Grassroots Advocacy and Social Media

Hands-on Grassroots

Molly NichelsonAmerican College of Cardiology

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Grassroots Advocacy

• What is it?

• Why have a grassroots program?– And how to convince your higher-ups that it’s

important

• Finding & Educating Your Advocates– And how to keep them as your advocates

Grassroots Advocacy

• What are the tactics and techniques?– Action Alerts– Grassroots vs. Grasstops– Phone Lines– Finding your Advocates– Lobby Days

• In-District vs. Capitol/Capital

– Working with your PAC & Lobbyists– Measuring Your Success

What is Grassroots?*

*Other than a sweet, sweet band from the 1960s. Gotta love the awesome President Chester A. Arthur muttonchops!

OK, Really, What is Grassroots?• Educating

– Issues / legislation that is of importance

• Empowering– Providing them the tools to act

• Call, visit, email…advocate!

• Complementary – Works in conjunction with your lobbyists & PAC

Why Have a Program?

• Constituents Can Make the Best Advocates– They vote for the member– They can have personal/professional connections

with the member– They know the district – They can tell personal stories – They compliment that PAC & Lobbyists

Finding Your Advocates

• Membership (Trade Associations)

• Employees (Businesses)

• Anyone that agrees with you (Issue Advocacy)

Finding Your Advocates

• Action Alerts– Who’s responded, who hasn’t – tracking

• Word of Mouth– Talk to your advocates & leadership

• PAC Donations– Who’s given to your PAC

Finding Your Advocates

• Internet Key Word Searches– Search newspapers / blogs for key words

• Being on the ground in key districts– You sometimes need to be face-to-face to find

them!

Keeping Your Advocates Engaged• Personalization is Key

– Phone calls & emails to your advocates– Check-in from time to time

• Sharing News Articles

• Updated Website

• Newsletter

• Events / Action Items– More on this later

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques

• Action Alerts– Sent via email, fax – Instructions on how to contact their legislators

• Via webform• Phone

– Can be targeted to key advocates and key legislators(software-dependent)

– Volume is usually the key in an Action Alert

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques• Grassroots vs. Grasstops

– Grassroots = all of your advocates• Usually ‘just’ respond to alerts• Usually don’t meet or know their legislators

• Grasstops– Know the legislators personally

• And can influence them at key times

– Can be cultivated or found – Their relation hips with their legislators should be used sparingly – The most valuable asset of your grassroots operation

• Definitely are the ones you want to tend to most of your time!

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques

• Phone Lines– 800 number – Advocates listen to programmed message– Advocates punch in zip code– Patches them through to all their MOCs or select

ones

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques• Lobby Days

– Day(s) dedicated to meeting with legislators in person

• Can be in Capitol/Capital or in a District Office

– You can make the appointments or advocate can– Training of advocates– Advocates pitch your message– Advocates follow-up on how the visits went– Lobbyists follow-up with key offices

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques

Capitol/Capital Visit• Strength in numbers & very

visual• Excites advocates• Group training

– Messaging hopefully the same

• Costly & Labor Intensive• Time intensive for

advocates

In-District Visit• Easier for the advocates • Not as exciting for the

advocates• Training over the phone &

email unless you go• Inexpensive• More time can be spent

with the member & district staff

• Site tours

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques

• Working with your Lobbyists & PAC– Lobbyists provide the content & context– PAC helps get your advocates in front of legislators– Stories and anecdotes for lobbyists in meetings– Amplifies the message of the lobbyists– Feeding of information back and forth

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques

• Measuring Your Success– Can be difficult!

• Did Legislation You Want to Pass, pass?– Hooray! Celebrate with your advocates (atta boys!)– No? Boo! Keep it positive and continue to motivate

but be honest about your prospects for ‘winning’ – You do NOT want to disillusion your advocates

Grassroots Tactics & Techniques

• What were your action alert totals?– Calls, emails, faxes, postcards…numbers– Share them with your leadership

• Can help motivate the base or provide a pat on the back

• Advocacy intensity– Calls you receive / field – Share the messages you receive with your lobbyists

Reaching Your Advocates

Through Social Media

Molly NichelsonAmerican College of Cardiology

2400 N Street, NWWashington, D.C. 20037

Email: [email protected]: (202) 375-6470

Audience Questions

By show of hands…

How many of your organizations / companies use at least use one social networking platform for advocacy?

By show of hands…

How many of you use at least use one social networking platform?

a.) Personal?b.) Professional?

By show of hands…

How many of your companies / organizations have:

1.) Facebook fan page(s) 2.) Twitter account(s)3.) LinkedIn account4.) YouTube account

5.) SlideShare account

What would you like us to talk about?

Now on to our regularly scheduled broadcast…

And thanks for engaging!

“Stop, look and listen, baby,

that’s my philosophy….”

And if you can name that song, you get a peanut butter and banana sandwich!

The King of Social Media says,

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

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?

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?

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

What are the top social networking sites ?

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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

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• 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!

Social Networking Sites

Twitter

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Twitter Terminology: Hashtag

• 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

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

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RSS Feed Twitter Accounts

• 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 Readerhttp://tweetcongress.org/

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Grassroots and Twitter• Annual Meetings / Hearings

– Live Tweet programs– Use the Twitter ‘handle’ of the person talking– Use hashtags

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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

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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

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Best Practices & Advice

• 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

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/

• And state legislators via DCI’s Digital America: http://www.dcigroupdigital.com/digital-america/

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Best Practices & Advice

• And know when you send a tweet, it’s out there…and it’s searchable!

– http://search.twitter.com

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Best Practices & Advice

• 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/

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Best Practices & Advice

• 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

American College of Cardiology’s Advocacy Department & Twitter

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

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)

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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

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Facebook

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Making the Most of Facebook

• 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

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Finding Facebook Friends

• 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

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

Facebook Events

ACC Facebook Page

Facebook – Are They Engaging?

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Best Practices & Advice

• 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

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!

Facebook Parting Thoughts

• Engage with others & make it interesting

• Know that you will make mistakes

LinkedIn

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!

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

Your Homework

Time to read up on social media!

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)

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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/

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Stay in Touch!Molly Nichelson

American College of Cardiology2400 N Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20037Email: [email protected]: (202) 375-6470

Work Twitter: @CardiologyPersonal Twitter: @MollyNichelson

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