Digital Advocacy Works: Five Days Down, Five Lessons Learned
Denny Civic Solutions has worked hard with our clients over the last few months hosting “Digital Advocacy and Educational Days.” You’d be forgiven for thinking, “Great! ...What is that?” Simply put, it is a full day of social media activity on the client’s Facebook page designed to highlight important issues, engage with key decision makers and experts, recruit more followers and advocates, gain media attention, and build teamwork.
We started in May, and since then have helped our clients Open Primaries PA, #StrongMomStrongBaby, Draw The Lines PA, the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Race and Social Problems, and the Family Care Act all host a day of their own. Here are 5 lessons we’ve learned worth sharing:
1. It Works:
Our clients see massive spikes in their social media activity, from gaining new followers, meaningful engagements, and expansive reach that spreads their message farther than other online campaigns. Unlike other methods of existing digital advocacy, such as online petitions, Digital Advocacy Days actually bring people together live online, as if it were an in-person event. However, these events are more inclusive than in-person events, don’t require travel, and foster a true sense of community with all those who participate.
2. It takes planning and teamwork:
Simply put, these Digital Advocacy Days only work because our team and the client work as active partners. The clients help identify things like the overall objective of the day, what the timing of the event should be, what content they would like to highlight (e.g., a live panel discussion, or a contact-your-legislator campaign), who the participants will be. We take all of that and turn it into an effective, efficient daylong event -- helping to pull in the right audience along the way.
3. It takes creativity:
In addition to a central “set piece” or two, such as a national speaker delivering an address to the client’s page via Facebook Live, we help the client think through other engagement activities that are effective, eye-catching, and fun. To date, we’ve done giveaways, live contests, trivia, interactive Q&As, and more.
4. It takes partners:
Amplifying your message on social media, just like with an in-person event, means working with your network to get the word out and drive engagement. The common thread among all of our Digital Advocacy and Education Days to date is the pre-planning and outreach to partners that has occurred beforehand. We work with our clients to line up participants who can help spread the word, who can offer expertise as part of a panel, who can participate as part of a Q&A, and more.
5. It lives forever:
While it’s amazing to see the amount of viewership and engagement in real time, sometimes the best part of these “Days” is that they’re not really a single day at all -- the content created can be used across the client’s social media channels and website well into the future. Not to mention that a post or a Facebook Live video continues to live on their page and receive engagement for days or even weeks afterwards. If content is king, quality content -- like that generated during a Digital Advocacy and Education Day -- is our clients’ ace-in-the-hole.