Whatever your issue, campaign or quest to just speak out and make a difference, if it’s important enough for you to organize or participate “off-line”, then you need to get active “on-line” as well.
Here’s a quick review of some of the most fundamental online organization tips:
Create a “Home-Base”
Use either a complete website or a blog (such as with WordPress or Blogger), a free online group (such as Google, Yahoo or Ning) or a free online campaign, (such as Aktnow).
This gives you a central location where people can find you and that you can link back to in your offline and online activity. It’s also important for potential supporters to have a place where they can “sign up”, whether it’s an email subscription, a petition or some other type of “join us” form.
Promote Your Content
What good is it to create content to promote your cause that nobody ever sees? Once you’ve gone to the trouble of putting good content together, give it a chance by sharing it.
Use email and social networking to push your content to others and expand your network. For example, you can use services such as Twitterfeed or Socialoomph to automatically push content from a blog or other website to a Twitter or Facebook account.
Leverage the Internet
Choose online activities that will compliment and enhance your offline activities. For example, if you’re trying to identify other potential supporters, then try promoting an online petition. Just want to communicate with supporters? Set up an online newsletter with a service like Constant Contact or Mad Mimi, (there are lots of others available with really low rates…some even free if your list is under 2,000 contacts).
Get Social
Like it or not, social media is here to stay because that’s “where the people are” – at least in an online context. And since politics is people, you need to be there too.
Create social network profiles, (ex. Facebook & Twitter), and link them to your home-base. Let your supporters know you’re there. These services expose you to individuals who most likely would never otherwise see your content. And they can help with recruitment, as others can see your content being promoted by people they may know, (essentially giving you a referral).
Multiply Your Efforts
Don’t try to do it all yourself. Involve and coordinate with others. Be sure to actively request that supporters forward and promote your content or links via email, Twitter and Facebook.
The more people you have contributing content and/or promoting your content, the faster you’ll grow and the better your chances to make a difference.
***
You can get more online organization tips in my Grassroots 101 Training Series. Check it out!
Social tagging: online organization