Social Media

Mobilization

Brett Bell Grassroots Online

April 7, 2014

About grassroots online

What we do: Founded in 2009, Grassroots Online develops and manages online advocacy campaigns for private sector clients, industry associations and non-profits.

Today’s Agenda

Why social media is important in Canada? Advocacy vs Marketing Tackling “The Obama Myth” Challenges & Opportunities 8 Rules For Your Online Campaign

83% of Canadians use the Internet

34.6 hours

Canadians spend a total of

per month online, versus global average of 24.2 hours

Smartphones rule

of Canadians own a smartphone, up 13% from last year.

75%

Social media + politics 39% 43%

of Internet users participate in political or civic activities on social networking sites.

have decided to learn more about a candidate from something they saw on social media.

Facebook News Feed

of Facebook users mostly see news when on Facebook for other reasons.

78%

Like to like

38% of Internet users say that ”liking” something is their preferred political activity online.

Advocacy vs marketing

• A product or service that customers (potentially) want

• Immediate reward • Competitors

• Something the organization needs/wants

• Delayed or indirect reward • Direct opponents or

opposing viewpoints

The Obama myth

“(Obama’s success) wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have the right message and the right messenger.”

Scott Goodstein, Digital Director 2008 Obama Campaign

Obama Vs Canada

$1 Billion

$22M

300 staff

5-7 staff

200 Digital

50 Technology

50 Analytics

Social

Print

Challenge: Resources

TV

Challenge: Competing for attention

81% 80% 53% 63% 54%

Catch up with friends

Personal content

Entertainment

Shopping

News

OPPORTUNITY: Targeting Audience

Unlike traditional media, you can segment your audiences more effectively, pushing different messages to different audiences.

Communicate emotion.

Opportunity:

OPPORTUNITY: TRACKING PROGRESS

Social media provides the ability to track exactly who saw your message and who took action.

Execution Consumption Sharing Action

Simple rules for mobilizing audiences online

Rule 1: Go Where The Fish Are

Find out where your audience is and go to them. Don’t expect them to come to you.

Rule 2: Self Interest Motivates

Craft a message that appeals to the personal motivations of your audience.

Traffic

Rule 3: USE Emotion

Rule 4: Authenticity IS KEY

Social media is about personal connection. Show the human side of the campaign wherever possible.

Click Here

Rule 5: One Call To Action

Identify what you want your audience to do and make that the sole focus of your content.

Rule 6: Get Contact Information

To be able to continue communicating with your audience, you need to have a way of contacting them.

Enter Your Email Address

Rule 7: Show Social Proof

To build a sense of community and momentum, provide indications that others are participating.

Rule 8: Leave Broadcasting To The News

Where possible, engage with your community rather than speak at them. Give them an active role, not just serve as the audience.

Key takeaways

1. Despite ability to target and segment audiences, still must compete for resources with traditional communications

2. Advocacy is different than marketing, although the tools are similar

3. Understand what motivates your audience and appeal to those motivations

4. Make it easy for them to engage and share 5. Authenticity is key; be more than a press release

Questions?