Here is a presentation I made to the American League of Lobbyists on May 10, 2010 on using social media for grassroots. Feel free to contact me with any questions!

1. Reaching Your Advocates Through Social Media Molly NichelsonAmerican College of Cardiology2400 N Street, NWWashington, D.C. 20037Email:mnichels@acc.orgPhone: (202) 375-6470

2. Audience Questions And you thought you were going to be talked at the entire time!

3. By show of hands… How many of your organizations / companies use at least use one social networking platform?

4. By show of hands… How many of you use at least use one social networking platform?

5. By show of hands… How many of your companies / organizations have: 1.) Facebook fan page(s) 2.) Twitter account(s) 3.) LinkedIn account 4.) YouTube account 5.) SlideShare account

6. By show of hands… How many of you have: 1.) Facebook fan page(s) 2.) Twitter account(s) 3.) LinkedIn account 4.) YouTube account 5.) SlideShare account

7. What would you like us to talk about? Don’t be shy! Interactivity is key!

8. Now on to our regularly scheduled broadcast… And thanks for engaging!

9. The King of Social Media says, “Stop, look and listen, baby, that’s my philosophy….”And if you can name that song, you get a peanut butter and banana sandwich!

10. STOP: Questions to Ask The audience – who I want to engage & how? What are my goals? What are the right sites to be on? And how do they differ? What is my comfort level? Technology Time Commitment Sharing & interacting

11. STOP: Questions to Ask What are the legal implications? Are you grassroots professionals contacting members of Congress directly? How can this help my career? Hinder? How will you be viewed by peers? How will this intel you share on social networking sites be used by opposing groups?

12. LOOK: Questions to Ask What are other groups doing? Look up like-minded groups and not so like-minded groups How are they leveraging the new medium? Look at your resources Who will manage it? Who will be committed to the daily care and feeding your social media sites?

13. LISTEN: Questions to Ask Listen to the pros and cons from peers and colleagues Learn from other group’s mistakes Know there are valid concerns – and know how to defend your use of social media Listen…with an open mind about the new technologies These technologies are not for young people anymore I mean, the King does this from his grave…http://twitter.com/ElvisPresley

14. What are the top social networking sites ?

15. Social Networking Sites Facebook Can be personal, professional or a blend of the two I have two pages Professional Personal Twitter Can be personal, professional or a blend of the two I manage accounts @Cardiology @MollyNichelson 15

16. Social Networking Sites SlideShare Share your PowerPoint presentations Be seen as an expert Search other people’s presentations Foursquare (or other geolocating sites) Check in to places and earn badges Connect with your friends and see where they are Can be good for grassroots advocates for lobby days LinkedIn Purely professional Great way to engage your peers! 16

17. Twitter

18. @Cardiology’s Twitter Page

19. Twitter – Followers 19

20. Twitter Applications 20 Sending Your Tweets: Computer Tweetdeck: http://tweetdeck.com/beta/ Seesmic: http://desktop.seesmic.com/ Hootsuite: http://www.hootsuite.com Blackberry UberTwitter: http://ubertwitter.com/ iPhone Tweetie: http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/

21. Twitter Applications 21 Feeding your RSS feeds to Your Twitter Account: Ping.fm – http://ping.fm Tweetlater – http://tweetlater.com Hootsuite -- http://hootsuite.com

22. Twitter Terminology: Hashtag 22 Use a hashtag (#) before a word in a post allows you to tag that post for that word This allows your word to be more readily searched Can help bring you new followers and help you find more followers & monitor conversations

23. Example -- #HCRhttp://search.twitter.com 23

24. RSS Feed Twitter Accounts 24 There is NO way you can keep up with all the tweets Put individual feeds of members of Congress / thought leaders in to Google Reader Use Tweet Congress and dump their feed in to your Google Reader http://tweetcongress.org/

25. Grassroots and Twitter Annual Meetings / Hearings Live Tweet programs Use the Twitter ‘handle’ of the person talking Use hashtags 25

26. Grassroots and Twitter Retweet Members of Congress Shows the members you’re watching Gives credibility to your organization Passes on the member’s message Make sure to keep the Tweets relatively even along party lines 26

27. Grassroots and Twitter Grassroots Campaigns Create a hashtag (and see if it’s being used!) Advertise it Action Alerts, publications Retweet those who use it & thank them! Send tweets to members of Congress with campaign…and have your advocates do the same 27

28. Best Practices & Advice 28 Know that you WILL make mistakes You will NOT have full control Use your own voice Don’t turn your Twitter account in to an RSS feed Be a HUMAN behind your account Give something of value to your audience Coupons, advice, articles, thanks

29. Best Practices & Advice Realize that Twitter is like a radio station in which there is a ‘drive time’ Retweeting is totally fine to catch the different time zones Follow members of Congress via TweetCongress: http://tweetcongress.org/

30. Best Practices & Advice 30 And know when you send a tweet, it’s out there…and it’s searchable! http://search.twitter.com

31. Best Practices & Advice 31 Following & Followers Be judicious, but don’t be a snob either Don’t get freaked out by who’s following you If someone is wacky, block them And did I mention there are reporters on Twitter…and they may follow you? http://journalistsontwitter.wetpaint.com/

32. Best Practices & Advice 32 Monitor, Monitor, Monitor! Don’t throw stuff out and then don’t react; monitor your account and who’s following you Have an RSS feed on your #hashmarks & company’s name http://search.twitter.com See what’s popular on Twitter Trending topics

33. American College of Cardiology’s Advocacy Department & Twitter

34. Work Twitter Account Company Twitter Page: @Cardiology Updates on news stories RSS Feed of CEO’s Blog ACC Advocacy issues Engaging MOCs Feeds to my work Facebook page for ACC members, staff and MOCs I run it, but it’s the voice of the ACC Advocacy Department Engage people personally via DM

35. How We Use Twitter Send news articles Show that we’re on top of the healthcare issues Members Media Other healthcare groups RSS feed CEO’s blog (Lewin Report) 35

36. How We Use Twitter Highlight member and advocacy achievements & grassroots pushes Interact with members of Congress http://tweetcongress.org Gray area as there may be legal implications I have ceased in doing this as I am not registered – I urge caution! Still teaching our members about Twitter Have included our link in alerts 36

37. Facebook

38. Making the Most of Facebook 38 Who is your audience? Members of Congress, businesses, peers, journalists What do you want to share? And what will be of interest to them? How do you want to engage this group? Action alerts Attend events Spread the message

39. Finding Facebook Friends 39 Finding People Take the time to find those members of Congress on Facebook Find out about townhalls, look at their videos…get intel! Find out if you have members / employees on Facebook Run your email address book in Facebook. You’ll be surprised who’s on

40. Facebook Advocacy Health Reform – Campaign for Patient Access Advocacy Week Created an event on Facebook and invited ACC members, staff, chapter executives AND members of Congress Obviously members of Congress wouldn’t attend, but made them aware of the week Created a secondary hit to our members about the week

41. Work Facebook Account

42. Facebook Events

43. ACC Facebook Page

44. Facebook – Are They Engaging?

45. Best Practices & Advice 45 Monitor, Monitor, Monitor! Don’t throw stuff out and then don’t react; monitor your account and who’s following you See what other people are posting and post it to your page

46. Best Practices & Advice Make it interesting! Feed your Twitter account to Facebook Gets them interested in Twitter & hits them with stuff that they may not see via email Share events, links and semi-personal stuff about yourself Helps your members / employees connect with you & this helps your grassroots efforts!

47. Facebook Parting Thoughts Engage with others & make it interesting Know that you will make mistakes

48. LinkedIn

49. LinkedIn Show your professional side Engage your peers in groups Really can expand your horizons and link with cool people Meet new people & broaden your horizons Link your professional Twitter feed to your LinkedIn account Link your PowerPoint presentations via SlideShare Toot your horn!

50. Parting Thoughts As advocates have to walk a fine line Personal and professional benefits of engaging in social networking can be huge I’m a big proponent, and greatly enjoy the folks I interact with online Overcoming fear and realizing you’re human as is everyone else can be difficult Think about the tools and how you can use them

51. Your Homework Time to read up on social media!

52. Reading Up on Social Media Social Media Websites http://mashable.com/ http://www.smartbrief.com/ http://www.twitip.com/ http://www.readwriteweb.com/ http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ http://social-media-university-global.org/ http://beth.typepad.com/ (for non-profits) http://www.socialfish.org/ (for non-profits) 52

53. Reading Up on Social Media ePolitics Websites http://techpresident.com/ http://personaldemocracy.com/ http://tweetcongress.org http://twitterroom.thehill.com/ http://www.epolitics.com/ http://www.nextgov.com/ 53

54. Stay in Touch! Molly NichelsonAmerican College of Cardiology2400 N Street, NWWashington, D.C. 20037Email:mnichels@acc.orgPhone: (202) 375-6470 Work Twitter:@CardiologyPersonal Twitter:@MollyNichelson SlideShare:mollynichelsonLinkedIn:mollynichelson