[ ] Executive Buy-in
Without commitment from the top, your PAC is virtually rudderless. Rank-and-file PAC-eligibles are unlikely to give unless they can look to role models at the head of the organization. Measure your current executive level participation and leverage the momentum of the election cycle to encourage one-on-one meetings with executives. Share with them your 2010 election plans, tell them about their department's contributions to date and request a personal commitment to help you reach the goal.

[ ] Summer Survey
Summer is the right time to ask your current PAC members how they are feeling heading into the election cycle. What are the issues of greatest concern to them? What kind of educational events would most help them prepare for Election Day? Why do they give to the PAC, and if they aren't - why not? PACs that listen and respond to their donors have donors that listen and respond to their PACs.

[ ] Summer Compliance Reading
Recent court rulings could be game changers for political giving. Take time to read up on Arent Fox Counselor Brett Kappel's review of recent court cases that could impact your PAC - and engage your counsel as you make your giving plans.

[ ] Mission-critical, "Me" Focused Messaging
Most of us are "me" motivated. We invest in our own health and well-being. Yes, a PAC needs a clear and compelling mission, but it also needs to speak to "me." Does the PAC help protect my job? Does it help ensure my safety? Does it improve my health? Especially in this tough economic climate, it's critical to find the "me" in the mission and frame your communications to the needs of your PAC members.

[ ] September Education Plan
Education is the key to turning PAC-eligibles into PAC donors and advocates. This fall, educate your eligible employees about the purpose of the PAC, the election's potential impact on "me," the issues at stake and the opportunities to make a difference by giving now and voting on Election Day. Consider meetings, videos, voter registration kiosks, email communications and a Web area encouraging your eligibles to learn, act, register to vote and vote.

[ ] Communications Calendar
With a wave of summer primaries, it's time to quickly prepare an editorial calendar that identifies key dates - from primary dates to voter registration deadlines - for each state where your organization's PAC-eligibles are located. Plan to email your eligibles, including an official September solicitation, to alert them of pending deadlines, share the message of the PAC, and invite them to visit your PAC website for additional tools and information. Provide regular updates, share interesting polling data and offer online tools to help them prepare for Election Day.

[ ] Report
Presumably, you've set a goal for new PAC member recruitment, departmental participation and total PAC giving. Track your methods, messengers and results; report your progress on a monthly basis to executives; and share their departmental progress. Test strategies and identify what makes your donors tick and give, then let executives know where they started, how far they've come and how they can help you get to the finish line. Be sure to share your successes with PAC members as well. If the team doesn't know the goal, it isn't likely to reach it.

[ ] Post-Election Acknowledgments
"Thank you" may be two of the most powerful words in a fundraiser's vocabulary. It's easy enough to give once, but for donors to give twice, they need to see appreciation for their efforts. Forget the automated email - consider sending donors a personal thank-you note by an organization VIP on behalf of the PAC. Host an Election Night celebration or post-election party exclusively for those who contributed. Show donors how much their contributions mean - to you and to the PAC.

Need help preparing for your final drive toward Election 2010? 720 Strategies provides PAC consulting, compliance and management tools and solutions. Contact Joe Wasser, 720's Vice President of PAC Services, at (202)962-3955 or visit us online at www.720Strategies.com.

About Pam Felding - President

A policy writer, Internet strategist, and author, Pam has successfully leveraged the Internet as a tool for public affairs and activism in numerous online campaigns over the last fifteen years.

Both advisory opinion requests ask the FEC to rule that the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC and the District of Columbia Circuit's even more recent decision in SpeechNow.org v. FEC allow organizations to form independent expenditure-only political committees that can accept unlimited contributions from corporations, labor unions and individuals and use those funds to make independent expenditures expressly advocating the election or defeat of specific clearly-identified candidates for Federal office.

"The Federal Election Commission has set a deadline of July 21 to respond to key advisory opinion requests, which could set guidelines for reporting of independent campaign expenditures in the wake of recent court rulings, FEC Chairman Matthew Petersen said July 15." - Excerpt from BNA News Article

The Club for Growth filed an advisory opinion request (AOR 2010-09) with the FEC on May 21, 2010 asking two very specific, but narrow questions. First, could the Club establish an independent expenditure-only political committee, separate and apart from its existing PAC, which could solicit and accept donations from individuals that would exceed the current $5,000 limit on contributions to PACs? Second, if so, could the Club's independent expenditure-only committee solicit and accept donations from individuals that would be earmarked for independent expenditures that would support a specific candidate - even if the individual making that donation had already maxed out to that candidate?

After Citizens United and SpeechNow, the answer to the first question is clearly yes. The second question is the more interesting of the two because it would require the FEC to invalidate one of its own regulations. Under existing rules, an individual who has already maxed out to a specific candidate may still contribute to a political committee that anticipates supporting the same candidate, but only if the individual does not give with the knowledge that his or her contribution will be expended to support that candidate in the same election. 11 C.F.R. 110.1(h). The District of Columbia Circuit's SpeechNow decision would seem to compel the FEC to also answer this second question in the affirmative, allowing individuals to spend unlimited amounts to elect the candidates of their choosing.

The Club for Growth's advisory opinion request is conservative, however, compared to the one recently submitted by a group of Democratic activists. Commonsense Ten registered with the FEC as a nonconnected PAC on June 11, 2010 and simultaneously filed an advisory opinion request (AOR 2010-11) with the FEC asking the Commission to confirm that the PAC could raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals, provided that those funds were used only to make independent expenditures expressly advocating the election or defeat of specific federal candidates. Commonsense Ten has asked the FEC to give expedited consideration to its request because it would like to make independent expenditures in primary elections to be held in July and August.

Commonsense Ten's advisory opinion request goes several steps beyond the requested submitted by the Club for Growth and, for that reason, may define the outer limits of what independent expenditure-only political committees will be able to do in the 2010 general election. First, Commonsense Ten didn't limit itself to accepting unlimited contributions from individuals - it wants the FEC to confirm that it can also accept unlimited amounts from corporations and labor unions too. Second, the Club for Growth specified in its request that it would keep its independent expenditure-only committee separate and apart from its PAC. Commonsense Ten is already a PAC and its request states specifically that it intends to commingle any new donations with the contributions it has already received. The PAC did, however, specify that any new donations it receives will be used only to make independent expenditures and that the PAC will not be making any contributions directly to federal candidates, political party committees or other federal political committees that contribute to candidates or political parties.

If the Federal Election Commission does issue an advisory opinion in response to the Commonsense Ten request, it would instantly become the standard for designing independent expenditure-only political committees after Citizens United and SpeechNow. The big question, however, is whether the FEC will be able to muster a four-vote majority to issue an advisory opinion in response to either the Club for Growth or Commonsense Ten requests. The six-member FEC is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats and the current Commission has repeatedly deadlocked 3-3 on both advisory opinions and enforcement cases.

Moreover, the Commission may be reluctant to redefine the campaign finance universe by issuing an advisory opinion only a few months before the 2010 general election. When the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Citizens United, the Commission issued a press release indicating that it intended to conduct a rulemaking to implement the decision. The Commission doesn't really have the option not to pursue a rulemaking - the James Madison Center for Free Speech filed a petition for a rulemaking implementing the Citizens United decision just days after the Supreme Court decision was handed down.

Commonsense Ten seems to have anticipated that the FEC will try to use the pending rulemaking to avoid issuing an advisory opinion before the general election. The PAC's advisory opinion request went out of its way to argue that the Commission is not required to wait to conduct a rulemaking in order to issue its formal interpretation of Citizens United and even cited an earlier instance in which the FEC issued an advisory opinion in direct response to a District of Columbia Circuit decision.

The Federal Election Campaign Act requires the FEC to issue an advisory opinion within 60 days after a request is submitted. Last year, the FEC changed its internal procedures to expedite advisory opinions that are election sensitive. That change in policy, however, is not a binding rule, but only a policy statement that the FEC will attempt to issue a response to an election-sensitive advisory opinion request within 20 days.

As is so often the case with FEC, those who are seeking guidance on how the Commission will interpret Citizens United and SpeechNow will have to stay tuned.

For more from Brett Kappel, read his previous blog post Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: An Analysis.

5. Tell everybody we'll give money to their favorite legislator.
4. I've got an idea ... instead of approaching the top brass to max-out, let's hit the bottom rung of the Restricted Class instead - there are so many more of them!
3. Let's shrink the PAC contributions during this cycle.
2. Just relax, our Solicitable Class will pony up the money without our even having to ask!

And the number one statement you'll never hear your boss say ...

1. Great FEC Filing! High Five!

My name is Joe Wasser, and I've been involved with the PAC community here in D.C. since the mid-1990s. I'm the newest member of the 720 Strategies Team (and I'm the oldest person at the company). So, I feel like Dennis Quaid in "The Rookie" (except I don't have his build, his looks or his money).

I'm delighted to be working with such a talented team of professionals helping so many organizations advance their legislative efforts, leverage multi-media integration, super-charge their grassroots campaigns, "jazz up" their Capwiz websites and help them get out the vote!

I recently attended an FEC conference where several PAC professionals (beginners and veterans alike) were in attendance. I enjoyed visiting with old friends and making new ones. But I kept thinking to myself, "What's REALLY changed in the PAC field in the past decade?"

Certainly the easy answer and the biggest change is "Citizens United" and Congress' response, "DISCLOSE."
But the real answer is, "The basics haven't changed at all." And what I mean by that is ... PAC professionals still have to be responsible for:

1. Raising money;
2. Spending money;
3. Filing reports with the government as it relates to raising and spending money; and
4. Staying out of trouble.

That's how I would explain it to someone who has no clue about the PAC world (i.e., picture your apolitical 80-year-old great uncle asking you what you do for a living). What's actually changed in all these years is HOW we raise money, spend money, file reports and stay out of trouble.

For the purposes of this blog, I'm going to put aside #s 2, 3 and 4 for now and concentrate solely on #1.

So let's talk about raising money for your PAC. So many organizations wring their hands about saying the right thing (or writing the right thing). I think the primary theme of raising money is to keep your concepts simple.

Speak plainly. Don't let your PAC messaging get bogged down in the weeds. Rather than saying: "There's a bill in Congress that will allocate $14 billion for a certain type of turbine for which we make six types of widgets. Part of our plan is to partner up with three other companies to get the widget contract. Consequently, we want to pay for fundraising efforts for legislators who represent districts where our partner-companies have plants for widget manufacturing ... blah, blah, blah ..."

Instead, say: "There are legislators and candidates out there who see a lot of value in our industry. They recognize that we contribute to the health and wealth of our communities, which are in their districts. Since our government doesn't allow our company's money to flow to candidates' campaigns directly, we are asking our employees to help by contributing small amounts through their pay."

I hope you'll agree, that's a simply worded "ask." Of course, no matter the message, some folks will still get huffy when you ask them for money; but many others won't.

Don't get upset regardless! Some people take elections and candidates very personally. Listen to them and care about the fact that they're passionate, but reply simply and logically: "I know exactly what you mean. I wish elected officials agreed with everything I care about. But the reality is that no candidate is going to agree with me entirely. In this case, we're focused on business. Our business. And if we can help certain members who care about our industry, ultimately, we can keep operating successfully, which helps all of us pay our bills, send our kids to college, continue to have happy lives, etc."

Save the details for printed messaging (like your e-newsletter or annual PAC report to participants). When recruiting, stick to the basic concepts and the bigger picture.

Poll your top executives to find out where corporate charity is going, as well as their personal charitable contributions. This way, you'll be prepared if you get a response like: "How can you ask me for money when there's tragedy in Haiti and a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf?"

Reiterate that your PAC represents YOU! Candidates and their teams certainly appreciate (and remember) when they've been helped.

Be transparent about who you're helping and why. And prioritize your rationale if you can. For example:

1. Candidate must demonstrate good character and integrity.
2. We have a facility in the candidate's district.
3. Candidate holds a position of leadership on a committee in Congress that affects our industry.

Encourage your Restricted Class to suggest candidates or ask why our PAC supported particular campaigns. One of our primary jobs in the PAC business is to EDUCATE!
Feel free to brag! Discuss peer organizations (perhaps your competitors in the business marketplace), and how well (or badly) their PAC is doing.

People LOVE trinkets! And most of the time, trinkets cost a pittance. Just before Thanksgiving, launch a message to your Solicitable Class with a link to a secure website allowing them to choose a holiday tree ornament of their choosing (make it relate to government ... a plastic mini-replica of the U.S. Capitol Building perhaps). Or, if you wanted something non-religious, give away unique packets of hot chocolate. The point is ... small, simple gifts work!

And there's no reason why you can't use humor in the process of recruiting.

Encourage your Solicitable Class to visit the website to see this week's trivia question. It doesn't have to be about government and politics, but it probably should be. And feel free to be silly. For example: "What boy's name was closely affiliated with the results of the presidential election of 2000?" Answer: "Chad."

I hope my first thoughts here at 720 Strategies helped you realize that PAC fundraising doesn't have to be so difficult (or dry). Frankly, through 720 Strategies' products and services, we're making it much easier to get those vital PAC contribution dollars!

About Joe Wasser - VP, PAC Services

For the past 13 years, Joe Wasser’s combined skills in sales, professional services and consulting have helped business and industry automate many manual processes by providing software solutions for their organizations and by helping them grow.

By Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff
June 24, 2010, 12 a.m.

In the world of campaign rules and regulations, social media remain a vast uncharted territory that the Federal Election Commission isn't in any particular hurry to map out.  

Although social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are increasingly used by political campaigns to get their messages out, there are no specific federal rules or guidelines dictating how the communication can be used.  

Brett Kappel, a counsel with Arent Fox, said the FEC rules regulating Web-based campaigning - implemented just a few years ago - are already impractical for social networking tools such as Twitter, where only 140 characters are used to communicate a message.  

"Four years after adopting lenient rules governing campaigning over the Internet, the FEC is being confronted with new issues by campaigns' expanding uses of social networking technology," Kappel said. "FEC regulations, for example, require campaigns to include a disclaimer on e-mails sent to more than 500 people, but such disclaimers aren't practical for campaign Twitter accounts."  

An FEC source confirmed that the agency was behind the times when it comes to social networking sites but said the commission enacted rules in 2006 that brought paid online advertisements under the purview of campaign finance laws.  

Under the 2006 ruling, political committees are required to put disclaimers on their websites and e-mail messages that are substantially similar and distributed to more than 500 addresses.  

The ruling exempted all other Internet communication such as blogs or mass e-mails from federal regulation.  

The closest the FEC has come to entering the brave new world of social networking was a 2002 advisory opinion on text messaging, well before the method was notably used in the 2008 election by Barack Obama's presidential campaign.  

In the advisory opinion, issued by then-Vice Chairman Karl Sandstrom, the FEC said that since text messages are so small, they are exempted from the disclaimers that are required on larger means of political advertising.  

Paul Ryan, FEC director and associate legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, said it was unlikely that the FEC would intervene on its own since the social networking tools are free.  

"The simple fact that [a candidate or committee] may use the [social networking tool] effectively doesn't trigger the same concerns" that it would if there were money involved, Ryan said.  

"The regulations really hinge on money," he said, adding that candidates are required to have disclaimers on their websites, even if the cost is negligible.   Jan Baran, a partner at Wiley Rein and an election law expert, said not to expect the FEC to rule on free social networking sites anytime soon.  

"The FEC focuses on goods and services for which a campaign must pay fair market value," Baran said in an e-mail. "That won't be an issue with Twitter or Facebook, which are free to all."  

He added, "However, if a campaign maintains a Facebook page, it will have to use volunteers or campaign resources to do so."  

David All, who publishes the Tweet Watch Report, a daily digest of Tweets from Capitol Hill, said the FEC would have to address the use of social media in campaigns eventually, but he hopes it will not lead to more regulation.  

"Ultimately, stakeholders need to be brought to the table proactively with regulators to discuss how best to understand the mediums and address any concerns so regulators do not interfere with the ability of candidates and politicians to directly connect with voters and their constituents, or restrict the constitutionally protected speech of voters," All wrote in an e-mail.  

"As more political candidates begin to use Facebook and Twitter to connect with voters, more questions will arise about where the lines are drawn, especially in terms of disclosure," he wrote. "Transparency is the gold standard, and to the extent that the FEC gets involved, it should be with that goal in mind."  

All mentioned that the issue has begun to be addressed on the state level in places such as Florida and Maryland.  

Earlier this month, the Maryland State Board of Elections approved a rule that would require candidates and committees to disclose the person or entity responsible for their social networking site. If the Maryland General Assembly approves the rule, it will be the first state in the country to regulate the free site.  

A new Florida law allows campaigns and candidates to largely ignore disclaimer laws governing digital ads when dealing with most social networking sites.

Unlike traditional online registration tools, ConnectTheVote allows you to capitalize on the strength of your advocates' countless social networking groups and helps your issues go viral by seamlessly empowering your followers to:

• Register to vote;
• Automatically update their Facebook status;
• Create buzz around your issue(s) among their friends and families; and
• Garner support for your position.
  

So, don't wait! Learn more with our quick ConnectTheVote presentation here or contact us at connectthevote@720strategies.com for information on how to supply your supporters with this new tool. Remember, if you aren't connected this year, you aren't plugged into the election.

As covered in the webinar, here's a list of the biggest mistakes people make when dealing with the media. These are things I've experienced over the years - not only lessons I've learned personally, but also frustrations I've heard directly from members of the media.

Make sure you're avoiding these "TOP 10 ROOKIE MISTAKES".

1. Assuming the reporter is too big (or small) for your issue
2. Not knowing which news sources your target policymakers read/watch
3. Promising what you can't deliver
4. Calling to pitch stories when a reporter is on deadline
5. Calling multiple reporters or bloggers from the same outlet
6. Calling the editor or boss before the reporter
7. Pitching the kitchen sink
8. Responding to inquiries for which you have no expertise
9. Failing to call a reporter back who is on deadline
10. Assuming that blogs don't matter

About Patrick Royal - VP, Media Relations

Pat heads 720's media practice, bringing to the firm and its clients more than a decade working in all facets of communications including campaigns, government and the private sector.

The Internet's explosive growth was based on the notion that almost everything was free and accessible from virtually anywhere. Along comes Rupert Murdoch and his plan to start charging for access to The Times. He's not the first to implement a pay-for-content model, but it's a bit of a paradigm shift when the second-largest media corporation in the world actively works to prevent news aggregators like Yahoo and Google from presenting their news to the public for free.

The implications are large for the general public, given that we are accustomed to free information. However, if this becomes the prevalent business model, I suspect we will all begrudgingly evolve to accept the new status quo (e.g., airline baggage fees).

YouTube is now working to allow users to monetize their own videos. Creating a new revenue stream is great for YouTube/Google of course, but this also puts power into the hands of the content generators to monetize their work.

The obvious parallel here is iTunes opening up a huge market for independent musicians and application developers. Steve Jobs successfully monetized the old Napster model and legitimized the digital distribution of multimedia. Now YouTube is going to allow payment for content on demand.

It's great that Jason Laipply can make money on the 142,718,505 views (as of 5/4/10) of his über viral video, The Evolution of Dance, but what can this do for non-profits, associations, political campaigns or chambers of commerce?

Imagine a non-profit holding their annual fundraising gala and then offering the videotaped celebrity keynote speech via YouTube for a small donation. A political campaign could hold an exclusive fundraiser and make a behind-the-scenes video with the candidate, available for a small contribution to the campaign. A membership-based association or chamber of commerce could offer piecemeal video content to non-members, boosting revenue, and possibly piquing interest to grow the membership base.

Watch this story as it develops, because this may change the way we all consume content that we previously took for granted as free. The evolution process will be slow, but the potential application of the pay-for-content model is certainly intriguing.

About Tom Cochran - Chief Technology Officer

Tom has over ten years of experience in architecting web applications, having developed software for numerous government agencies and political campaigns during the '04 and '06 cycles.

The Open Graph is a simple way to integrate your website content into Facebook and track reader statistics without having to duplicate it in a Facebook page. Using the Open Graph, this content shows up richly throughout user profiles and news feeds drawing people back to your website. Second, the Open Graph allows you to personalize your website to the user and add layers of social integration. Content can be tailored to the individual based on their interests, previous pages they have liked and the interests of their friends. 

The notion of the Open Graph is truly expanding the existing Social Graph in Facebook to the entirety of the Internet. The simplest level of integration with FB's Open Graph is through using snippets of code, placing Facebook "Like" buttons on your website. This allows readers to "Like" and comment on pieces of content right on a website without having to redirect them into Facebook. The information is fed back into their news feed for all their friends to see. In addition, when these friends visit the same website, they'll actually see the familiar FB text " Tom Cochran likes this" as a trusted source's endorsement.

Facebook has over 400 million users — up from 200 million a year ago — now and for our clients this is an incredible opportunity to reach a huge audience (in March, Facebook passed Google in US web traffic). We all know that people are more likely to read content or engage with an organization's message if they receive it from a trusted source.

These announcements are not without controversy, with Senator Schumer calling for the Federal Trade Commission to "provide guidelines for social networking sites ... on how private information submitted by online users can be used and disseminated." Ironically, Schumer also posted this release on his Facebook page. Schumer's concern is that users are automatically opted into sharing their Facebook data with third-party sites like Pandora, Yelp and CNN.

We're going to be keeping an eye on these developments, both technology and legislative, because they're going to have a major impact on how we consume content on the Web. It's the next logical step in the evolution of the Web, but there is a fine line between privacy and personalization.

About Tom Cochran - Chief Technology Officer

Tom has over ten years of experience in architecting web applications, having developed software for numerous government agencies and political campaigns during the '04 and '06 cycles.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate, understand and conquer earned media operations for advocacy.

Hosted by 720 Strategies' Pat Royal, a seasoned media strategist with more than a decade of experience working for the White House, political parties and associations, our 30-minute webinar will introduce you to the skills you need to target the media, communicate your message effectively and gain earned opportunities and strategic placement.

To accept this mission, register online here or call Pat at 202.962.3955, then join us Tuesday, May 4 at 11 a.m. EDT for your media relations boot camp.

Rather than wait out the summer, the savviest organizations are engaging their stakeholders now - online, on the ground and through the mailbox - to make a difference at the polls this November and to generate messages of goodwill for their organization and their industry.

Questions you should be asking include:

• Is our advocacy website equipped to empower our visitors? From learning about candidates and registering to vote, to identifying polling locations and absentee voting deadlines, provide your site visitors with the necessary tools to engage in Election 2010. You can create an election-focused website or refocus your current site on campaign issues important to your industry.
  
• Are we leveraging social media as much as we could be? Create a Facebook cause page, "tweet" about upcoming campaign rallies or link to issue videos through YouTube. Through the use of social media, organizations can update stakeholders on election developments and send reminders about registration deadlines and early voting opportunities. You can even utilize Facebook to advertise on a cost-per-click basis to employees who list your organization as their employer in their profile.
  
• How are we engaging our advocates in the office ... and at home? Leave no stone unturned this election cycle, from offering voter registration kiosks or holding non-partisan events in the workplace, to generating GOTV calls or micro-targeted direct mail campaigns that drive recipients to personalized websites (PURLs). PURLs offer opportunities to communicate directly to your advocates through data-driven content and graphics based on their status as a registered or unregistered voter (or other criteria that you select), increasing the likelihood of participation in the 2010 election.

No matter your industry or organization goals, this is your chance to draw the connection between public policy and your corporate mission, and your organization and civic responsibility.

If you're unsure of the answers to these integral advocacy questions, contact 720 Strategies today to learn more about how your organization can leverage these important opportunities to engage your advocates and encourage them to make their voices heard in the 2010 election cycle.

About Adam Wagner - Director of Communications

Adam brings nearly a decade of experience in grassroots advocacy, public affairs and public relations to his role as Director of Communications for 720 Strategies.

• Ban federal election expenditures by any "foreign corporation";  require a CEO to appear on camera in all corporate-sponsored, election advertisements;
• Compel corporations to conduct all candidate-specific advertising through "political activities accounts" registered with the Federal Election Commission;
• Mandate the disclosure of an organization's top contributors at the end of all ads sponsored by that organization; and
• Restrict political expenditures by federal government contractors and TARP recipients.

Question to ponder?
The constitutional rationale for the Federal Election Campaign Act’s prohibitions and limitations on contributions is that they prevent corruption or the appearance of corruption.  If a majority of the Supreme Court believes, however, that the concept of corruption is limited to quid pro quo exchanges of money for policy, how much longer can the regulation of contributions survive?  Stay tuned as the saga unfolds.  And, contact us if you'd like to know more about the case and how 720 Strategies can help you take advantage of the new environment.

About Sherry Stanley Whitworth - Chief Product Officer

Sherry Whitworth has over 20 years of experience helping mastermind how trade associations, corporations, non-profits and constituents communicate with their elected officials.

This may be a very telling sign of the new media times we live in, where Mr. Klein is alluding to what many companies already know and are preparing for - Facebook and other social media networks are the fastest growing news sources for the public today. People now get their news from their friends and colleagues on social networks, and not only have more interest in those stories because they come from a friend, but also see a friend as a trusted source for news and opinion.

Some might say that it is more like sour grapes on Klein's part because, in full disclosure, Fox News had consistently surpassed CNN in viewership, and according to last month's ratings, Fox News beat out its three closest competitors (including CNN) combined in day and prime-time viewership.

But I think Mr. Klein looks at a different set of numbers. Over the past few years, CNN has ramped up its online efforts with its website. According to Quantcast, CNN.com was the highest rated news website with more than 27 million monthly visitors compared to Fox's eight million -- a far greater discrepancy in total visitors than Fox's lead in broadcast ratings.

With this new era in information, CNN is smart to look at the emergence of social media as a competitor. When you combine CNN's broadcast viewership with its online visitors, the network has the largest audience as a news source over Fox. With the 500 million users of Facebook as possible news sources, it is easy to see that Mr. Klein is looking to the future for his audience rather than looking back at the ratings game.

About Patrick Royal - VP, Media Relations

Pat heads 720's media practice, bringing to the firm and its clients more than a decade working in all facets of communications including campaigns, government and the private sector.

Content strategy is the important work of planning, creating, delivering, and publishing content, as well as managing the content development and distribution process. The individual responsible for content strategy is called the content strategist - the arbiter of what content is really needed, who should create it, how it will be maintained, how often it will be disseminated, and how success will be measured.

A good content strategy creates, delivers and distributes content such that your messages are more likely to be found, read and acted upon by the very people you want to engage. Here are some tips on how to ensure you're maximizing your content strategy efforts.

1. Identify your ideal supporters, and do your homework.
Before you can build a content strategy, you need to identify your audience. Conduct research to map the online habits of the people whose attention you seek: the sites where they hang out, the voices they trust, the topics they like to learn and talk about. Look at competitor sites covering your issue area. Is there a content gap in the marketplace of ideas that you can fill? Take the time to survey your stakeholders to find out what they want to know, from whom, and how they want to receive the information.

2. Develop your advocacy voice.
Your advocacy voice is, essentially, how your words sound on the page. They might be friendly and familiar, formal, humorous or dramatic. The voice you choose says something about your organization and your target audience. Be sure your advocacy voice is in sync with your organization's overall brand and mission - and applied consistently across media.

3. Integrate, integrate, integrate.
We all want the same thing: content that drives traffic, interest, understanding, and positive actions on behalf of our issues. One way to help ensure you are delivering your content into the communication stream is by integrating it with other social media. For starters, you can integrate social media feeds into your website. You can incorporate "like" buttons to your content. And, you can add opportunities for discussion on your blog.

4. Create an editorial calendar.
An editorial calendar can help you create order out of content chaos. Use it to strategize content for known events, like legislative recess periods and key election periods, as well as to create a regular schedule for developing and disseminating content about your proactive issue agenda. Your editorial calendar should consider educational content opportunities as well as advocacy activations, and address your website, e-newsletter, employee Intranet, Facebook presence, Twitter, blog, and other communications devices.

5. Be responsive.
If a reader takes the time to comment on your blog post or website, take the time to respond. Feedback is valuable, and you can use it to improve your content over time.

6. Make someone - or a group - responsible.
Content strategy takes time and resources, and that's why someone must take responsibility for it. Yes, a group can take turns developing content or identifying keywords or tracking results - but someone must hold the team accountable. Your "point person" is the content strategist - and he or she may be employed by your organization or outsourced. An advocacy website or blog or Twitter account or Facebook group can't live on graphic design alone. Fuel it with solid content strategy and reap the rewards.

There are a lot of moving parts to a content strategy. If your organization needs help strengthening its content strategy, please contact 720 Strategies for more information.

About Michael Cornfield - VP, Research and Media Strategy

Michael, a political scientist, is the author of two books about the Internet and American politics. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at The Graudate School of Political Management at George Washington University.

This revelation comes from a study conducted by Pew Research Center called "Understanding the Participatory News Consumer."

This study provides a great snapshot into the way people get their news on a daily basis. While some of the information is not earth shattering, (for instance, only five percent of respondents say they read a local newspaper each day - not breaking news to the newspaper industry!) the findings may surprise some while providing great ammunition for those who advocate for social media. The findings show that people's participation in the news is greater than ever before, not only as the audience but also as distributors of news. Companies, especially those involved in advocacy campaigns, should take notice of this new role. According to the study, "Thirty-seven percent of Internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter."

Another interesting finding shows that more than 80 percent of online news consumers say they receive and/or share links to news stories everyday. This may seem the norm to some who feel like they get a random email forwarded to them by a friend or relative everyday, or to PR professionals like me whose life revolves around moving stories, but I find this telling. The population's Internet news habits are part of a social experience where people not only swap emails but post stories on Facebook and Tweet about them on Twitter. This not only spreads the news but opens up a discussion on that specific subject or story. Here is where people post stories:

• 75 percent of online news consumers say they get news forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites and 52 percent say they share links to news with others via those means.
• 51 percent of social networking site (e.g. Facebook) users who are also online news consumers say that on a typical day they get news items from people they follow. Another 23 percent of this cohort follow news organizations or individual journalists on social networking sites.

In addition to where and how people get their news and information, the study gives us another interesting little tidbit, which shows us why people pay attention to the news:

"Some 72 percent of American news consumers say they follow the news because they enjoy talking with others about what is happening in the world and 69 percent say keeping up with the news is a social or civic obligation."

The 72 percent represents all news consumers, no matter where and how they receive their information. Imagine how much more powerful and popular social media could be if the entire 72 percent who follow the news to be more socially engaged would turn to these social media outlets like blogs and networking sites to get their news. The numbers would be even more staggering than they already are. In turn, blogging for example, would have the potential to create and "report" even more news than it already does. You will see below that the Internet still lags behind television as the primary news source.

To help understand where people go for their news each day, the report provided the following breakdown. Interestingly, it shows that people may get the news from a combination of sources:

• 78 percent of Americans say they get news from a local TV station
• 73 percent get news from a national network such as CBS or cable TV station such as CNN or FoxNews
• 61 percent get some kind of news online
• 54 percent say they listen to a radio news program at home or in the car
• 50 percent read news in a local newspaper
• 17 percent read news in a national newspaper such as the New York Times or USA Today.

Most people get their news from a combination of platforms both on- and offline. As the study found:

"Americans today routinely get their news from multiple sources and a mix of platforms. Nine in 10 American adults (92 percent) get news from multiple platforms on a typical day, with half of those using four to six platforms daily. Fully 59 percent get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day. Just over a third (38 percent) rely solely on offline sources, and two percent rely exclusively on the Internet for their daily news."

This study affirms that companies looking to engage in advocacy should be using the Internet and social media, not only to reach their audience, but to empower that audience to create and distribute its news. In an advocacy or issue campaign, you need to use every resource that is available to you, and this report shows that people can not only help you spread your message, but they'd also like to be engaged in the issues and the news.

About Patrick Royal - VP, Media Relations

Pat heads 720's media practice, bringing to the firm and its clients more than a decade working in all facets of communications including campaigns, government and the private sector.

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 Tanner - Senior Account Director

Lauren joined 720 Strategies in 2008, bringing with her vast technological experience with the Digital Age and her artistic eye to deliver top-notch interactive strategy.

The old infrastructure was brought online in 2006, successfully supporting all of our clients during two electoral campaign cycles and numerous legislative agendas in between. We have steadily grown our clients' hosted websites over these past few years and we needed to scale our operations up to meet increasing demand for technology support.

Planning for this upgrade began in the summer, as we identified an interruption-free migration strategy from our old server environment to the new one. We are continuing a four-year relationship with our data center partner Rackspace, to provide the highest-caliber hosting environment for all of our clients, augmenting our offering with a new, state-of-the-art content delivery network (CDN).

The content delivery network is the most exciting enhancement being made available to all clients. Encompass720 (720's content management system) has been improved to take advantage of new cloud computing technologies, providing unlimited file storage and bandwidth. By leveraging the on-demand scalability and elasticity of cloud computing, our client websites will no longer be bound by the physical disk storage capacity of server hard drives.

Files and images uploaded to the new cloud-based CDN are delivered at blazing speeds by a geographically distributed set of content servers (i.e., a user in San Francisco will load the cached image from a server in California whereas a user in Chicago will load the image from a server located nearby in Illinois). During our planning phase, we were seeing performance increases of 80 to 90 percent for page load times. For our clients, this means vastly improved website response times when they're experiencing significant traffic spikes.

Our technology team is very excited about our improved hosting infrastructure and we look forward to continuing our unparalleled service and support for all our clients. We strive to provide a worry-free website hosting experience through 24x7x365 proactive monitoring and support. This next phase for our infrastructure illustrates our dedication to unparalleled technical support and how 720's technology will continue to meet and exceed the demands of high-profile campaigns.

About Tom Cochran - Chief Technology Officer

Tom has over ten years of experience in architecting web applications, having developed software for numerous government agencies and political campaigns during the '04 and '06 cycles.

Target sponsored the first ever National Civic Summit and National Tweet-up that launched a national conversation on civics. Over 100 civic organizations convened - both live and virtually - to explore new approaches and tools for nonpartisan engagement. The live Tweet-up featured a social media team that helped people use social media tools including Twitter, YouTube and Flickr and mobile communications including SMS text. Throughout the event, participants were prompted to share their views and accomplishments with the group via streaming poll questions.

The Target Citizens' Forum, online at www.citizensattarget.com, is a place where Target's team members can access to information and resources about the company's civic affairs priorities. 720 Strategies worked with Target to design and build the site and offer daily strategic guidance so that it serves as an educational tool as well as a social media platform with features including legislative action tools and an integrated live Twitter feed. Target successfully created a dialogue between its members and the community to discuss the importance of civic engagement.

"Target Twitizen" is the company's branded Twitter page that provides insight into the Target Government Affairs' view on relevant civic and public issues. It also allows team members to voice their opinions and ask Target leadership questions.

This is the eleventh year the Public Affairs Council awarded the "Grassroots Innovation Awards." The awards recognize the nation's best grassroots programs and campaigns in the following categories: Corporate Innovation; Association Innovation; and Social Media Innovation - which is a new category for 2010. The winners are chosen by a hand-selected committee of grassroots leaders and awarded to those who best demonstrate the innovative use of social media in a grassroots program or campaign.