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Online Promotion Kit - Networking Tips
It isn't easy convincing other folks, even your closest friends and family, to join you in taking action on an issue. Even an issue you care passionately about. So we've put together some tips, based on past experience that we hope will help provide some guidance.
But we're certainly not the only ones with good ideas. If you have some ideas about how to spread the word, send a short (50 word max) description of your creative ideas and efforts to outreach@newdream.org C3ers who submit the most creative and effective ideas will be featured in campaign emails and win prizes.
Start with Friends and Family
Your family and friends are the best place to start for several reasons.
- They're the easiest to approach
- They serve as a good test for language text and tone because you can ask them for honest feedback.
- Hopefully, you feel comfortable following-up with them and nudging them in case they haven’t “taken action”.
But, to win this contest and have the greatest impact you can't just rely on the folks you know well.
Utilize the online resources you know
Many of you have blogs, personal pages, are on listservs, etc. You can use these to your advantage.
- If you have or write for a blog, write about this campaign (and/or post a handy graphic) and the role you're taking in it. Your readers may thank you for letting them know how easy it can be to make a difference.
- Use your MySpace, Facebook, etc. page to let people know about this campaign. Post a badge, post a bulletin for your friends, or a blog or wall entry about the campaign. Also you can connect to us on MySpace or FaceBook (Join the Carbon Conscious Consumer group). We'll always post the latest news and campaign materials there.
- Commenting on blogs or news stories. With so many blogs and news sites out there inviting comments, it's easy to post information about this campaign to sites with relevant posts or stories. Take the text of our tell a friend email and adapt it for your purposes if you wish.
- Post information to the listservs your on. Maybe the subject isn't relevant to a list you're on, but you can easily defuse that by apologizing in advance: "Sorry if this is off-topic...". Many people on the list may thank you for the information, since they may never have come across it otherwise.
Utilize the online resources you may not know so well
There are loads of arenas online to get the word out, not all are so obvious though.
- Craigslist - post a classified about the campaign and your role in it. Lots of people just scroll through the classifieds and may come upon yours. Plus they're free! Many newspaper sites offer some free personals as well.
- Neighborhood listservs - many neigborhoods have community listservs. Find out if there is one in your community and post information to it.
- Digg, Reddit and others - these "user-powered" sites let you post web pages or articles.
- Email Signatures - add a line or two about the campaign as an email signature. That way every email you send will have some information about the campaign to catch someone's eye.
There's plenty of other avenues and strategies for you to use. If you have any to add, please send 'em our way.
Above all, perseverance will pay off. So keep at it and best of luck!
