Making the Most of Your Online Communications During an Election

Making the Most of Your Online

Communications During an Election

Emira Mears + Lauren Bacon

Twitter: #raisedeyebrow

Q & A


Q & A

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Your Hosts:

Emira MearsPartner

Raised Eyebrow Web Studio

Twitter:

Lauren BaconPartner

Raised Eyebrow Web Studio


Online Election Strategy:

1. Opportunities & risks of election season

2. Communications judo: making elections work for you

3. Tools assessment going into an election

4.Collaborating for greater impact

5.Viral campaigns: are they in your reach?


Quick Poll

Has Your Organization Run Election-Based Campaigns Before?•Yes•No


Election Strategies.Opportunities & risks ahead

Image credit: dvanvliet on Flickr.


Election Strategies:Opportunities •Stakes are high/urgency• Issues & policies are top of mind•Media will cover issues if there’s an

election tie-in•Public events to engage in:

townhalls, rallies, candidate debates, etc.


Election Strategies:What are the

• Relevance: Any non-election related campaigns will tend to be overshadowed during the election period

• Resource Drain: Short timelines and fast turnarounds are required to take advantage of any opportunities

• Horse Race: Backing any one candidate or party platform can backfire

• Donation Competition: Parties will be


Election Strategies:Politics is Not

• Member alienation: Even if the choice seems very clear to align your issue with one party or candidate, remember that not all your members will agree. You risk alienating or upsetting members by playing politics.

• Have a plan: Don’t let managing individual members’ concerns about political affiliations take up too much staff time/resources; have a plan for how you’ll


Election Strategies.Communications Judo

Image credit: MightyMe! on Flickr.


Election Strategies:Communications •Work with the election, not against

it•Try to get your issue on the

agenda•Be ready to act quickly


Election Strategies:Speak the Language of Votes

•Familiarize yourself with the party platforms

•Find candidates you can leverage•Know your numbers


Election Strategies:Mobilize Your Members

• Make sure you have the tools to mobilize your community quickly in support of the issue at hand

• Do you have your lists in order?• Are your tools in place?


Election Strategies.Audit Your Toolbox

Image credit: James Brauer on Flickr.


Tools Assessment:Audit Your Existing Toolbox

• Email List(s)• Blog• Facebook/

Twitter

• Video• Online

Donations• Offline Tools


• Have a strategy• What is your primary message? (You probably

only get one.)

• Who are you targeting? Members? Parties? Candidates?

• How will you measure success?

• Can you switch gears quickly if necessary?

Tools Assessment:Strategy Before Tools


• How up to date is your list?

• Are you adding to your list?

• Is your list segmented? Should it be?

• Are staffed trained on using the software?

Tools Assessment:Email Newsletters


• Do you have an existing blog you can use for election coverage?

• Valuable tool for fast turnaround/discussion

• If you don’t have a blog, is there a partner blog you could contribute to?

• Don’t expect to create a blog during an election period and expect traffic to naturally appear

Tools Assessment:Blog


• Do you have an existing presence you can leverage here?

• If not, what are your goals with the tool?

• Is it to get people to take action? Or is it to raise awareness?

• Figure out what metrics you’re going to use for success

Tools Assessment:Facebook/Twitter/Google+


• Make sure you’re thinking long term as well

• How can you make sure you own your contacts?

• If you run a separately branded campaign , how will you bring those people back in to your org?

• Cross-pollinate your lists

Tools Assessment:Facebook/Twitter/Google+


• Can you create multimedia content?

• Does your content lend itself well to multimedia?

• Are your website and other channels currently set up to share/display multimedia content?

Tools Assessment:Online Video


• Are you already set up to take donations?

• Can you target donations for a particular campaign?

• Can you set up quick landing pages/donation funnels related specifically to an election related campaign?

• Can you integrate your online donations into your other outreach easily?

Tools Assessment:Online Donations



• Make sure your set up with the tools so that your community can spread your message. • Post video to YouTube/Vimeo so it’s easy to

share

• Have “Share This” widgets on your site

• Include your Twitter/Facebook page in email newsletters etc.

• Give supporters sample tweets and don’t be shy about asking people to repost

Tools Assessment:Make Sharing Easy



• Don’t forget the offline follow-up

• Particularly important when it comes to mobilizing people on voting day: how are you going to get them out from behind the screen to make the change?

• Your strategy should be geared at using online tools to motivate offline action: be clear about this and set measures for success.

Tools Assessment:Offline Follow-up


Election Strategies.Join forces and increase impact

Image credit: booze-a-holic on Flickr.


• Should you act alone?• Partner to share media space/centralize

message

• Can you share lists/communities?

• Guest blog posts, shared newsletter content, cross-promotion in social media

• Share resources

Collaboration:Joining Forces & Increasing Impact


• Risks of Partnering:• Who will be the spokesperson?

• Building consensus can take time

• Where will donations go?

• Who “owns” lists and supporters after the election?

Collaboration:Joining Forces & Increasing Impact


Election Strategies.Going viral

Image credit: naturalhomecures on Flickr.


• In a word: No.

• What you can do:• Focus on content strategy

• Make sure you have the tools for sharing -- as we discussed

• Be prepared to respond if it happens

Going Viral:Can You Make it Happen?



Conclusion:Reporting Out

Image credit: Adam Tinworth on Flickr.


• Report Out:

• Let your community know what impact they had - even if it wasn’t the result you were hoping for

• Include reporting out as a part of your content plan and schedule it in

Conclusion:After the Election


• Understands the Risks and Opportunities

• Uses Communications Judo: work with the election, not against it

• Know what tools you have and what you need

• Collaborate where it will increase impact

• Be ready to go viral - but don’t depend on it

Conclusion:A Good Election Strategy


Need more help?Raised Eyebrow offers:

• Usability Consulting

• Email Newsletter design, development and management

• Accessibility and Search Engine Optimization Consulting

• Custom workshops for your organization

www.raisedeyebrow.co

• Online Communications Strategy Consulting

• Information Architecture and Interaction Design

• Website Design & Development

• Web 2.0 and Social Media Consulting

http://www.laurenandemira.com



Questions?Please use the “raise hand” feature, or type a question into the


Questions?Please use the “raise hand” feature, or type a question into the

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Thank you.

raisedeyebrow.com

Lauren Bacon@laurenbacon

Emira Mears@emiramears






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