Digital transformation, or the change associated with applying digital technology to all aspects of human society, is commonly associated with the commercial and corporate sectors. But campaign groups and nonprofits in Europe are undergoing a transformation of their own, increasingly aware of the need to fully integrate digital and social media into their overall strategy.
When you’re campaigning for change, digital platforms enable you to communicate with audiences, cultivate relationships and convert observers to supporters. You can reach and connect with people across geographies and demographics, in a cost-efficient and timely manner. It can help you build, organise and mobilise your support base. It facilitates and encourages meaningful engagement. It empowers people to take action.
The 2018 Global NGO Online Technology Report found that 93 percent of global NGOs (non-government organisations) have a Facebook page, 77 percent are on Twitter and 50 percent are on Instagram. Yet only 32 percent have a written strategy. Your campaign or organisation may already have a presence on social media, but are you using it to its full potential, taking advantage of all the options it offers to help meet your aims and objectives?
There has never been a better time for activists and organisations to harness the potential of campaigning in a digital world.
Here are six steps for designing and implementing effective digital strategies for progressive social change.
1. What are your aims and objectives?
Before you share your first post, step back and look at the bigger picture. What are the tangible objectives of your digital campaign? You may wish to organise and mobilise supporters, engage new audiences, fundraise, or recruit new volunteers— or maybe all of the above.
Whatever your aims and objectives might be, it is important to concretely identify and prioritise them. Being clear about what you are trying to achieve will inform your digital strategy and the resources you’ll need to execute it.
Here are some aims and objectives to keep in mind when designing your digital strategy:
- Provide compelling content
- Promote, develop and facilitate positive discussion online
- Actively address and clarify misinformation about your campaign
- Ensure your campaign provides an official voice online
- Create a network of supporters, convert them to advocates
- Engage with relevant stakeholders
- Create a space online for people to ask questions and address concerns
2. Who are your target audiences?
Engaging different groups online will require different messages on different platforms. Mapping your stakeholders can help you understand how people currently think about your issue and what they value and care about. This will help shape your campaign’s frame and messages.
During the campaign for marriage equality in Ireland in 2015, we had a clear policy from the outset of not engaging with opposition groups or individuals on social media. Our efforts, online and offline, focused entirely on: 1) mobilising and motivating the support base to enable them to become agents of change; 2) engaging, educating and informing the “moveable middle”, about 60 percent of the electorate, who would effectively decide the outcome of the campaign.
The two target audiences comprised different stakeholder groups. The supporter base included: the LGBTI community, groups and organisations; civil society organisations; trade unions; student unions; and political parties. The “moveable middle” consisted of various groups segmented by demographics, how “soft” their support was, or how likely they were to be influenced by the opposition. By mapping the target audiences this way, Yes Equality could proceed with confidence to curate and craft appropriate messages and tactics to target these groups effectively.
3. What are you going to say?
How you frame your issue can determine a person’s decision to engage with your cause or take action on behalf of it. You can have different messages for different target audiences, but they should all sit within an overarching frame and narrative.
An effective frame will: 1) Articulate the issue in a compelling and authentic way, 2) appeal to people’s values, 3) show how things can improve, and 4) outline what a person can do to help achieve that.
To bring about real change, we must communicate with people in a way that creates understanding and emotional resonance, and inspires them to take action. #SaferFromHarm—a joint campaign between Ana Liffey Drug Project and Humans of Dublin—aimed to raise awareness of the importance of introducing Supervised Injecting Facilities (SIFs) in Ireland, to reduce the harm from injecting drug use.
Much of the narrative around introducing SIFs was focused heavily on policies, procedures, and examining SIFs’ effectiveness internationally. We set out to change the narrative by putting a human face on the issue, telling the stories of people who would benefit from introducing SIFs into Irish society. Across social media, we shared the stories of seven people who have been affected by drug use, including Brigid, who lost her daughter to addiction 12 years ago, and Aidan, who was living with an active addiction.
One thing they all had in common is that they believed introducing SIFs would ensure that drug users were #SaferFromHarm. The digital storytelling approach proved instrumental in achieving the objective of changing the narrative and reaching as many people as possible with key messages highlighting the importance of introducing SIFs.
4. Which platforms will you use?
Social media plays a crucial role in shaping public thought about campaigns and causes. Carefully consider what platforms will be most effective for engaging with and informing your stakeholder groups.
Ask questions such as: Which social media platforms are your target audiences most active on? What content do they consume there? This will help you decide which platforms to focus your efforts on.
5. What is your content strategy?
Engaging, informative, and shareable content that promotes key campaign messages will inspire people to take action. When you create content for your audiences, you are setting the tone of the debate.
Campaigns must also create a space which encourages and helps supporters to tell their own stories and to describe, in their own words, what motivates them to support your cause. Authentic messages from supporters to their networks can have a much greater impact and create more meaningful connections.
Research on how social pressure influences participation found that people are motivated by how others perceive them. If by taking action they are likely to be perceived as pro-social, fair and caring, people are more inclined to participate.
In 2017 I had the opportunity to work on the campaign for marriage equality in Australia. As part of our GOTV campaign, content was created to encourage Yes voters to take a selfie as they returned their surveys and to share it on social media with the hashtag #PostYourYES. The aim was to create a situation where other voters, seeing all their friends posting selfies, would want to take part.
Within hours, #PostYourYES was trending on Twitter, and over the coming days, this had a snowball effect: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter flooded with images of Australians posting their Yes votes in mailboxes across the country.
Successfully introducing an element of social pressure to your campaign can prompt supporters to create content that can be shared with peers and promotes your central message.
6. How will you engage your audiences?
There are many ways to engage with audiences online. Remember, people want to participate and show support for your cause. To build momentum online, campaigns must make it as easy as possible for them to do so.
Be specific in your ask. Include calls-to-action such as “Show your support”, “Sign up here” and relevant web links to prompt audiences and clearly show your objectives. Ensure that calls to action are realistic and achievable.
The six questions posed in this article will help you design a digital strategy for your campaign. This workbook will help you to answer those questions and get a head start online.
As the relationship between digital and campaigning continues to flourish, we must be nimble in our response, embrace new opportunities and invite others to join us.
Craig Dwyer is the founder of ForaChange, a free online resource for NGOs, campaigners, and activists on designing and implementing effective digital strategies for progressive social change. He was the Social Media Director for Yes Equality during the marriage equality referendum in Ireland and traveled to Australia in 2017 to work on their marriage equality campaign.