How to Use Social Media as a Female Legislator

Prepared for: National Foundation for Women Legislators Washington, DC | October 29, 2009 Developed by: Leslie Bradshaw Director of Engagement | New Media Strategies 5 Ways to Use Social Media to: Engage Your Constituents Own Your Personal Brand Extend Your Campaign

#1: Social Mobilization + Micro-Donations

URLs you’ll need: http://www.wildfireplatform.com/ http://www.actblue.com/ http://kimbia.com/ What Obama Did What You Can Do

#2: Establish Your Own Byline

Content Credit: William Beutler Regional Target your constituents by writing a diary or guest post for a localized outlet

Left of Center Right of Center URLs you’ll need: http://www.soapblox.net http://www.dailykos.com http://www.democraticunderground.com/ http://mydd.com/ URLs you’ll need: http://www.redstate.com http://www.thenextright.com Rally your base by maintaining a diary and establishing relationships with site editors

#3: Engage Women

Social Media Skews Female Content Credit: InformationisBeautiful.net; Media Post; eMarketer

Harvard Says: “Women Are the WORLD’s Largest Opportunity” $13T 2009 $18T 2014 $4.4T 2009 $6.6T 2014 Content Credit: Harvard Business Review, September 2009 $1.2T 2009 $1.8T 2014 Global Female Income China’s GDP India’s GDP FACT: Women have more purchasing power than combining and doubling the GDPs of China and India.

National Regional Left of Center Right of Center URL you’ll need: http://bit.ly/SV-Mom-Full-Roster URLs you’ll need: http://www.blogher.com/ http://www.womengrowbusiness.com/ Top 100: http://www.enkayblog.com/top100/ URLs you’ll need: http://womensrights.change.org/ http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/ URLs you’ll need: http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com/ http://www.lizmair.com/ http://sistertoldjah.com/

#4: SEO / SMO

Your Website Social Media Profiles How Search Engines Rank Content

Determining Factors:

Credibility of site

Longevity of site / profile

Relevancy of content

Frequency of posting

Titling and tagging of content

Inbound links to the site

My Brand: /LeslieBradshaw

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Mahalo

Blog: www.LeslieBradshaw.com

Previous Branding: /LeslieAnn44

YouTube

Flickr

FriendFeed

SlideShare

Gmail

Be Consistent, Be Present and Optimize Recommended Profiles: http://www.linkedin.com http://www.facebook.com/ http://twitter.com/ http://www.mahalo.com/ http://friendfeed.com/ Summary & Specialties Groups 500+ Connections Recommendations Thought Leader Blog Posts (tag: “linkedin”) Consistent Photo Strong Intro: “I Am…” Vanity URL Industry-Relevant PPTs

#5: Facebook & Twitter

ADVERTISING

Target based on age, gender, education, interests, geography, etc.

State-wide candidates – Target the entire state (e.g., California)

Localized candidates – Target by city (e.g., Oregon’s 4 th District; Pepper Pike)

URL you’ll need: http://www.facebook.com/advertising/

ENGAGING

Create a fan page; brand the URL (e.g., /FirstLastNameforPosition)

Embed the fan widget back on your site; create inviting, social loop

Host “chats” with your fan base on a weekly / monthly basis

Tie in campaign activities; create and integrate “event” pages

Reach out to similarly-minded groups; engage admins with “ask”

URL you’ll need: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Content Credit: Jill Miller Zimon; JESS3

URLs you’ll need: http://twitter.com http://tweetcongress.org http://www.congressional140.com http://twitter.pbworks.com/USGovernment

Does Well:

Verified Account

Names district

Does Well:

Complete bio

Notes her ‘pride’ in representing WY

Does Well:

Totally, 100% human

Does Well:

Discloses that account is run by staff

FACT: 25% of Congress is on Twitter

Contact & Resources

Leslie A. Bradshaw

Email: [email_address]

Longer form writings, thoughts: http://lesliebradshaw.com

In the moment: http://twitter.com/LeslieBradshaw

Friends, family, colleagues: http://Facebook.com/LeslieBradshaw

Digital CV: http://LinkedIn.com/in/LeslieBradshaw

Industry PowerPoints: http://slideshare.net/LeslieAnn44

A Few Ways to Get in Touch with Leslie

Fundraising & Organizing Platforms: http://www.wildfireplatform.com http://www.actblue.com (D) http://kimbia.com Recommended Social Media Profiles: http://www.linkedin.com http://www.facebook.com http://twitter.com http://www.mahalo.com http://friendfeed.com Facebook Resources: http://www.facebook.com/advertising http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php Twitter Resources: Search Twitter: http://search.twitter.com/ Multi-Term Search: http://tweetgrid.com/ Monitor Twitter: http://tweetdeck.com/ Twitter Email Alerts: http://tweetbeep.com/ Congress on Twitter: http://tweetcongress.org http://www.congressional140.com http://twitter.pbworks.com/USGovernment Blog Resources: Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com Blog Authority: http://technorati.com/ Blog Directory: http://alltop.com/ Wikipedia “How To” For Politicians: http://bit.ly/Wikipedia-BestPractices Left of Center Blogs: http://www.soapblox.net http://www.dailykos.com http://www.democraticunderground.com http://mydd.com Right of Center Blogs: http://www.redstate.com http://www.thenextright.com Trending Topics – Political: http://www.memeorandum.com Female Blogs – General: http://www.blogher.com http://www.womengrowbusiness.com Top 100: http://www.enkayblog.com/top100 Regional: http://bit.ly/SV-Mom-Full-Roster Female Blogs – Left of Center: http://womensrights.change.org http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats Female Blogs – Right of Center: http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com http://www.lizmair.com http://sistertoldjah.com Social Media / New Media Resources Recommended Blogs