(First of all, a shout-out to my Dad, who I think is the only one reading this blog.)
This morning Facebook was kind enough to remind me that seven years ago, my client and I had a very nice win against well-funded and powerful opponents in the waning days of California’s legislative season. Given the political clout and grassroots capabilities of the opposition, this was not an easy win by a long shot.
The issue itself was arcane. Other than these two powerful interests, no one really cared that much about it. However, the campaign itself taught us some very valuable lessons about what was then the emerging tactic of using Twitter in advocacy. Using this platform to have volunteers communicate with their legislators was part of a larger set of strategies we used to defeat the bill.
Here’s what we learned.
The Twittershere was largely unoccupied for the purpose of advocacy. Even the organizations with large memberships were not mobilizing their activists to use Twitter, leaving this “universe” as unoccupied territory. Even now, while we see organizations themselves attempting to promote their advocacy using Twitter, not many of these organizations are using Twitter to have their members and activists persuade legislators.
It works. Using Twitter for these direct communications between constituents and legislators was VERY effective. At the state level, legislators often man their own Twitter accounts, and quickly our volunteers found legislators engaging with the content they had shared. And even if a legislator’s Twitter account is coordinated by staff, they are very attentive to it.
Quality is better than quantity. A handful of authentic communications with real anecdotes shared via Twitter are more valuable than a hundred pre-written or “canned” emails. Full disclosure here, I’m not a fan of these email campaigns and almost never advise clients to engage in them.
Seven years later, these findings still hold true. Groups are still focused on other, less persuasive means to communicate with legislators. Elected officials and their staff are still very sensitive to constituent communications that are shared via Twitter. And personal stories are still more influential than pre-written messages.
At some point in the future, I’ll fully rant about the futility of canned email campaigns. I’m sure you’ll all enjoy that.
