Effective Cyber-Advocacy in the United States

An article from the www.convio.com newsletter on techniques to foster strong ties with supporters.

by Pam Fielding, President, e-advocates

The Internet is no longer simply an information resource; it is a powerhouse for communication and building personal relationships. By following the KIP Principle — Keeping It Personal — organizations can tap the Internet to grow relationships with advocates, and even with the policymakers who represent them.

Here are the basics for Keeping It Personal:

If you want a personal commitment, facilitate personal involvement.
During the 2004 elections, a high-level activist was frustrated by her first campaign encounter. Staff members for a presidential campaign directed her to the candidate’s Web site to volunteer — a one-size-fits-all volunteer recruitment form that ignored her vast campaign experience and her personal network of politically motivated, potential givers. Clearly, the campaign and its site missed the boat. This supporter wanted to make a personal commitment, but the site and its email requests did not allow for personal involvement. By customizing form fields and identifying supporters most deserving of a “high touch” response, the campaign could have mobilized a well-educated, highly committed volunteer for the campaign.

Personal responsibility starts with personal expectations.
No one likes to feel like a number. To cultivate committed advocates who will contact their members of Congress, tell their friends about the organization’s issue or walk the neighborhood in support of a petition drive, the organization must set those expectations by asking the advocate to act. There is no benefit in adding an advocate to a list who will never take an action, and it is far more appealing to advocates to know they have an important role in the organization’s advocacy program.

Give every advocate communication a personal touch.
No matter what the goal of an advocacy communication, organizations should take the opportunity to keep it personal. Not only can organizations use online software, such as Convio, to send emails that address advocates by first name, they also can further customize communications with links to information about how the advocate’s lawmakers voted, and legislative updates based upon the recipient’s interests. Personalizing communications helps create educated advocates and reinforces the organization’s investment in the advocacy relationship.

On the flip side of advocacy communication, there is nothing more vital to moving an email up the priority list at a lawmaker’s office than to use the principle of KIP. A personal communication written by a constituent is significantly more persuasive to lawmakers than a form letter. Yes, personal communication requires more work on the organization’s part, but it will pay dividends when the message reaches the legislative office. Organizations should use online software that allows advocates to edit letters to lawmakers and send them through the organization’s Web site. Any personal communication should contain name and full postal address, a bill number and name (if relevant), and the reasons the legislation’s defeat or passage matters to the constituent, his family and his community.

Place special value on personal relationships and personal effort.
Politics is the result of personal relationships and personal effort — from the constituent’s house to the White House. This means an organization must keep track of its advocates — those who know a member of Congress or the family member of a lawmaker personally, and those who will go to the mat for the organization’s issue by emailing lawmakers, making personal visits and rallying their friends.

It is worthwhile to ask every advocate to get involved. And, it is paramount to recognize high achievers and give them the special attention they need to be successful. An organization should use online software that tracks advocates’ effort levels. Advocates themselves can tell the organization what it needs to know about their own Rolodexes of political pals — by simply asking, an organization can gain valuable resources for its advocacy program. And, by sending a personal thank you for the advocate’s effort, the organization will gain an ally it can turn to again and again.

Know thy lawmaker, know thyself.
At the foundation of KIP is a commitment by the organization to knowing its advocates and lawmakers. Today brings a new session of Congress, a new term for our President and a new day to keep politics personal. Any organization involved in advocacy should take the time to welcome its new lawmakers to office with a friendly email that does nothing more than send well-wishes. Read lawmakers’ bios at Congress.org, visit their Web sites and ask advocates to do the same. Remember that “thank you” is among the least used expressions in politics and personal relationships, and resolve to change the trend this year.

When organizations keep it personal, they will be on their way to better relationships and better results in the new session.

Pam Fielding is nationally recognized as one of the leading pioneers in the field of cyberadvocacy. She is President of e-advocates, an award-winning, full service Internet and grassroots advocacy consulting firm based in Washington, DC. She can be reached at http://www.e-advocates.com/, , or 202-962-3955.