mobilize your cause: 12 steps to a successful cause campaign

Mobilize Your Cause!

JD Lasica Founder, Socialbrite.orgjd@socialbrite.orgJune 2, 2010

Focus: Cause CampaignsPersonal Democracy Forum

B O O T C A M P

Relax!

(all sites in this talk have been tagged for later retrieval)

Creative Commons photo on Flickr: “relaxation, the maldivian way” by notsogoodphotography

http://bit.ly/mobilize

Today’s hashtag

Tweet this talk! Hashtag: #pdf10

Creative Commons photo on Flickrby Prakhar

Handouts! Be happy!

It’s the ecosystem, stupid!

77% US adults are frequent social media users.*

Almost 1 million blog posts created per day; over 346 million people globally read blogs

6 of top 10 websites in US are social sites (YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, MySpace, Blogger, Craigslist)

Twitter: 120 million registered users; 300,000 new users a day; 180 million unique visitors a month

Flickr: 35 million people have posted & tagged 3 billion-plus photos

Wikipedia: 10 million users have contributed

YouTube: 2 billion videos streamed per day

Whenever someone opens a computer, 60% of time it’s for social reasons

*Nielsen Online, spring 2010

Facebook: Freaky growthClosing in on a half billion members

Cultural norms of social media

Premium on sharing

Transparency

Conversation expected

Mistrust of traditional authority figures & marketers

Instead: trust in peers, people like ourselves — even strangers

It’s not about the technology, it’s about connecting people.

Trust is easily gained and easily lost.

Credit/attribution given

Collaboration

Types of cause campaigns1. Raise awareness for your cause,

build your organization’s authority

2. Grow a mailing/newsletter list

3. Sign up new members

4. Raise funds

5. Sign petitions or invite supporters to write letters

6. Find new volunteers or advocates

7. Attract new Twitter followers or Facebook “likers”

8. Enlist people to attend an event or pledge to take an action

9. Ask people to create content on your behalf

What else?

Dream cause campaigns

charity:water supporters raised $250,000 through Twestival.

Red Cross’s Text Haiti campaign raised $32 million. Oxfam UK received $50,000 via link in YouTube video posted day after Haiti quake.

Visible Children Scholarship Program: 700 kids in Uganda receiving scholarships & mentoring.

Care2 (if you have $$)

Effective advocacy campaigns

Matt Shepard Act to prevent hate crimes

Starbucks helps Ethiopian coffee farmers

Protecting Oregon’sforests

12 steps to mobilize your cause

1. First, listen and observe. Engage before the Ask.

2. Set clear goals & define metrics to measure

3. Define a clear theme4. Frame it with a personal story 5. Create a simple call to action6. Be transparent, create a conversation hub for participants7. Give your campaign social love handles8. Consider a mobile component9. Identify & enlist evangelists

10. Create ongoing mini-actions & provide updates 11. Use immediacy: Headlines & deadlines 12. Measure results, reconnect, refine, refresh

1. Create a listening postSet up a listening post (monitoring dashboard) to track what’s being said about your cause.

Choose from Google Reader, Feedly (left) or Netvibes, supplemented by a Twitter monitoring service.

See your handout! How to set up a Monitoring Dashboard

2. Set goals, map metrics

Goals

Grow email list of supporters

Increase comments on blog

Increase website visibility

Increase positive mentions of brand or campaign

Have visitors stick around

Increase virality of content

Get people to take action

Attend an event

Metrics to measure

# newsletter, RSS subscribers

avg. # comments/post

increase in traffic or linkback #s

mentions in social networks

stick rate

# of shares

# of petition signatures

# of registrants, year over year

3. Define a clear themeBoil down your cause to a strong, single sentence

Share Our Strength: End childhood hunger in America

ActBlue: Elect progressive candidates

DonorsChoose: Support public classrooms in need

Hope Blooms: Get kids adopted

4. Tell a personal storyUse videos or photos for maximum impact

invisiblepeople.tv

5. Create a call to actionInspire people to act with clear, motivating steps

6. Create conversation hubWhere will you engage with supporters?

Your blog

Facebook

Twitter

Community site (WiseEarth)

Social hub (Change.org)

Contest site (Giving Challenge)

7. Social love handles Turbo-charge your campaign with plug-ins, widgets

8. Consider mobile

This American Life: Facebook widget & text to give

GoodGuide.com:

Users can use iPhone app to see if a product is healthy, environmentally friendly & socially responsible.

9. Enlist evangelists

Use your listening post to identify high-value influencers in your subject area

Establish a rapport and only then reach out

Scope out Twitter Lists that intersect with your cause

Connect with other social media influencers through their blogs and other venues

10. Create mini-actionsAmerica’s Giving Challenge: Daily winners

11. Use immediacyHeadlines & deadlines: Play off the news & use a hard stop date

12. Measure, refine, refresh

http://dashboard.imamuseum.org/

Measure results, follow up, recalibrate, relaunch

Campaigns with impact

Cause It’s My Birthday: Microsite

Equality California: Wedding registry

SMA: Tweet for a Cure

93 Dollar Club: Facebook

charity:water: Website, blog, Twitter, video updates, Google Earth

Greenpeace & Nestlé

We’ll discuss other campaigns in Tools session

Ric O’Barry, “The Cove”

Cause it’s my birthday

$19,000 for malaria nets in rural Ghana

C A S E S T U D Y

No on 8 Wedding Registry1,700 couples raised $1 million+ for Equality California

C A S E S T U D Y

Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Slide show on Photobucket

C A S E S T U D Y

Tweet for a Cure2,000 people have tweeted reaching 1.6 million followers

C A S E S T U D Y

http://gwendolynstrongfoundation.org/twitter

93 Dollar Club C A S E S T U D Y

Grassroots serendipity: $83,000+ to fight hunger

charity:water & Twestival C A S E S T U D Y

http://www.charitywater.org/projects/map/

Greenpeace & NestléNestlé’s Facebook Page, March 17, 2010

C A S E S T U D Y

Greenpeace & NestléNestlé Killer microsite

C A S E S T U D Y

Greenpeace & NestléBoycott Nestlé pages on Facebook

C A S E S T U D Y

Greenpeace & NestléGreenpeace bought Google AdWords like “chocolate”

C A S E S T U D Y

Greenpeace & NestléNestlé partners with Forest Trust

C A S E S T U D Y

JD Lasica, Socialbrite.orgemail: jd@socialbrite.orgTwitter: @jdlasica

Following up

Resources at bit.ly/mobilize

Bookmarks at delicious.com/socialmediacamp/mobilize

Katrin Verclas, MobileActive.orgemail: katrin@mobileactive.orgTwitter: @katrinskaya