Making the Most of Your Online Communications During an Election

Making the Most of
Your Online
Communications During
an Election
Emira Mears + Lauren Bacon

Friday, September 16, 2011

Q&A

Twitter: #raisedeyebrow

Q&A

Type question here


Your Hosts:

Emira Mears Lauren Bacon
Partner Partner
Raised Eyebrow Web Studio Raised Eyebrow Web Studio

Twitter: @emiramears Twitter: @laurenbacon


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?


Quick Poll

Has Your Organization Run Election-Based
Campaigns Before?
• Yes
• No


Election Strategies.
Opportunities & risks ahead

Image credit: dvanvliet on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow

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.


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


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.


Communications Judo

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Communications Judo

• Work with the election, not against it
• Try to get your issue on the agenda
• Be ready to act quickly


Speak the Language of Votes

• Familiarize yourself with the party platforms
• Find candidates you can leverage
• Know your numbers


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?


Audit Your Toolbox

Image credit: James Brauer on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow

Tools Assessment:
Audit Your Existing Toolbox

• Email List(s) • Video
• Blog • Online Donations
• Facebook/Twitter • Offline Tools


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?


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?


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


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


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


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?


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?


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


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.


Join forces and increase impact

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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


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?


Going viral

Image credit: naturalhomecures on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow

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


Conclusion:
Reporting Out

Image credit: Adam Tinworth on Flickr. Twitter: #raisedeyebrow

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


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


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


Questions?
Please use the “raise
hand” feature, or type
a question into the
Q&A box.


Questions?
Please use the “raise
hand” feature, or type
a question into the
Q&A box.

Type question here


Thank you.

Lauren Bacon Emira Mears
@laurenbacon @emiramears

raisedeyebrow.com


Making the Most of Your Online Communications During an Election

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