Give by Drew YoungeDyke and Del Belcher at the Michigan Oil and Gas Association Executive Board Meeting. December 2014

1. SOCIAL MEDIA
Advocacy Communication in the Digital Age
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Del Belcher, Digital & Social Media Strategist
Drew YoungeDyke, Field & Public Relations Manager

2. Michigan United
Conservation Clubs
• Mission: “Uniting citizens to conserve, protect and
enhance Michigan’s natural resources and outdoor
heritage.”
• Founded in 1937
• Over 40,000 members
• Over 250 affiliated clubs
• Largest state-specific conservation organization in the
country

3. SOCIAL MEDIA
• Issue
• Audience
• Message
• Means
• Distribution

4. ISSUE
• Define the issue
• Example: Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act
• Protecting Hunting Rights
• Anti-hunters wanted to uses wolves as a victory in their
national anti-hunting agenda
• The SFWCA put the decisions in the hands of biologists,
so it couldn’t be hijacked by out-of-state anti-hunting
groups on the ballot
• Anti-hunters wanted to spread the message that the
issue was just about hunting wolves, and after the moot
ballot vote they wanted to declare victory

5. AUDIENCE
• Our audience was the
hunting/fishing/trapping/conservation community
• The community banded together to collect signatures
and encourage their legislators to pass the Scientific Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Act, and despite constant
communication before the vote that it was moot, there
was still a lot of confusion as to what it meant
• We wanted to reassure our core audience that the
SFWCA was not affected by the vote and that we still
won

6. MESSAGE
• The message had to be simple: “We still won.”
• The SFWCA was passed in August, but doesn’t go into
effect until 90 days after sine die (when the legislature
adjourns)
• HSUS has threatened a lawsuit, but it’s without legal
merit
• The SFWCA will go into effect around March 18, no
matter what HSUS did on the ballot, i.e.: “We still won.”

7. MEANS
• We wanted to reach a lot of people very quickly
• Through our established social media presence, we are
able to plug that message in and launch it.
• Weekly blog post on website with an established and
growing readership
• Conservation Insider e-newsletter
• Facebook, Twitter

9. DISTRIBUTION