Part 3 of the New Media Track at the Immigrant National Convention in Montgomery, Alabama. December 16, 2011

1. New Media Track
December 16 & 17, 2011
Nicole Cairns & Allie Carter
Reform Immigration FOR America online team

2. What We’ve Learned So Far…
- Best practices and tools for successful online
organizing
- How we can use online tools to lift up
narratives of racial injustice and issues that
impact our communities
- How to plan a short-term issue-based online
campaign calendar

3. What We’ll Cover In This Session
- Best practices for online organizing for the
three main phases of electoral work:
1. Registration
2. GOTV
3. Day of/post-election analysis
- Case study of online organizing efforts
behind Wisconsin recalls
- Breakout: planning an electoral
communications calendar

4. Why do we organize around
elections?
Getting out the vote and electing pro-immigrant
candidates supports our broader campaign
goals: advancing CIR and DREAM.
How can online organizing support
this mission?

5. Phase 1: Voter Registration and
Defining Your Electoral Narrative

6. Registration / Narrative Building
Key tactics during this phase:
• Recruit volunteers to help build momentum
and power, push existing members up the
engagement ladder
• Build a narrative and share stories to help set
the stage for what’s to come, define what
victory/success will look like
• Register voters and educate them on the
issues that impact our communities

7. Recruit Volunteers
• Convert online
community on
Facebook/Twitter to
your email list
• Target regular action
takers, push them and
ask for more
• Use email and SMS to
solicit more information
from people, sign up to
help volunteer
2011 Immigrant National Convention

8. Narrative Building
Messaging Content
Example: • Branding / recurring phrases
In 2012, we want to show the and mission statements
stories and the power of our • Facebook and Twitter
immigrant voters will turn out updates
for those candidates that show • Photos and Video
us they care about our families • Include social media
and our issues. icons, hashtags, URL on
every piece of printed
material
2011 Immigrant National Convention

9. Register Voters
• Remind people across all channels about
important election dates (early
voting, registration deadlines) and where they
can register
• Drive to online voter registration forms
• Use email and SMS to drive turnout to voter
registration events

10. Phase 2: Get Out the Vote

11. Get Out The Vote
Key Tactics for this phase:
• Ensure data is as complete as possible – help people
find polling place, their state and federal
representatives, and ballot initiatives in their counties
– Data collection campaign
• Show distinction between candidates through
candidate forums*
– Livestream events, document on Facebook and Twitter
• Continue to recruit volunteers
– Push community up engagement ladder
• Raise the ante in promoting the narrative

12. Why Data Completion is Important
• To target state and federal representatives
• To help people get to their polling
places, coordinate rides to polling locations
• To analyze demographic and geographic
strengths and weaknesses and asses where
power is

13. Phase 3: Election Day and
Post-Election Analysis

14. Election Day
Key Tactics for this phase:
• Turnout, turnout, turnout
– Reminder emails and SMSs with polling places and
hours, carpooling to polls
• Prime the pump for a victory, show
confidence, and “spin” story to make it about our
narrative
– Document online, share info about early returns
• Continue recruitment and build momentum for
new legislative session

16. Post-Election
Day Analysis
… elections may be over, but the work
certainly isn’t …

17. Analysis
• Complete your narrative arc across all
channels
• Celebrate victories and acknowledge
defeats, we’ll move forward even stronger
• What’s next? Elections are part of our broader
goals, examine how we move online
community forward for legislative session

19. Connecting Online/Offline
Telling the story of our voters, our Develop content that reinforces
communities narrative, photos and video, continually
promote on blog/social
Recruiting volunteers Target frequent action takers, responders and
move them up the engagement ladder
Educate community about importance of
showing our strength at the polls
Voter registration campaigns
Candidates’ forums and electoral-themed Document through photos and video; draw
events comparisons* in emails, blogs; livestream
Early voting, finding polling places, and Data completion/collection, targeted emails
turning out the vote and SMSs to help find polling
places, reminders to vote
2011 Immigrant National Convention

20. CASE STUDY: PCCC, ONLINE
ORGANIZING, AND THE WI RECALLS
All images in this section from PCCC Wisconsin television ads, or CallOutTheVote.com

28. BREAKOUT!

29. ANY QUESTIONS?

30. NEXT STEPS

31. What’s Next?
(just some suggestions)
• One-on-ones tomorrow • One-on-one trainings
during breakfast on new media tools or
RI4A tools
• Nerd Herd at the action
• Webinars
• Online working group
• Collaborate, collaborate
• Monthly calls , collaborate.
2011 Immigrant National Convention

32. Thanks for coming to the session!
Have questions? Contact us!
Nicole Cairns, Online Director, RI4A – ncairns@communitychange.org
Allie Carter, New Media Associate, RI4A – acarter@communitychange.org
Garlin Gilchrist, II, National Campaign Director, MoveOn.org – garlin@garlin.org
Nathan Ryan, Online Advocacy Manager, ICIRR – nryan@icirr.org
2011 Immigrant National Convention