When Your Supporters Attack

In a recent post about the success of the Obama campaign, Mathew asked how the Obama campaign should be responding to the recent bru-ha-ha created by Obama supporters about his decision to vote in favor of FISA reauthorization.

This highlights the challenges of the Internet – you really can't control it. For the last 20 years political campaigns have been run as top down organizations, with supporters simply taking marching orders from the top of the hierarchy. With the introduction of the web, that structure has been challenged. Obama was able to successfully motivate his supporters to not only join the campaign, but also to donate. He also got them out to vote and gave them tools to engage others to vote. This is how Obama was able to succeed where Howard Dean was not. I believe that this is partly due to advances in technology over the last four years, which has made it much easier to do these types of grassroots activities.

I think this is a lesson learned for future campaigns and even nonprofits: organizations cannot control their supporters and that they will let you know when to do something that upsets them. In this kind of environment, the key issue is how will the candidate (or organization) responds. In responding to the FISA issue, the Obama campaign decided to pursue a strategy to let their supporters voice their frustration through the Obama website. That is a big deal for the campaign.

Their second strategy was to engage some of the opposition at targeted forums like the Netroots Convention this weekend. The New York Times reported that many campaign staffers were going to be in attendance at the conference. Targeted engagement can help keep the candidate out of the tussle and limit the exposure that the issue gets with the larger public.

Their final strategy was to cross their fingers and hope it just blows over. Obama does not want to have a debate on this issue, so to engage supporters on the issue would just generate more media attention to an issue he does not want to talk about.

This debate is a healthy part of the online conversation. While it may make life more difficult for the candidate (or organization) it demonstrates that allowing supporters to critique your message and actions can actually, in the long run, increase their buy-in for your campaign (or organization).

Online Users are Politically Active

On Monday, Nielsen-Online released a study that found that 89 percent of web users over 18 are registered to vote. "The fact that so many Web users are registered to vote suggests that online campaign efforts will drive results at the polls," said Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics, Nielsen Online. "Campaigns are no longer dabbling online – we expect a candidate's Web presence to be an integral part of both campaigns," he added.

This study should hopefully wake up all those campaigns out there that don't believe that the web is an important medium to engage voters.  The challenge for many campaigns is to figure out how to best engage supporters and voters in this arena.

Engaging in Web 2.0 for small nonprofits

The Obama campaign, as well as many of the national nonprofits, has demonstrated the potential power of online communication.  But, how do small nonprofits with limited resources use the Internet effectively?  That is what Tina asked earlier in the week: "I am just curious how small, poorly financed, and poorly known non-profits can make use of the Web? Should they jump in slowly, maybe start with the web page, then add Web 2.0 programs once they are requested by supporters, or should they go all out and get their webpage known through Web 2.0 applications?"

Small nonprofits face two barriers to the online world – resources, as Tina noted, and intimidation of technology.  It's true that online technology tools can  pose a great expense for a small nonprofit.  However, with careful budgeting and an examination of priorities, most nonprofits can identify an affordable tool.    Too often, we spend money on things that don't work – at the expense of things that do. 

I see a lot of groups spend a significant amount of money on direct mail, with little response, but claim that they don't have any money to spend on a website.  I would recommend that such groups reevaluate their communication budget.  Organizations must have a balanced approach that blends traditional and new age communication vehicles.  Usually, once an organization starts investing in online communication, it will realize that a funding a basic online presence is within its means. As more and more nonprofits have moved into the online arena it has gotten significantly cheaper to have a robust online presence.  In fact, there are many online tools now available for free. 

The second barrier many face is the intimidation of online technology.  Many people are still unwilling to use online technology because it is still so new.  This is probably the most difficult barrier because it often comes from senior leadership in an organization.  The best way to address this challenge is to start small and build from there.

Every organization should have a website and build an e-mail list.  It is important for an organization to first master these two tools before experimenting with others.  Also, by building success with these tools it will help you make the case (whether financial limitations or web sophistication is a roadblock) to use Web 2.0 tools.

If you are looking for some suggestions on how to build a stronger online presence I suggest that you take a look at a presentation that I did last November titled "5 Ways Every Nonprofit Should Use the Internet."  There is a video and slideshow of the presentation here -  http://tippingpoint.typepad.com/grassroots_20/2007/11/index.html 

Lessons Learned from Obama’s Online Strategy

Over the last few days there have been some great comments about Monday's post which outlined the basic principles of online communication for nonprofits. I will respond to a few of these over the next couple of days.

Melanie writes, "I completely agree with the points made here. In order for non-profits, political and grassroots campaigns to be successful and maximize their full potential-the web is a tool that needs to be utilized. One politician that I think has truly realized this is Barack Obama."

Obama has done a great job with using the web to advance his campaign, and his campaigned has successfully embraced a number of best practices. For example, earlier this week there was an instructive article in the New York Times that talked about how one of the founders of Facebook is helping the Obama campaign.

The article outlines four strategies that have helped them be successful. These strategies are useful lessons for not only campaigns, but also for nonprofits that are trying to mimic the success of Obama online efforts.

• Keep it local
  Tip O'Neil said that all politics is local. That same idea works for internet strategies. Many national groups fail to put their online campaigns in a context that people can understand. If you can show a local angle it will help make it real for individuals.
• Chop the list up into manageable chunks and organize them
  The idea of segmenting outreach and then targeting communication to those different audiences is a tactic that marketing agencies have embraced, much to their clients' success. Unfortunately, many groups think that this is only a necessary action for national nonprofit organizations. That is not the case. Even small local nonprofits should think about how they can do this.
• Give supporters the tools to organize themselves – "In some primary and caucus states, volunteers used the Internet to start organizing themselves months before the campaign staff arrived."
  • "Obama's campaign began carefully opening up its files of voters to online supporters, making it easier to find out which Democratic-leaning neighbors to call and which registered-independent doors to knock on."
  • One goal is to drive online energy into in-person support.
• "You can have the best technology in the world," Mr. Hughes said, "but if you don't have a community who wants to use it and who are excited about it, then it has no purpose."

  This makes the point that starting slow and then building in more complex activities is the most appropriate strategy. Too often group say we need our supporters/members to do X, without realizing that their supporters are not ready to do X and that they need to get to that activity through baby steps and educating the community.

 

These are some great practical strategies that nonprofits and campaigns can employ to develop a more effective online strategy. Over the next few days I will respond to some of the other engaging comments.

Basic Principles of Online Communication for Nonprofits

Over the last six years we witnessed the explosion of the World Wide Web as a medium for nonprofits and political campaigns to advocate for causes, engage members and win critical legislative victories.  Environmental groups led the charge is the late 1990s, and slowly introduced the Internet as a grassroots tool to other organizations at the national level.  But, the tipping point occurred during the dot com bust when many programmers were laid off and searching for more meaningful work.   It was during this market downturn that the technology was developed that is now powering many of nonprofit and political online operations.

One of the first national groups to really pioneer the technology was MoveOn.Org.  Their success in rallying hundreds of thousands of supporters against the Iraq War really spurred a transformation in the way political campaigns and issue movements were organized.  That paradigm shift in thinking spurred Howard Dean's presidential campaign and eventual rise to the leadership of the Democratic National Committee.  Of course, during this election cycle, the Internet really took center stage as the Republican and Democrat presidential primary contests worn on.  We saw for the first time presidential candidates announcing their candidacy through the Internet via YouTube.  We also witnessed campaigns raise an astronomical amount of money from small donors giving online through the candidates' websites.  This was never possible before the Internet became such a powerful tool.

As a result, the Internet is fundamentally changing the way that candidates and organizations interact with supporters.  Previous communication proved very one-dimensional and functioned in a top down manner.  For example, organizations used to assemble information for supporters to simply consume without question or dialogue.  Imagine doing that in today's interactive universe!  Now, the Internet is allowing for conversations to take place; in fact, most supporters expect to be engaged this way and question when they are not.  This, in turn, empowers supporters to take more control and become more engaged in the organizations they support.

This dynamism  is also restructuring the hierarchy of organizations and political campaigns.  More resources are diverted to grassroots engagement on the Internet, with organizers and technology gurus given seats at the table.  Why is this happening?  We only need to look at the last 75 years of politics to understand that those who embrace the changing communication landscape will be the most successful.  The best examples include Franklin Roosevelt with the radio, John Kennedy with the televised debate, and Ronald Reagan with the live press conference.  These savvy politicians understood that the world was changing around them and that they had to adapt to survive.

Today's new communication vehicle is, without a doubt, the Internet.  Americans spend more time on the Internet than engaged with any other communication activity: Americans spend 3.6 hours a day on the  Internet as compared with 2.5 hours/day (television), 1.3 hours/day (radio), and 1.3 hours/day(telephone). A survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that almost half of Americans used the Internet to participate in the political process during the 2008 presidential primary.  This migration to the Internet will continue to occur during the upcoming general election campaign and create a new wave that will change politics.

However, success on the Internet is not guaranteed.  In order for candidates and organizations to tap into the power of this growing wave of supporters, they will have to adopt the following principles for success:

1. Be Interactive and Empowering
   Good grassroots organizations and candidates already do this.  They regularly engage their volunteer base of supporters by asking for their input.  Before the Internet, it was really expensive and time-consuming for groups to do this.  Now, through tools like online surveys and e-mail, it is much easier to achieve this level of outreach.  Of course, it is critical that groups actually use the feedback and data they receive from supporters; it is not enough simply to ask supporters to participate.  Supporters will not take the time to participate if they feel they will just be ignored.  Be sure to follow-up with them to show how their input really did make a difference.

   It is also important to change the tone of your communication when using the Internet.  A conversational tone has proven to be an effective way to style communication.  This less formal approach is hard for traditionalists to take, but it goes a long way towards engaging supporters.

   Finally, successful Internet organizing and communication requires identification of ways to effectively collaborate with supporters.  By asking them to help you solve organizational challenges you can create stronger buy-in for your organization and turn passive supporters into passionate evangelists who will assist in implementing those solutions.  This type of collaboration can be beneficial to organizations large and small.

2. Create Engagement Pathways
   The general public has become much more effective at blocking out unwanted messages.  Traditional communication theory was that if you hit someone seven times they were likely to retain your message.  This type of marketing is called "onslaught marketing" because that was truly the goal.  Unfortunately, every campaign and marketing agency learned this tactic, overused it, and it is now ineffective.  Today, supporters tend to only want and retain information that they are interested in.  That may seem intuitive, but many groups do not segment their audience and communicate in a distinctive manner to each audience.

   To be truly effective, organizations and campaigns should target the right opportunities to the right audience at the right time.  If you focus on these principles you will significantly increase participation and decrease list fatigue.  This will also allow you to communicate with supporters on a more regular basis because you will only be providing them with information that they find helpful or interesting.  People are unlikely to unsubscribe from your list if you provide them with only information that they want.  Every group has a website where truly interested supporters can go to learn more.  The lesson of "onslaught marketing" is that it is better to entice a supporter with targeted information rather than inundating them and causing them to tune you out entirely.

3. Develop and Nurture Evangelists

   Evangelists are defined as super activists who are extremely passionate about your organization or candidate.  Identifying and developing these evangelists is key to the long-term success of any organization or candidate because these individuals will go out of their way to support your issue.  As a result, it is important to provide them with the tools and information necessary to ensure their effectiveness.  They will talk to friends and family about your issue or candidate, they will volunteer, and they will donate money.   These are your superstars.

   Think about how you can develop a relationship with your evangelists.  Do you even know who they are?  Once you identify these individuals, segment them out from the rest of the supporters and develop a more personal relationship with them.  If you do not try and cultivate that relationship they will just move on to similar organization because they can get easily bored.  They want to be engaged, so take your message to them in a personal way.  Once they are on board and engaged it is pivotal to acknowledge their work.  They want to be recognized and rewarded for their loyalty.  If you do that, they will return the favor and play a valuable role in your organization.

4. Integrate! Integrate! Integrate!
   Online communication does not live in a silo and must be integrated into the rest of the organization's infrastructure.  One of the early mistakes in online communication was that it tended to live in a vacuum, separated from a cohesive communications strategy.  Often web departments were created separately and did not talk with the rest of the communication, grassroots, or fundraising staff.  Groups quickly learned that this did not work because supporters only saw one side of the organization and did not receive other targeted messages (such as a fundraising appeal, etc.).  Make sure that everyone is on the same page and that all these efforts are integrated.  You will find that the web quickly becomes the hub or your organization.
5. Create Community

   In this Web 2.0 world, creating a sense of community has become a critical principle of engaging supporters online.  T o convince them to get involved they need to feel like they a part of something larger than themselves.  Today, people like to join movements and not organizations.   So, organizations and candidates need to identify ways that they can create a movement around their issue.

   The second part of creating community is to build opportunities for people to socialize and make friends.  This type of socialization in at the core of why people get involved.  It is critical that those ingredients be replicated online to keep them engaged and coming back.