What's the best way to create online campaigns for your community?

Online campaigns are a powerful way to mobilize your community around a common cause, raise awareness, and influence decision-makers. But how do you design and run an effective online campaign that reaches and engages your target audience, builds trust and credibility, and inspires action? In this article, you'll learn some key tips and strategies to create online campaigns for your community, based on the principles and practices of community organizing.

1 Define your goal and strategy

The first step to create an online campaign is to define your goal and strategy. What is the change you want to see in your community? Who are the decision-makers or stakeholders that can make it happen? How will you persuade or pressure them to act? What are the best channels and platforms to communicate your message and mobilize your supporters? Your goal should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Your strategy should outline the main steps and tactics you'll use to achieve your goal, such as petitions, emails, social media posts, videos, webinars, etc.

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Pooja Gangakhedkar

Senior Social Media Strategist | Helping Businesses Grow with Organic Marketing
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Make sure your goal is something that you can actually achieve. If it's too ambitious, you're less likely to be successful. Be realistic about your budget and resources. Get feedback from others on your goal and strategy.

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2 Know your audience and message

The second step to create an online campaign is to know your audience and message. Who are the people you want to reach and engage with your campaign? What are their values, interests, needs, and pain points? How can you appeal to their emotions, logic, and ethics? What are the barriers and opportunities to get them involved? Your message should be clear, concise, compelling, and consistent. It should explain the problem, the solution, the action, and the impact of your campaign. It should also include a call to action that tells your audience what you want them to do and why.

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Katie McCauley

Community @ Square 🧠🫀 I build online communities for people who are more than their job
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Before you strategize how to simply get your audience (community) to engage in your campaign so you can hit your target metrics, you should first ensure your campaign is actually serving their needs or desires. If you're launching a campaign for the sake of increasing engagement, you might be spinning your tires if you haven't first confirmed its something they care about. Be sure you reference your feedback surveys, or your running list of discussion themes you're noticing in your online community. You can also reach out to a handful of community members to anecdotally confirm their feelings about the purpose/goal.

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3 Create and share engaging content

The third step to create an online campaign is to create and share engaging content. Content is the core of your online campaign. It's what attracts, informs, educates, entertains, and persuades your audience. Content can be in different formats, such as text, images, audio, video, infographics, etc. It should be relevant, useful, authentic, and diverse. It should also be optimized for the channel and platform you're using, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. You should share your content regularly and strategically, using hashtags, keywords, tags, captions, etc. to increase your visibility and reach.

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Katie McCauley

Community @ Square 🧠🫀 I build online communities for people who are more than their job
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Make sure you're 1) making it easy for them to participate and 2) sharing the content where your community already is. An engagement campaign is not the time to teach your community to use an external tool/platform, or deviate from their natural behavior. For example: if your audience LOVES to create memes, don't make them submit free-response comments to participate. Lean into what they love to do - memes! If your community is a discussion based forum, know that it will probably be difficult for them to want to hop over to YouTube.

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4 Build and nurture relationships

The fourth step to create an online campaign is to build and nurture relationships. Relationships are the foundation of your online campaign. They're what turn your audience into supporters, advocates, and leaders. Relationships are built on trust, respect, empathy, and reciprocity. You should interact with your audience frequently and personally, using comments, messages, emails, calls, etc. You should listen to their feedback, questions, concerns, and stories. You should acknowledge their contributions, celebrate their achievements, and recognize their challenges. You should also connect them with each other, creating a sense of community and belonging.

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Morgan Rice

Community Builder | Enablement Specialist | Social Impact Enthusiast
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Campaigns that are authentic are more compelling and effective. Authenticity is what binds people together, and in the end, people support what they feel a sincere connection to. User-generated content, behind-the-scenes glimpses, real stories, and even moments of vulnerability can be used to build and nurture relationships with your members and foster a sense of belonging.

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5 Measure and evaluate your impact

The fifth step to create an online campaign is to measure and evaluate your impact. Impact is the result of your online campaign. It's what shows whether you've achieved your goal and made a difference in your community. Impact can be measured by different indicators, such as reach, engagement, conversions, donations, signatures, etc. You should track and analyze your data regularly, using tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, etc. You should also collect and share stories and testimonials from your supporters, beneficiaries, and partners. You should use your findings to improve your campaign, celebrate your successes, and learn from your failures.

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6 Adapt and innovate

The sixth and final step to create an online campaign is to adapt and innovate. Online campaigns are dynamic and evolving. They're influenced by changing contexts, trends, opportunities, and challenges. You should be flexible and responsive to the needs and preferences of your audience, the actions and reactions of your decision-makers, and the feedback and suggestions of your supporters. You should also be creative and experimental, trying new ideas, formats, platforms, and partnerships. You should always aim to grow and improve your online campaign, making it more effective, engaging, and impactful.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What's the best way to create online campaigns for your community?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Define your goal and strategy

2 Know your audience and message

3 Create and share engaging content

4 Build and nurture relationships

5 Measure and evaluate your impact

6 Adapt and innovate

7 Here’s what else to consider

Community Organizing

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What's the best way to create online campaigns for your community?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Define your goal and strategy

2 Know your audience and message

3 Create and share engaging content

4 Build and nurture relationships

5 Measure and evaluate your impact

6 Adapt and innovate

7 Here’s what else to consider

Community Organizing

Rate this article

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