720 Strategies

720 Blog

Advocacy in 140 Characters or Less…Twitter’s New Spin on Grassroots

Wed, Feb 17th, 2010 by Lauren Tanner DiPaola

When faced with the challenge of developing a topic for my masters in communications thesis at Johns Hopkins, I wanted to find a subject that would not only be interesting to write about and research for six to nine months, but would also be relevant to my career and client work. In 2008, I began working with a large American retail company that wanted to find new and innovative ways to educate, energize, and activate its employees. This client turned to 720 Strategies to develop a strategy and integrated web presence that communicates its policies and goals to its stores across the country.

During this time, corporate engagement on Twitter began to take off and in my discussions with the client, a light bulb went off: why not investigate how corporations are using Twitter for grassroots advocacy and policy communication?

Since starting my research last fall, I began to uncover a lot of Twitter trends within the Fortune 500 industries. Corporations face the same challenge of effectively communicating with their internal and external audiences on issues critical to the success of their businesses and industries, and the ability to utilize social media platforms, such as Twitter to reach these audiences in their comfort zones, is important.

Although many corporations have successful government relations and communications teams, some lack the knowledge or comfort level with new social media technology to implement its use in their outreach strategies.  Providing insight into corporate Twitter campaigns that are currently being used by top U.S. companies will not only help other organizations understand how to use the medium, but will also help organizations understand what Twitter is and what it can do.

The relatively recent adoption of Twitter for marketing has been discussed in the popular news media.  Journalists have focused on charitable outreach, government protest, employment opportunities, and Twitter’s persuasive way of reaching audiences around the globe; however, there is one dimension of Twitter use that lacks ample examination: Twitter for political grassroots advocacy. My study aims to help other corporations increase their understanding of the medium and help them employ similar campaign strategies.

Recently, I hit the halfway mark with my “twitterviews” and I have identified some useful tips and hints for newcomers to the Twitter for advocacy space:

1. TRANSPARENCY: Companies cannot stress the importance of transparency enough. Corporations must learn to accept they cannot control the conversation on Twitter, or other social media platforms, and that open, honest communication is the only way to effectively and successfully engage with your audiences.
2. COLLABORATION: You don’t have to take on your organization’s social media plan alone. Work with other departments and co-workers to develop your strategy and voice in the space. You can have multiple “tweeters” (authors) on one Twitter handle. Working together helps give your Twitter presence a corporate personality that draws in followers.
3. ENGAGEMENT: Having a Twitter account and posting tweets is only the first step. To fully utilize the power of social media, your company must listen and respond to your key audiences. The two way dialogue experienced on Twitter will help the company gain insight into key constituencies. The space is made for conversation so it’s important to engage.

As I head for the home stretch of my research, I will keep you posted on the many other trends I am finding. There are a lot more helpful tidbits I am planning on sharing, so stay tuned!

About Lauren

Lauren joined SevenTwenty Strategies in 2008, bringing with her vast technological experience with the Digital Age and her artistic eye to deliver top-notch interactive strategy.

Comments