K Street Cafe

Event: Using Research to Guide Your Advocacy Strategy
When: Friday, September 16 (9 – 10:30 am)
Where: The National Press Club (529 14th Street NW, Washington DC)

Can opinion research help unlock the key to winning your advocacy effort? From free survey platforms and social media polling to state-of-the-art message testing, Adfero Group’s Sue Zoldak will be discussing the research tools that you can apply to increase your campaign’s effectiveness.

Join us as we explore how public affairs campaigns use research to find, reach, and win over their audience. We will take questions from attendees and discuss your case study live.

Click here to find out more
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REGISTER TODAY!

by Patrick Hynes

Cross-posted from The Daily Caller

Despite the successful and headline-grabbing launch of Google+, only 13 members of the U.S. Senate and 15 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have established profiles on the new social networking site, far fewer than the number from each chamber who are active on Facebook and Twitter.

Google+ launched in July to much fanfare and within three weeks had attracted 20 million users in the U.S. Some technology pundits have labeled it a “Facebook killer.”

Congress’s slow adoption of Google+ comes as a surprise because the new social networking platform contains at least one unique function the others do not: It allows users to segregate relationships into “Circles,” meaning members of Congress can isolate constituents from other followers. Heavy social networking “spam” from non-constituents is a significant frustration for members and their social media staffs.

“Just the other day, someone posted on our Facebook wall that she wished my boss was her senator,” a Hill press secretary told me.

A recent study by the Congressional Management Foundation reports that members of Congress and key staff have embraced social media as a tool to communicate with constituents. But privately, many also complain they receive too much pre-packaged “Astroturf” in the form of canned Tweets and Facebook wall postings. In many cases, these communications come from people far away from the members’ districts or from undetermined locations. Google+ Circles allow members of Congress to target their communications directly to people in the states or districts they represent, while ignoring communications directed at them from people outside their states or districts. (more…)

Cross-posted from Adfero

We’re living in a mobile age. You can’t walk down the street without bumping into someone on their smart phone. And now with the stunningly fast growth in sales for iPads, people are spending less and less time at their actual computers.

Wired magazine famously declared last year that “The Web is Dead.” In the article, Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff argue that we’re abandoning the web for sleeker, simpler services. They say that “these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into [people’s] lives (the screen comes to them, they don’t have to go to the screen).” People are no longer interested in seeking. They are interested in getting.

In today’s world, people are constantly on the go. And so naturally, staying connected and receiving information happens on the go as well. In fact, a recent study by Flurry found that people are now spending more time on mobile apps than they are on websites.  Consumers in June spent 74 minutes per day on websites compared with 81 minutes using applications. That’s a growth of 91 percent over the past year. The data speaks for itself: mobile apps are crucial in reaching audiences.

So what does this mean for advocacy? Web sites alone will no longer cut it. Sure, your online Grassroots Action Centers and the Web tools you employ for grassroots action (for example, providing the opportunity for your activists to send emails directly to Congress) should remain part of your overall advocacy strategy. But you have to look beyond the Web now. (more…)

Cross posted from BisNow.

Sometimes a letter isn’t enough. Here are a few groups that have delivered a message to Congress by actually delivering something. 

When Medicare faced major cuts a year ago, the American Medical Association sent over 2,000 white lab coats to members of Congress. (A true fashion statement.) The association held a “Write Coat Rally” (above) at its annual meeting in Chicago, where members signed and wrote messages on the lab coats before they were hand-delivered to congressional offices. “White coats are personal to physicians and signify the work they do to care for patients,” AMA president Peter Carmel tells us. “They provided physicians a place to write a personal message to their elected officials on this important issue.” They also helped generate media coverage, including a photo and story in The Washington Post. Last Novermber, AMA held a “virtual white coat rally” to again convey the need for permanent Medicare reform. The campaign generated 12,000 phone calls to Congress. (more…)

Cross-posted from the Public Affairs Council.

The Congressional Management Foundation’s newest report on Capitol Hill’s use of social media is out. But what does that mean for advocacy professionals?

Join the Public Affairs Council on August 4 or August 10 for insights on what the data tells us about communicating with Congress.

There’s no doubt – social media has gained a foothold in congressional offices. The Congressional Management Foundation has published a unique report that surveys congressional staff on their attitudes and practices with social media. The results will help you understand how members of Congress use social media, who is responsible for strategy and what congressional staff see as the benefits and drawbacks of Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.

Be the first to hear what the survey’s findings mean for advocacy and communicating with Congress when Brad Fitch, president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, shares the data and his insights on:

* How Congress is using social media to express legislators’ views and understand public opinion.

* How new media strategies compare to traditional media strategies for communicating with constituents.

* Congressional staff opinions about the value of social media.

* Staff views on the benefits and risks of using social media in a congressional office.

* How perceptions of social media differ between offices and between senior and junior staff.

Presented in partnership with the Congressional Management Foundation.

Follow the conversation on Twitter: #SocialCongress

The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) today released the first study of congressional staff views of social media, and how it is being used by Congressional Offices. #SocialCongress:  Perceptions and Use of Social Media on Capitol Hill shows that most Members of Congress have thoroughly integrated social media into their communications operations, and are using new media tools to gauge public opinion, communicate with constituents, and reach new people. 

Click here to read the report.  

Among the key findings:

       *Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the senior managers and social media managers surveyed think Facebook is a somewhat or very important tool for understanding constituents’ views and opinions, 42% say Twitter is somewhat or very important, and 34% say YouTube is a somewhat or very important tool for understanding constituents’ views and opinions.

       *Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the senior managers and social media managers we surveyed think Facebook is somewhat or very important for communicating their Members’ views. YouTube is viewed by nearly three-quarters of staffers surveyed (72%) as somewhat or very important for communicating their Members’ views.  More than half (51%) of the staffers surveyed say Twitter is a somewhat or very important vehicle for their Members’ communications.

       *A strong majority of staffers (72%) believe that social media allows their Members to reach people they had previously not communicated with.  A majority of the staffers (55%) feel social media offers their offices more benefits than risks.

The report is part of CMF’s initiative, the Partnership for a More Perfect Union.  The Partnership seeks to enrich the relationship between citizens and Congress through education, building trust, and providing innovative yet pragmatic tools to facilitate purposeful two-way communication.

If The Situation from Jersey Shore can be successful on screen, surely non-profits can too. Video can be invaluable in advocacy, fundraising, and awareness. “It’s not really a choice from where I sit,” says Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Danny Alpert: “The expectation of seeing the story is only going to increase.”

Danny tells us there’s a trend in documentary making to build a community engagement campaign surrounding the film. Funders don’t just want to see their names in the credits, they want to see impact. That’s what first led him to working with non-profits and his current role as executive producer for See3 Communications, an interactive media and marketing firm for non-profits and social causes. Danny tells us he starts every project by asking three questions: What are you trying to say? Who are you trying to reach? What do you want them to do? Just because it’s a fundraising video doesn’t mean it has to be about the solicitation. Sometimes the solicitation needs to be more direct than video. A fundraising video may be most effective in the cultivation and stewardship of donors.

To read the entire article on BisNow, click here.

(more…)

Originally published on PMPU.org.

One year ago today the Congressional Management Foundation launched its new venture, the Partnership for a More Perfect Union. For those of you that have been following the Partnership, you know that this represents a broadening of CMF’s core mission, which has always been to support the Member, committee, and leadership offices of the U.S. Congress. Now, through the Partnership, CMF is seeking to improve the communication, understanding, and relationship between Members of Congress and the citizens they represent.

Here’s a little bit about what we’ve been up to in the last year:

• On April 21, 2010, CMF launched the Partnership for a More Perfect Union with the help of our Founding Partners: Fleishman-Hillard, AT&T, Convio, and the Hansan Family Foundation.
• CMF and the Partnership released the results of the 111th Congress Gold Mouse Project that seeks to improve the quality of congressional websites to meet constituents’ needs and expectations. We reviewed all 620 Member, committee, and leadership office websites of the House and Senate, presenting the best 135 websites in Congress with the coveted Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Mouse awards.
• On January 26, 2011, we released the report, Communicating with Congress: Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy on Capitol Hill, the results of a survey of 260 congressional staff on both sides of the Hill and aisle about how they perceive and manage constituent “mail.” That same day, CMF’s President and CEO, Brad Fitch, delivered the key note address on the key findings from the report at the Public Affairs Council’s National Grassroots Conference in Key West, Florida. (more…)

By Wes Farno

The past few months have made it clear that executive agencies will continue to make key decisions in Washington, D.C.

So far in 2011, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency has considered new regulations on electricity plants, mining, and emissions.  The Federal Communications Commission has tried to implement limited net neutrality rules and continues to pursue controversial aspects of a national broadband plan.

Sequestered from the political realities of elections faced by Members of Congress, administration entities can seem immune to grassroots communication.  Many advocacy organizations pull the plug on their online outreach and grassroots programs entirely.

In reality, you ignore these important tactics at your own risk.

(more…)

Cross-posted from Adfero

Key contact programs are vital in today’s advocacy environment.  Having a large grassroots army that can mobilize on a range of issues is necessary, but not sufficient.  Organizations also need to be able to call on a committed group of activists who are willing to go above and beyond.

Unlike a traditional grassroots campaign, a key contact program focuses on a narrower subset of individuals.  Specifically, a “key contact” is someone who either (1) has an established relationship with an elected official; (2) has a comfort level with engaging in intense advocacy activities, such as making phone calls or doing in-person visits; or (3) has built up political capital through involvement in groups like the PTA.  One useful approach to building a key contact program around these types of individuals is the RAP Index.

Earlier this year, the Congressional Management Foundation released “Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy on Capitol Hill,” compiling the results of a survey of more than 250 congressional staff about constituent communications.  (Disclaimer: My firm, Adfero Group, is a co-sponsor of the report.)

(more…)