media as primary news source; 43% of users say they learn more about political or social issues because of something they saw online;

Advocacy Launchpad: 28% of people who use social media for personal reasons support a health-related cause. Facebook users 2.5x more likely to attend a political event or rally;

Outsize Political Influence: In Senate races, the candidate with more Facebook friends than opponent won 81% of the time; 57% of Facebook users are more likely to persuade a friend or coworker to vote;

Why Social Matters - Trends

Facebook Still #1: Approximately 3x the users of all other sites combined;

Unique User Bases Evolving: Facebook is considered entry level/gateway; each site has unique user base: Facebook: Looks like the Internet, only slightly younger; Twitter: Young, ethnically diverse (particularly African-American audiences); Instagram: See Twitter; Pinterest: Women; LinkedIn: Middle-Aged Professionals;

Phone, Email & Text Still Critical: For people born before 1980, the phone, email and

text are the preferred form of communication and should remain key component of any public affairs campaign;

Increase in Images and Video, Particularly to Reach Millennials: Facebook still best way to reach millennials, but Instagram and Snapchat next highest;

Paid Promotion Increasingly Important: Social networks limiting organic reach of posts – more organizations paying to promote content.

Why Social Matters – Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages

• Live, Immediate, Fast

• Open Source, Inherently Inclusive

• Equal Voice

• Go Beyond Your Usual Network

• More Ways to Distribute and Amplify Messages

• Measurable and Observable

Social media can also present potential pitfalls, including:

• Overwhelming Speed

• Mistakes are Public and Easier to Make

• Everything is Recorded

• Competing Voices Can Sound like Noise

• Everything Can Be Amplified

Why Social Matters – Digital Advocacy

Advocacy Paradigm Shift – Obama ’08

Amplification/Pull-Through/ Influence

Growing Influence Over Elected Officials

Resource-Effective

Unique User Bases and Demographic Tracking Allow Hyper-Targeting

Digital Advocacy: The use of digital technology to contact, inform, and mobilize a group of concerned people around an issue or cause.

Social Media 101

Social Media 1.0 Recap

Branded Organizational Accounts

Email/eNewsletter/Blogs

Facebook & Twitter

Highlighting Member Activity

Encouraging Members to Join

Finding the Conversation

Social Media 101 - Facebook

Digital face of an organization or movement

Access to largest online network of Americans

Mobilize allies, colleagues, patients and policymakers

Amplify earned media, events and other efforts

Ability to tag influential policymakers, reporters and other organizations

Social Media 101 - Facebook

• More than just a way to connect with friends and family

• Groups, pages and causes – connect with people around the world

• Pictures/graphic content

• Post on legislator and reporter/media outlet walls

• Hashtags exist but are less important than on Twitter

• Character limit, but you’ll never reach it

• Build your voice by: replying, sharing, liking

Social Media 101 - Twitter

Live, instant and public communication

Distribute multiple kinds of content to a wide range of audiences

Amplify earned media, events and other efforts

Ability to tag/communicate directly with influential policymakers, journalists and other organizations

Social Media 101 - Twitter

• Millions of tweets every day

• 140 character limit

• Pictures (count as characters but help your tweet)

• Tweet at lawmakers & media (“mention”)

• Use relevant hashtags

• Follow accounts & lists

• Build your voice by: replying, retweeting, favoriting

Anatomy of a Tweet Organizational Handle

Profile Picture

Image

Reply

Retweet

Like

Mentions

Relevant Hashtag

Social Media 101 - LinkedIn

Social network aimed at professionals

106 million monthly active users

Gives voice to companies/individuals through long-form posts, general content and advertising

Shift to more content-heavy, mobile-friendly platform to keep people around and coming back

Precise ad targeting can reach specific industries, job titles or companies

Social Media 2.0 Tools

Infographics/Shareables/GIFs

Videos/Testimonials

Digital Town Hall/Google Hangout

Twitter Chat/Storify

Thunderclap/Twibbon

Digital Grassroots/Take-Action

Paid Digital Advertising

Infographics/Shareables/GIFs

Graphic representation of data or information;

Engagement significantly higher for content with visuals;

Help explain complex issues despite restricted space;

Infographics tools include: Piktochart, Visual.ly, Infogr.am, Photoshop

Quote graphics tools include: Quozio, Recite, PowerPoint

Videos/Testimonials

Storytelling tool – put a human face on complex policy issues;

Useful education tool - information retained by viewers is significantly higher than written text;

Expand the audience for advocates/testimonials;

Numerous free & low cost tools: Hyperlapse Instagram App, YouTube editor, iMovie, Animoto, Vine, Google Hangout;

Digital Town Hall/Google Hangout

Broadcast panel discussions, hold meetings, interview experts, conduct webinars;

Memorialize conversations and repurpose with external audiences;

Video automatically loaded to your YouTube page and can be shared on websites, through email, & social media;

Twitter Chat/Storify Public online conversation –

agreed-upon topic, agreed-upon time;

Invite participants and use dedicated hashtag that participants can follow;

Storify is a content curation service used to pull together content and add appropriate context;

Storify effective for recapping Twitter chats & events and pulling them through with external audiences;

Social movement tools used to amplify causes, milestones or events;

Thunderclap allows people to pledge to send a message on social media all at the same time – an “online flash mob.” Messages can be sent via Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr at a time determined before launching the campaign;

Well-executed Thunderclap campaigns can exponentially increase the reach of your social media campaign;

Twibbon allows users to overlay an image with their personal social media profile pictures and publically support a cause.

Thunderclap/Twibbon

A Take Action center can highlight access policy issues and direct users to contact officials at the local, state, or federal level with your organization’s messaging points;

Tools for Take Action centers can easily be added to your organization’s website & allow you to track & measure advocacy campaigns’

Examples of services include: CQ Engage, CapWiz, VoterVoice

Digital Grassroots/Take-Action Tools

Digital Advertising

Audience hard to grow organically & organic reach declining;

Highly targeted outreach with distinct messages;

High level of control and low barriers to entry;

YouTube (Pre-roll/In-Stream, Display, Overlay In-Video)

Twitter (new Twitter cards)

Google Adwords

Facebook Ads & Boosting Posts

Digital Advertising

CACV: Moving the Cancer Conversation Forward

“Va. Organization Unveils 5-Year Cancer Plan”

CACV Cancer Plan Rollout 2014

Grow Your Presence/Following

Listen first;

Identify conversations/influencers;

Soft-launch accounts;

Begin posting regularly;

Announce new platforms to members/database;

Cross-promote via existing platforms;

Make it easy for people to follow through links/buttons;

Add accounts to email signature;

Tweet at influencers or individual users;

Engage in two-way conversations;

Ask third-party partners to like/follow;

Paid advertising/follower acquisition;

Maximizing Your Resources

Everything is content;

Retweet/share content from allied third parties;

Identify social media champions;

Ask your followers to RT, share, etc.

Schedule posts in advance (via Hootsuite or Tweetdeck);

Find existing resources (e.g., legislative lists);

Create and Subscribe to Twitter lists;

Make sharing your content as easy as possible for your membership (e.g., send emails that include draft tweets, a shortened URL, relevant hashtags, etc.);

Save Key Hashtags;

Google Nonprofits;

Moving Forward/Social Best Practices

Build CACV network/“surround sound”

Grow high-value followers;

Pull each piece of content through;

Engage policymakers with calls to action;

Thank supportive policymakers;

Leverage calendar milestones;

Use graphics to create more dynamic content;

Live-tweet/blog events, curate activity and repurpose with additional audiences;

Incorporate a digital aspect to a traditional advocacy event (lobby day, press conference, annual meeting, etc.);

Email supporters with simple digital calls-t0-action;

Questions?