Online engagement strategies for activists, candidates and elected officials - presented to Emerge America network via webinar on June 27, 2012.

1. Strategies for
Online
Presented by Sarah Granger Engagement: A
Emerge CA ‘05 Alumna Primer for
Founder, PublicEdge Candidates,
Partner, Women’s Campaign Activists &
Consortium
Electeds

2. What you’ll learn
 How to build your online presence
 Online engagement strategies
including blogging for impact &
building a powerful social media
network
 Tools & tips for campaigning online

3. What you need as a leader
online
 Bare minimum: website and/or
blog, e-mail list, Facebook page
 Online persona & history – will be
researched
 Willingness to engage online
 One social media savvy friend or
volunteer

4. Who are You?

5. First steps toward creating
your online identity & voice
 Reserve names: domain, Twitter,
Facebook
 Setup simple website and/or blog
 Setup Facebook page
 Aggregate initial contact data in one
place (where is your primary list?)
 Create new e-mail account if
campaigning

6. Show who you are online
 Do a detailed search on your name –
what do you see?
 Be clear & concise, tell your story
 Create a unique image that stands out
 Your website and social sites must provide
the most accurate picture
 Personalize - updates, friendly “curated
version of yourself”

7. Building initial networks
 Build initial e-mail list from contact lists
& social networks (FB, LinkedIn, Plaxo)
 Make sure existing social media
accounts are in order
 Invite inner circle onto social networks
 Start following local political
organizations & media on Twitter,
Facebook

8. Costs/budgeting
 Basic website and/or blog – FREE
 Strategy consultants, web developers &
designers – hourly or by project
 Social media accounts - FREE
 Content, e-mail & data entry – do yourself,
get volunteers or hire hourly temp workers
 Database &/or fundraising back-end – set-up
fee plus monthly rate based on # of records
 ISP – monthly charge usually based on traffic

9. Tips for tight budgets
 Don’t get fancy with the website (pre-
packaged is OK, like Wordpress)
 Use the same designer for website as logo
 Excel is fine for a local race database
 Repurpose, reuse, reinvent copy
 Focus on e-mail, pushing content out
 Maximize social media use

10. Website construction
 Design consistent with overall themes
 Simple, easy to find information
 Basic site is better than no site at all
 Take advantage of color
 Utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 Find ways to stand out from the
opposition
 Add social media link buttons to site

11. Color, Images, Layout,
Content, Design

12. Essential site features
 Background information, biography
 Photo
 Contribution Mechanism
 Endorsements
 Issue Statements
 Events/Calendar
 Contact Info

13. Additional site features
 Campaign News / Blog
 Voter registration information
 Press page: articles, additional photos
 Volunteer supplies & tools (sign-up
sheets, talking points, widgets, buttons)
 Campaign Store (via Café Press)

14. Keys to good online content
 Segment & mix it up for speedy
dissemination
 Make it “Sticky” - keep people on site
 Posts (Blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
must be personalized, well written, casual
 Videos (YouTube, Qik, etc.) – you in action
 Images (Flickr, Picasa, site photos) – your
story through images

15. Add-on tools for sites
 Wordpress for blogs, plug-ins
 ActBlue – easy Dem donation engine
 NationBuilder – online organizing tools
 Salsa –free tool for local races coming
out this summer called “Salsa Libre”
 Addthis.com – buttons and widgets
 Raiseyourvote.com – DNC reg. tool

16. Search Engine Optimization
 Insertkey words into text, images & site
code & blog posts
 Make sure page titles smartly named,
including proper headers
 Name, city, county, state,
neighborhoods, etc.
 Issues, actions in the area, proper
nouns of key locations, topics

17. Site metrics & tracking
 Overall Traffic
 Referring pages
 Location of visitors/users
 Time on site
 Pages most visited
 Trends & analysis

18. Database – for contacts,
supporters, network
 Basic: spreadsheets like Excel, databases
like Highrise
 Sophisticated online back-end services
like NationBuilder, NGP, Convio, Salsa
 Import existing voter lists, data from social
networks, mobile phone, Skype, etc.
 Data types - visitors, supporters/users,
donors, volunteers, data managers
 Safety & security

19. E-mail outreach
 Stillthe best communication vehicle
 Use viral themes
 Engage with urgency & action
 Utilize endorsers, big name supporters
 Work off of major events, news & reporting
deadlines
 Think outside the box – too much
campaign e-mail looks canned

20. E-mail message content
 Stick to one focus (or ask) per message
 Don’t ask for money every time
 Use short sentences, repeat key points
 Tell stories, incite action
 Be authentic
 Thank people often!

21. E-mail response
 Create standard collection of replies for
common requests, questions
 Friends – reply personally
 Donors – thank & engage
 Volunteers – give tangible tasks
 Undecided – provide detailed answers
(pre-packaged is OK)
 Negative – be kind, thank for contacting
 Defamatory – ignore (don’t feed trolls!)

22. Remember the audience

23. Building your voice online
 Regular e-mail outreach
 Blogging on your website or keeping
one primary blog
 Guest blogging & op-eds on other sites
 Commenting on other blogs
 Engaging through social media
platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Pinterest)

24. Blogging – what is it really?
 Self-publishing of articles on easy
platform
 Closer to op-ed than traditional
journalism
 Generally not edited by pro editors
 Personal viewpoints on issues, events,
topics – more raw, casual
 Authentic – keeping it real & useful

25. Do you really need a blog?
 No, but you need a voice online & blogging’s
the easiest way: giant megaphone
 Makes you a better writer for op-eds & more
 Gives you subject matter credibility
 Allows you to experiment with your voice
 Connects you with people you would not
otherwise meet
 Takes time, but you get out 3x what you put in

26. How blogger influence works
 High quality content spread across
networks
 Well written post gets shared,
highlighted
 Reputation develops over time
 Can be subtle – traffic ≠ influence
 Even small blogs can get national
attention if topic is important enough

27. What makes a great blogger?
 Unique voice & passion for issues
 Experience writing & editing
 Available time to write and learn the back
end of blogging
 Comfort with online publishing systems
 Plays well with others
 Appropriate timing in political cycle
 Willingness to stir up controversy

28. Getting started blogging
 Block off time in your schedule
 List top blogs in your local area & tune in
 Get to know bloggers & regular
commenters
 List topics you may want to write about
 Try out your own blog – can set private at
first
 Try writing longer posts on Facebook
 Offer to guest blog for org. or group blog

29. Blog lingo
 Post – article
 Page – static content (bio, contact info)
 Comment – reader remarks, dialogue
 Category – topic or general area
 Tag or Keyword – keywords for search
 Blogroll – related blogs in sidebar
 Troll – rude or defamatory commenters

30. Posting process
 Research
 Write
 Edit
 Link
 Publish
 Promote
 Repeat

31. Blog content
 News (esp. if a candidate)
 Ideas, thoughts on issues
 Highlights from events you participate
in – speaking engagements,
publications
 Links to resources or articles of interest
 Personal stories, anecdotes

32. Building a community with
other bloggers
 Find blogs – local news, events, other blogs
 Setup RSS reader to organize & follow blogs
 Ask bloggers to exchange links
 List blog, on FB Networked Blogs, BlogHer
 Join blogger e-mail lists
 Follow bloggers on Twitter, Facebook
 Attend blogger events, conferences
 Engage: comment, retweet, respond!

33. Using Facebook
 Curate posts similarly to blogging, just
shorter
 Keep it short & sweet, casual
 Take advantage of photos, video, links
 Share important news
 Ask questions of your community
 Keep it clean – don’t post anything you
wouldn’t want in The New York Times

34. LinkedIn value
 Online resume – extra way to highlight
skills, experience in a neutral way
 Reaches professional political network
 Also aggregates some contact
information
 Easy to find other people in your
network
 Can take advantage of groups

35. Twitter as a tool
 Bestway to find media, bloggers,
advocacy groups, online influencers
 Quick & easy for sharing news, articles
 Engage with the community via @replies
 Learn about issues using common
hashtags (#p2, #fem2) & terms
 Retweet (re-post) what is relevant to the
community and voters

36. On the move – online
engagement while mobile
 Posting photos to Facebook from
live events
 Live tweeting events, news
 Qik for posting live video
 Publishing quick blog posts when
major news comes in

37. Back Channel = secret sauce
 Use your networks – esp. trusted friends
 Send individual e-mail to influencers
 Post to blogger or activist e-mail lists
 Mention via Facebook e-mail
 Suggest mentions via Twitter direct
message
 Exchange online favors with others

38. Integrated social media
strategy
 Build social media into overall campaign
or professional-political persona
 Put your Facebook & Twitter IDs on cards
& fliers along with website URL
 Auto-post: blog to Facebook & Twitter
 “Drip irrigation” - Sally Lieber
 Remember to keep it personal, social,
authentic

39. Don’t let this happen to you –
reputation management

40. Reputation control tips
 Promote a positive image early & often –
ensure YOU control your image online
 Curate content always keeping image,
reputation & message in mind
 Buy domains relating back to your name
 Regular “vanity” searches
 Get endorsers, supporters to link to official
website (so people know which is yours)

41. Transitioning roles online
 Activist -> Candidate -> Elected
 Each role is public & political
 Each role requires issue expertise &
engagement
 Activists can be most free online
 Candidates need to be more careful
 Electeds must be most cautious
 Authentic voice must hold throughout

42. Other online organizing tools
 E-mail groups & document sharing –
Google Groups & Docs, Dropbox
 Events – Facebook Events, Evite,
Eventbrite, Plancast, Foursquare
 Conference calls – Freeconference.com
 Large or bulk file transfers – Yousendit.com
 Video chat – Skype, Google+ Hangouts
 Polling – SurveyMonkey on web,
Polleverywhere for mobile devices

43. If you have the money
 Google web ads
 Facebook ads
 High end web designers
 Personalized videos
 Mobile & SMS outreach

44. Remember to SHARE!
 Social – networked, engaged
 Highlighting – short & sweet, positive
 Authentic – true to your voice
 Repetitive – consistent, continuous
 Educational – informative, valuable
 ! – enthusiastic, passionate

45. Questions?
Contact Sarah Granger –
E-mail: sarah@sarahgranger.com
Twitter:
@sarahgranger & @publicedge
LinkedIn:
Linkedin.com/in/sarahgranger