A presentation given by Managing Partner Brett Bell of Grassroots Online on April 7, 2014 to an "Advocacy & Government Relations" course at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. The presentation looks at the need to develop an online campaign presence and some general rules on how to develop a successful online engagement effort.

1. Social
Media
Mobilization
Brett Bell
Grassroots Online
April 7, 2014

3. About grassroots online
What we do:
Founded in 2009, Grassroots
Online develops and manages
online advocacy campaigns for
private sector clients, industry
associations and non-profits.

4. Today’s Agenda
 Why social media is important in
Canada?
 Advocacy vs Marketing
 Tackling “The Obama Myth”
 Challenges & Opportunities
 8 Rules For Your Online Campaign

5. 83%of Canadians
use the Internet

6. 34.6
hours
Canadians spend a total of
per month online, versus
global average of 24.2 hours

7. Smartphones rule
of Canadians own a
smartphone, up 13% from
last year.
75%

8. Social media + politics
39% 43%
of Internet users participate
in political or civic activities
on social networking sites.
have decided to learn more
about a candidate from
something they saw on
social media.

9. Facebook News Feed
of Facebook users mostly see news when on Facebook
for other reasons.
78%

10. Like to like
38%
of Internet users say that ”liking” something is their
preferred political activity online.

11. Advocacy vs marketing
• A product or service that
customers (potentially)
want
• Immediate reward
• Competitors
• Something the
organization needs/wants
• Delayed or indirect reward
• Direct opponents or
opposing viewpoints

12. The Obama myth

13. “(Obama’s success)
wouldn’t have happened if
we didn’t have the right
message and the right
messenger.”
Scott Goodstein, Digital Director
2008 Obama Campaign

14. Obama Vs Canada
$1 Billion
$22M
300 staff
5-7 staff
200 Digital
50 Technology
50 Analytics

15. Social
Print
Challenge: Resources
TV

16. Challenge: Competing
for attention
81% 80% 53%63% 54%
Catch up
with friends
Personal content
Entertainment
Shopping
News

17. OPPORTUNITY: Targeting
Audience
Unlike traditional media, you can segment your audiences
more effectively, pushing different messages to different
audiences.

18. Communicate emotion.
Opportunity:

19. OPPORTUNITY: TRACKING
PROGRESS
Social media provides the ability to track exactly who
saw your message and who took action.
Execution Consumption Sharing Action

20. Simple
rules for
mobilizing
audiences
online

21. Rule 1: Go Where The Fish Are
Find out where your audience is and go to
them. Don’t expect them to come to you.

22. Rule 2: Self Interest
Motivates
Craft a message that appeals to the personal
motivations of your audience.
Traffic

23. Rule 3: USE Emotion

24. Rule 4: Authenticity IS KEY
Social media is about
personal connection.
Show the human
side of the campaign
wherever possible.

25. Click Here
Rule 5: One Call To Action
Identify what you want your audience to do and
make that the sole focus of your content.

26. Rule 6: Get Contact Information
To be able to continue communicating with your
audience, you need to have a way of contacting
them.
Enter Your Email Address

27. Rule 7: Show Social Proof
To build a sense of community and momentum,
provide indications that others are participating.

28. Rule 8: Leave Broadcasting To
The News
Where possible, engage with your community
rather than speak at them. Give them an active
role, not just serve as the audience.

29. Key takeaways
1. Despite ability to target and segment audiences,
still must compete for resources with traditional
communications
2. Advocacy is different than marketing, although
the tools are similar
3. Understand what motivates your audience and
appeal to those motivations
4. Make it easy for them to engage and share
5. Authenticity is key; be more than a press release

30. Questions?