Social Media 101: Advocacy in Today’s Media Environment

Amanda Phraner, Edelman Digital Health

Our World Has

Changed

There is no longer a top down model of influence.

Opinion-Forming

Elite

Mass Audience

Old Model New Model

Pyramid of Influence Sphere of Cross Information

NGOs

Media

Consumers

Employers

Community

Government

Social Media

Advocates

Influence Has Changed

It has both

collapsed

and

exploded.

Statistics unavailable

The Media Landscape Has Changed

But…..

People still want and have an expectation

participate in democracy and to be informed.

And….

Associations continue

to strengthen

democracy,

encouraging constituents

to communicate with

elected officials on

issues of

importance.

Which is Where Social Media Comes In

Today, people spend more time on social

media sites then ever before.

With the explosion of participation

on social media, it easier to

effectively recruit for

advocacy efforts.

8

Listening

Informing

Connecting

Acting

Online

Offline

News

Media

Open

Honest

Credible

Meaningful

Consumers/

Patients

Caregivers/

KOLs /

Influencers

Employees

A brand’s or organization’s authentic participation in the public dialogue

Today’s Opportunity to Join the Conversation

The engagement mindset.

OUR JOURNEY

STARTS NOW.

So What IS the Value of Social

Media in Advocacy?

To Start With… It Really All About

the use of digital technology to inform and

mobilize people around an issue or cause

and galvanize the supporters to take action.

What Social Media Delivers….

A relatively low cost to set-up channels

New opportunities to listen and engage with constituents and

policy makers

The ability for new means of participation in call-for-actions and

personalized engagements with policy makers

Effective two-way communication with constituents, building your

advocacy community

Quick, efficient disseminate information to interest constituents

with reach into a wider audience

Support for advocacy activities and ongoing connections to the

community

Social Media An Important Part of Advocacy

Extremely Unimportant

2%

Somewhat Unimportant

13%

Neither Unimportant or Important

1%

Somewhat Important 32%

Extremely Important 52%

Last year’s dhAdvocacy Summit attendees said….

Social media is an important part of advocating for constituents.

Active Passive Active

Against Don’t Like Don’t Know Like Supportive

PASSIVE

SUPPORTERS

WHO CAN

BECOME

ACTIVE

ADVOCATES

Moderate Mobilize Manage/Persuadable

Social Media Helps to Mobilize Supporters

And Keep Them Engaged

Social Media Supports Your Priorities

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Education/Awareness

State/Federal PolicyAdvocacy

Barriers to Care Research/Science State/FederalRegulation Advocacy

2013 Attendees: Organization’s Priorities

HOW TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN

So HOW Do You Use Social Media

for Advocacy?

First, Know Your Goals

What kind of direct action are you trying to prompt?

Keep Constituents Informed

Social media can serve as a great advocacy tool that enables followers to stay informed about issues they care most about

• You can help educate people across America; they also have the potential to influence key decision makers

• You can use Twitter to keep followers informed about interesting news related to different aspects of complex policies

• Variety in social content will keep followers engaged and coming back to see what new information you have to offer.

Extend the Reach of Information

The ripple effect can help your message reach individuals and organizations beyond your current reach.

• Ideally, your followers will spread your messages by retweeting or sharing which means that a follower will take your content and rebroadcast it to their network.

• You can also retweet or share news and messages by others to help strengthen your relationships with partners, expand the reach of your presence and bolster the overall conversation on policy issues

Drive Direct Action

Here Are A Just A Few Ways

• Post a news story about pending regulations or policies

• Share a link to a video clip of a local TV news story or personal video from a constituent

• Invite fans or followers to a local event or town hall meeting

• Upload pictures from events such as of a press conference or meeting with policy makers

• Encourage fans and followers to call, write emails and even tweet their legislators

But How Can I Do This?

Today we all face the art of doing

more with less.

Don’t Jump In….Evaluate

• What resources do you have? People. Time. Budgets.

• Where are your constituents most active? Facebook. Twitter.

• Can you sustain the social media program?

Don’t worry about being everywhere.

Be one place well.

Set Your Social Media Objectives

• Is your goal narrow (i.e. publicizing an event) or broad (building and engaging with a community or coalition)?

Identify the purpose.

• Are you primarily communicating with people who are already familiar with you, such as your members? Or are you reaching out to potential members and supporters?

Define the audience you want to reach.

• This should be based on your objectives and intended audience.

Select a social media platform to focus on.

• Assess and evaluate existing materials, toolkits and resources which can be shared. Don’t forget experts count – share their insights.

Gather resources and materials to share through social media.

• Ensure they have defined roles and understand the objectives

Assign someone or a team of people to manage your social media presence.

Know What Which Platforms Matter

http://ow.ly/gQPLD, January 2013

1 billion monthly users,

2 billion posts/comments

per day.

800 million users, 4 billion videos

watched daily, 60 hours

of video uploaded every minute.

200 million users, 74 million

in the United States,

2 new users per second.

500 million users, 200 million

active accounts. Over 1 billion

Tweets every 3 days.

Over 500 million users, about

343 Million active accounts, more

mobile than desktop.

Take Time to

Establish

Processes

Establish Internal & External Process

This is a product

Listen

Assess

Engage

Measure

Submit

Evaluate

Schedule

Publish

Social Properties

(Facebook, Twitter

blogs, etc.)

External Process

Internal Process

Employees & Partners

Set Up Your Governance

Transparency Personal vs. professional

Employee responsibility

Social media citizenship

Good behavior

Know Who You Want to Be

ACHIEVES: Authentic Voice in the Conversation

POSITION: Authority on and

Vested in the Issues

Or Friendly Voice With Shared

Empathy

STYLE: First Person

Or Third Person

Narratives

TONE: Approachable

and Professional

Or Personal and

Friendly

Establish your voice….

Get a Content Plan in Place

Focus Audience Content Theme

Define your

audiences

Outline relevant

resources and

actions

Ladder to

central

themes

Content creation

(Photos and Videos)

Conversation (Blogs,

Forums, Twitter)

Interaction

(Social networks)

Education

(Wikipedia and

Social Bookmarking)

Academics Government Media NGOs Employee General

Public

Plan Your Content to the Audience

Take a Holistic Approach to Content

Evaluate upcoming events and activities into a weekly or monthly calendar

Develop unique, interesting and shareable content

Make complex information easier to understand

Create an entree into new or existing conversations

Optimize resources and tools

Ask and answer questions about timely news or policies

Find Ways to Make The Most Out of Everything

Announcement

PowerPoint deck on

Slideshare

Video speech on YouTube

Transcribe for blog post

Extract charts and graphics

Turn into a Twitter chat

topic

Create a webinar or

training

Determine Review Processes

Planned

Activities

Organization

Assets

Observances

and Milestones

Partner Groups Timely News

Government Affairs Constituent Relations Communications

PHASE ONE

Known activities and

evergreen content will

be collected and serve

as the basis of the

draft monthly calendar.

PHASE TWO

Core departments to

provide input on

additional activities for

the calendar.

PHASE THREE

Review and final

approval of content to

be posted on social

channels REVIEW / APROVAL

Draft Content Calendar

Final Content Calendar

Be Prepared to Respond

Get Ready for the “Critical Advocacy Moment”

Think About the Long Term

• Build communications

with a focus on

community

• Foster relationships with

followers, develop trust

• Create mutually

beneficial interactions

Understand How Stories Work on Facebook

• If Twitter is for your head,

Facebook is for your heart.

Fluffier, heartwarming

content, or simple,

visual humor works well

on Facebook.

• Curated content – use Fan

photos to incorporate your

message or product.

• Most people in Facebook began their relationships with

Facebook friends offline, and carry those relationships

over to the online realm.

• Successful engagements are personal.

• Because only a maximum of 8% of a brand’s fan base

will organically see each post, paid promotion is almost

imperative in garnering reach, driving shares and

broadening the audience.

What Content How to Engage

Understand How Stories Work on Twitter

• Twitter is heavily used by

media and industry

communities to break news

and provide commentary on

live events in real time.

• Many Twitter users develop relationships with users

they’ve never met in person - relationships exist solely

online. This results in the strong bond among people

within a similar industry on Twitter.

• The ability to easily maintain a conversation via

@replies on Twitter, makes it a good tool for customer

service and real time engagement.

• Content shelf life is extremely short, lasting only about

an hour. So, paid advertising helps to extend the shelf

life through promoted tweets

What Content How to Engage

Monitor, Monitor, Monitor

• Know what is being said, and proactively identify

opportunities to engage/respond

• Understand the impact of news

• Monitor your efforts and adjust as needed

Qualitative metrics: listen to your supporters

Quantitative metrics: growth of your following,

engagement

And Measure, Measure, Measure

SAMPLE MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK PARTICIPATE IN

ONGOING CONVERSATION

BUILD AN AUTHORITATIVE

AND AUTHENTIC VOICE

CAPITALIZE ON PEAKS

OF INTEREST

Quantify interaction with the target

audience.

Identify which types of content,

language and post cadence facilitates

the most positive engagement.

Disseminate resources

and fact-based content

to build trust among the target

audience.

Establish a clear and consistent

voice.

Align the narrative

with audience needs.

METRICS METRICS METRICS

Total Follower Growth: Benchmark the

rate (%)

of follower growth.

Reach: Understand how many users

saw the tweet.

Engagement Rate: People mentioning,

retweeting, favoriting the number of

posts divided by number of posts.

Number of Mentions: Analyze the

brand messages being amplified.

Favorites: What messages do

stakeholders believe in? How can

they be leveraged?

Retweets: Understand what is

being shared.

Link Clicks: The number of links

clicked in a message/post.

Recommendations:

Do user support share

or recommend content with their

community?

Sentiment: Track perception

(sentiment)

of comments and brand mentions.

Don’t Forget to Use Tools to Make It Easier

• HootSuite

• Google Analytics

• Topsy

• Social Mention

• Simply Measured

• Tweet Deck

• Klout

from the Community Toolbox –

University of Kansas

A Quick Checklist

to Get Started

Conduct a Brief Strategic Review

Be clear about your main goal – what direct action are you

trying to prompt?

Evaluate the time and resources available to you and your team

Determine how you will measure success

Evaluate where your supporters are most likely to be online

Information from: Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.

Sign Up for Accounts

Create a central platform online (i.e. a website)

Sign up for accounts, enter profile information

Choose the social media tools that will help you communicate

with supporters and potential supporters (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Information from: Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.

Become Familiar with the Tools

Listen and monitor activity

Develop a voice that is authentic, transparent, and contagiously

enthusiastic

Request the action you are seeking in a clear and direct way

Engage in conversations

Information from: Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.

Build in metrics for evaluating progress

Develop Systems For Managing Your Efforts

Information from: Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas.

Develop a single content plan / calendar of topics to post, outlining timing of advocacy requests and desired outcomes

Integrate and streamline social media efforts, while retaining an authentic presence on each platform

Integrate online and offline efforts for maximum success

Use established metrics to evaluate your progress

Keep listening to your supporters

If you stop using a social media tool, take the content down or redirect supporters to an area where there is active engagement

Now Let’s Get Online