DELIVERING AN EFFECTIVE
MESSAGE VIA TRADITIONAL
AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Sarah Wells, Executive Director, Consumer Voice
Introduction
No matter what kind of networking or
communicating you do, it’s all about finding
the right people to target with your
message, conveying your message clearly,
and garnering interest and support.
Introduction

Agenda
 What
is networking?
 What is media?
 Linking it all together
 Let’s talk about traditional networking & media and
how to communicate your message(s)
 Let’s talk about social networking & media and how to
communicate your message(s)
Introduction
When I say “networking”
what do you think of?
Introduction
When I say “media” what
do you think of?
Introduction

Networking versus media, understanding the difference
and how they work together
Networking – using traditional or social networking
techniques to find people with mutual interests or supporters
 Media – mass communication (but definitely can be
targeted)
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
Networking and media go hand-in-hand – ideally, you
find individuals and/or large audiences with mutual
interests, to communicate broadly to about your issue(s)
Introduction
“Traditional” NETWORKING
 Face-to-face meetings or gatherings
 Phone calls
 Mailed letters, faxes, e-mails
 “Social” NETWORKING
 Using internet based platforms (including websites,
mobile phone apps, etc.) to network

Introduction
“Traditional” MEDIA
 Television broadcasting
 Radio
 Newspapers, magazines, etc.
 “Social” MEDIA
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Dozens of other web and mobile platforms

Traditional, Social, ???

We’ll use “traditional” and “social” in this
presentation, because that is still commonly the
terminology used, but realistically, the world is a
fluid place in terms of communication.
 Example:
Virtually all newspapers run an online edition
and engage in social media (e.g., Facebook and Tweet
their articles) in addition to printing their publications

Traditional…social…
Traditional Networking & Media

Because of time, we are going to focus on two key
areas of communication: engaging print media and
using e-mail to make your point
Traditional Networking & Media

“Print” media (not always printed these days!)

Letters to the Editor


You feel strongly about an issue, and you want to let people know
what you think. You believe you can even influence people to take
some action if you speak your mind. But, you want to reach an
audience larger than just your friends or your group membership.
Letters to the editor can be an effective way to get the word out.
A letter to the editor is a written way of talking to a newspaper,
magazine, or other regularly printed publication. Letters to the editor
are generally found in the first section of the newspaper, or towards
the beginning of a magazine, or in the editorial page. They can take
a position for or against an issue, or simply inform, or both. They can
convince readers by using emotions, or facts, or emotions and facts
combined. Letters to the editor are usually short and tight, rarely
longer than 300 words.
Traditional Networking & Media

When should you write a letter to the editor?

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You are angry about something, and want others to know it
Think that an issue is so important that you have to speak out
Part of your group's strategy is to persuade others to take a
specific action
Suggest an idea to others
Influence public opinion
Educate the general public on a specific matter
Influence policy-makers or elected officials directly or indirectly
Publicize the work of your group and attract volunteers or
program participants
Traditional Networking & Media

What goes in a letter to the editor?
 See handout
 Follow guidelines of the publication, found in the paper, online or
when in doubt, call and ask!
 Usually 300 words or less
 Make your most important points first (editors may have to cut length
and you want the most important stuff to stay in!)
 If local publication, connect the issue back to the locality; if national
publication, connect the issue back to national news/happenings
 Use statistics or personal stories to make your point
 Provide your name (of course!) and your title and any affiliations
Traditional Networking & Media


What publication should I send my letter to the editor
to?
 NYTimes? Hundreds, thousands of submissions, maybe
prints 10? But if yours was printed…success!
 Local newspapers may only receive 2-3/day and print
each; less reach, but easier to get published!
Consumer Voice has a letter to the editor module online
that can help you submit letters (bypassing the research it
takes to find the right contacts at publications locally and
nationally, etc.) – keep an eye out for when we issue
alerts asking you to submit letters to the editor!
Traditional Networking & Media

Who here has ever written a letter to the
editor? What was your experience? Do
you think you’d be willing to give it a try
when you go back home?
Traditional Networking & Media

E-mail
 Action
Alerts you send out
 Action Alerts you receive
 General e-mail contact with people you want to
influence
Traditional Networking & Media

An action alert is a message that an organization
sends to mobilize people - often members of their
group and supports of a specific point of view calling on them to take action to influence public
policy
Traditional Networking & Media

Preparing an Action Alert
 What’s
the goal?
 What
do you want to see happen as a result of your alert?
(e.g., I want 10 people to call their state legislator and ask
the representative to support XYZ bill, we want 100 people
to visit our website and read our fact sheet on the misuse of
antipsychotics in nursing homes)
 How
will you measure your success?
 Can
you track how many people click on the link in your
email? Will you ask recipients to tell you if they reach out
to a legislators office? You need to know how well you did
so you can improve or keep same strategy the next time.
Traditional Networking & Media

What do I include in the alert?
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Somewhat depends on where you are in the campaign; is this the first
time your audience have heard about the issue? (Hopefully not!)
One page or less is best (measure by looking at the e-mail in print
preview if need be!)
Make it readable - use at least 12 point font, must be in lay terms
Keep the text brief
Keep the most important information in the first paragraph - what the
issue is, what action is needed, and label the main message(s)
Provide a date by which action needs to be taken (people check email at different frequencies and may see the alert late)
Provide a “background” section at the end of the alert with all the
detailed info on the issue (and/or link to additional information on a
website(s))
Give the reader all the tools they need to take the action - do not say
"call your legislator" instead give them the numbers; give legislators
the bill number you want them to vote for
Traditional Networking & Media

Who do I send the alert to?
 If
your organization keeps a database and/or e-mail
lists, then to the people on those lists, provided they
have given you permission to e-mail them.
 If you are an individual or your organization doesn’t
keep a database, start with family, friends and ask
them to forward to a friend. Consider using a tool like
Constant Contact to start collecting e-mail addresses
for future outreach.
Traditional Networking & Media

Who here has ever sent out an action alert or
something like this? What was your experience
with it? Do you think you would try this when
you go back home?
Traditional Networking & Media

If you receive an Action Alert
Check the deadline; many are a tight turnaround
 Skim the contents and decide if it is an issue you understand
already or one where you need to read the additional
background information
 If you want to take action, follow the instructions for sending
an e-mail, letter or making a phone call to an elected
official
 If time permits, send an email to the organization that sent
you the alert and let them know how your experience was
(as just discussed, it helps the organization to know how they
are doing!)
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Traditional Networking & Media

Personalizing the alert is key!

Consumer Voice or other organizations sending you an
action alert may give you some sample or template
language to use, and it’s fine to use that exactly or
adapt it, but it’s also very important to personalize
your content
Traditional Networking & Media

Here’s an example…
Traditional Networking & Media

Who here has responded to an action alert sent to
you? What was your experience?
Traditional Networking & Media

Contacting elected officials via e-mail (and much of this applies
to faxing and mailed letters too!)
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See handout for example.
It is important that you build positive, working relationships with elected
officials well in advance of tapping them for support or opposition to your
issue. Your goal should be to become the trusted expert they turn to for
information on your issues.
E-mail is a common way to communicate with elected officials today
Usually you can find the elected officials e-mail address on their official
website by going to google.com and then searching their name and
state
Sometimes the elected official website will not give you their actual email address but will have a form for you to fill out, which is fine too
(that form e-mails the content you write to the official’s staff)
Traditional Networking & Media
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Always be courteous and respectful
State the purpose of your letter up front and reference a bill number if
applicable (reference the bill number in the subject line of the e-mail
too)
Identify yourself. Anonymous letters go nowhere. Definitely identify if
you are a constituent of the legislator
Even in email, include your correct name, address, phone number and
email address. If you don't include at least your name and address, you
are not likely to get a response.
State any professional credentials or personal experience you may
have, especially those pertaining to the subject of your letter.
Keep your e-mail short and to the point
Use specific examples or evidence to support your position.
Clearly state what it is you want done or recommend a course of action.
Thank the official for taking the time to read your e-mail.
NEVER use vulgarity, profanity or threats.
Do not let your passion get in the way of making your point.
Traditional Networking & Media
 Here
is an example of how to find your state
legislator(s) e-mail address
Traditional Networking & Media
 Who
here has sent an e-mail to an elected official?
What was your experience? Did you get a response?
Social Networking & Media
Stereotype: It’s just a younger persons communication tool.
Social Networking & Media
Social Networking & Media
Social Networking & Media
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Pick 1-2 social media platforms to start and do
them well; maybe you’ll never engage in more than
that
It’s more important to engage your audience than
be “live” on every single social media site
It’s far worse to have a profile/page/account with
a social media channel and leave it outdated or
dormant than to not have one at all
Social Networking & Media

Setup a social media calendar to keep things
interesting and give yourself motivation
 Throwback
Thursday
 Fan Favorite Friday and so on…
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It is absolutely acceptable and good practice to
develop social media messages in advance to have
them in the queue (though always be ready to
communicate something cutting-edge/breaking
news at a moment’s notice)
Social Networking & Media

Guidelines for how frequently to communicate and
when to do it – no hard and fast rules, but
generally accepted in social networks:
 In
general, 80% of US population are on Central and
Eastern time zones, so keep that in mind (if you post in
middle of the night or too early or late in the workday,
they may never see it)
Social Networking & Media

Too many social media platforms to cover here, let’s
focus on the two that most people know about:
Facebook and Twitter
Social Networking & Media
Social Networking & Media
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Facebook
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What is it?
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How often should I facebook (yes, you can use it as a verb nowadays!)?
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Once per day; Saturdays actually great for this medium as lots of people are
reading it (though perhaps not practical for organizations, but great for
individuals)
How am I doing?
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An online website that allows both individuals and groups to create their own
pages to share all sorts of content they select (text, video, photos, polls, etc.) with
people that subscribe to their pages
As of June 2012, 995 million people using it
Has built-in analytics for group pages
Benefits
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Lots of people using it (though harder than Twitter to acquire subscribers)
Better targeted (you can create groups around specific topics for instance)
Easier to analyze than Twitter
Not much restriction on length of content, can link to websites, upload
video/pictures, etc.
Your subscribers can post content on your page, allowing for a lot of interaction
Social Networking & Media
Example of information Facebook will tell you about the people who
subscribe to see your posts
Social Networking & Media
Social Networking & Media
 Who
here has used Facebook for personal or
professional reasons? Have you ever posted a call to
action or important article to get your friends interested?
Do you think you would try using Facebook as an
advocacy tool when you go back home?
Social Networking & Media
Social Networking & Media
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Twitter
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What is it?
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How often should I tweet?
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3-5 times per day would be considered beginner, 10 times or more a bit
much and probably wasted time unless you have a devoted following
How am I doing?
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Individuals and/or groups can create an account which allows you to submit
“microblogs” of 140 characters or less called “tweets” out to anyone who
subscribes to read your stuff
Does not have built-in analytics, but lots of third party websites you can use
to track your progress (e.g., http://tweetstats.com/)
Benefits
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Shorter content (though sometimes shorter is harder!!)
Easier to acquire subscribers (“followers”) than Facebook as people aren’t as
selective about who they subscribe to (though that’s a drawback too)
Social Networking & Media
 Who
here has used Twitter for personal or professional
reasons? Have you ever posted a call to action or
important article to get your friends interested? Do you
think you would try using Twitter as an advocacy tool
when you go back home?
Social Networking & Media
Social Networking & Media

Potential downsides
We’re drowning in messages; you are one in a trillion
 It can be fairly easy to acquire a lot of
hits/likes/friends/etc., but engagement can be tough
because the audiences are not necessarily targeted or
“deeply” invested (“just because I press ‘like’ on my friend’s
Facebook post doesn’t mean I’d actually donate to that
cause”)
 You risk losing some control over messaging if you do it right
(that is, you need to communicate quite frequently to be
effective with social media that you are likely going to need
to bring interns, volunteers, non-communications professionals
into to help you; you might lose some control)

Takeaways
1. Choose your networking or media strategies
wisely based on your resources, time and
goals. Be bold, but don’t over-commit.
2. Communicate your message clearly.
3. Set specific, measurable goals.
Takeaways
4. Provide your audience(s) with all the tools
and information they need to do what you
want them to do.
5. Analyze your results.
6. Celebrate success; improve on weakness.
You Can Do It!
In politics and public policy,
if you are not at the [communications] table,
then you are on the menu!
References
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http://www.cthealthpolicy.org/toolbox/tools/fact_s
heets.htm
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_ma
in_1239.aspx