Websites: Part 1 of “Turn Casual Supporters Into Engaged Activists”

(Note: This is Part 1 of a 6-part series. If you missed the introduction, click here.)

Your website is understandably the most important part of your new media strategy and your organization’s online presence. This is where most of your information will be housed, where supporters will come to learn more about becoming members, where your members will come to see what they should do next.

As you begin to assess your own website, it’s important to keep in mind the two goals we set in the introduction:

1. Goal 1: Provide good and timely information
2. Goal 2: Create easy methods for engagement

I mentioned in the introduction to this series that it is important to think of your website as your central information portal and your social networking accounts as the avenues leading people to and from your website. The above goals are for your overall media strategy, but key to a successful online presence is making sure your website realizes both. Put simply, it does not matter how many fans your Facebook Page has if fans coming to your website are not immediately engaged and encouraged to become more than just your Facebook fan.

We have been conditioned by Google to be able to find information readily and spoiled by Twitter’s never-ending stream of information. Because of this, when I come to your website, I expect to be able to find the exact information I am looking for fairly easily.  This is especially true if the information pertains to a recent event, ongoing policy debate, or a campaign schedule. You can rest assured that, in general, supporters won’t spend a lot of time on your website looking for the information you think is important. This isn’t because they don’t support what you are doing or even because they don’t want to help, but because our internet attention spans are very, very short.

There are three main questions that I ask myself when I review websites for clients. Begin assessing your website with these questions in mind.

(1) From the main page, how easily can visitors learn your major positions, your short and long term policy or political goals, what your group is working on currently, and, most importantly, how they can help you reach your goal?

Achieving this goal for your website could be as simple as incorporating a blog or rethinking your site navigation. Many smaller organizations shy away from blogs because they feel they don’t have enough information to sustain a blog.  If your group is in this position, stop and think about all the political and policy-related discussions you are having behind the scenes of your static site. If you are trying to get your supporters more involved, then this is the exact type of information you should be providing.  The purpose of your website’s blog is to inform in a timely manner, whether that means weekly, monthly, or just when something happens.

Blogs could also provide an important opportunity for activist engagement. Many small organizations are volunteer-based, meaning committing to a weekly or even monthly blog may not be feasible. Want to transition your supporters into activists? Get them involved by asking them to write a guest article for your site. Not only will this take the responsibility off the shoulders of your core group, but it will give your supporters ownership in the group.

It is important to note that while some sites may have a lack of information, there are also sites where the front page is information overload. I want to be clear that I am not advocating you put all your information on the front page (please don’t).  This is where rethinking your site’s navigation could also come in handy. Find a happy medium that makes navigating your site both easy and informative.

(2) Is your website dynamic? This is to say, does your website provide updates about the information mentioned in question 1?

This question seems a little like the first in that it asks about information on the site, but here the difference is updates. If I was on the site a few months ago and learned you were watching a bill in the state legislature, can I come back to your site today to learn more about that bill and what’s happened over the last few months?  The point of your website is not to provide yourself information, but to provide your supporters with information. In your quest to turn your supporters into activists, updating your information and providing new goals is key to engagement. This is where a blog for your site will be useful. Supporters who feel they are in the loop are much more likely to stick with the organization.

(3) How easily can site visitors act on the information you’ve provided and encourage their friends to act?

Key to grassroots activism is eliminating as many barriers as possible for your activists, and this is just as true for online activism. There are two components to successfully engaging supporters online: (1) Encouraging supporters to share your information on their accounts and (2) Encouraging supporters to share your information by joining your social networking accounts.

To encourage your supporters to share your information, make sharing as convenient as possible. Is it hard to shorten a link then paste it into Twitter? No, but it becomes that much easier when you use a ReTweet application, Facebook Connect, and a share bar. I use ReTweet and Share Any on my accounts because using both reinforces the sharing message and helps to eliminate the barriers for sharing.

As for encouraging supporters to share by joining your accounts, it is my recommendation that you completely incorporate social networks into your overall website plan rather than adding links to your sites as an after-thought. I encourage you to use the Facebook Connect widget that you see on my site and a Twitter application that uploads your tweet stream.  The icons linking to your social network accounts are great, but everyone has them now, which has really decreased their effectiveness. Providing a glimpse of your Facebook Page content and your Twitter stream both stands out and gives your supporters more of a reason to act because they already know what they are getting into. This goes back to removing all barriers to acting.

A Final Note.

Remember that the goal of this series is to help you turn your casual supporters into engaged activists. Embracing Web 2.0 does not mean that you need to pay thousands of dollars for a fancy new website, though it may mean it’s time for an upgrade.  If you are in a position to upgrade your website, I recommend Wordpress.org. Wordpress offers a multitude of options and the best part is it will cost you next to nothing. If you want more information about how Wordpress can help you achieve these goals, please contact me.  If you aren’t looking to change your website up, I still encourage you to incorporate a blog, Facebook, and Twitter into your site.

In the next part of the series, we will discuss Facebook and how it can help take your member engagement to the next level.  Thanks for sticking with me and, as always, if you have any questions, just ask!

Help me get the word out about this series- practice using the ReTweet button and the Share Any bar!

3 Responses to “Websites: Part 1 of “Turn Casual Supporters Into Engaged Activists””

1. Turn Casual Supporters Into Engaged Activists- Majority Connections says:

   October 7, 2009 at 10:48 am

   [...] Part 1:  Websites [...]
2. Michael Patteson says:

   December 3, 2009 at 9:48 pm

   It’s seems small, but many campaign web sites fail to mention the office they are running for. I’ve been to many congressional campaign web sites that fail to list the state, district, and party affiliation of the candidate. With the national fundraising that occurs today, you can’t assume that visitors to your site will know what you’re running for.
3. Facebook: Part 2 of “Turn Casual Supporters Into Engaged Activists”- Majority Connections says:

   January 29, 2010 at 10:10 am

   [...] 2009 | one response (Note: This is Part 2 of a 6-part series. Check out the introduction and Part 1: Websites [...]