Networking Tools Examples
Ideas from Michele Anciaux Aoki 5/3/2004

The opportunities to network with groups with a common interest have expanded incredibly over the past few years. Here are just a few examples and how I think the approach could be applied to the National Coalition as it looks at networking strategies.

Website + Email

Almost all of the successful networking approaches combine a website with email. The website provides the consistent home base for the content, while the emails provide the dynamic link to it. Of course, to be relevant, the emails need to be targeted to a given audience and actually meet that audience's needs (otherwise the emails feel like SPAM, and the person is likely to unsubscribe very soon).

A key characteristic of the emails is that they contain timely information. It may be timely because it's current -- what's happening next week (e.g., MoveOn.org) or what got reported this week (Patty Murray Emails) -- or it specifies what you should do now (e.g., South Beach Diet) or a "thought for the day" (true of some spiritually oriented websites). Bottom line: why should I read this now?

MoveOn.org http://www.moveon.org/

MoveOn.org has managed to network millions of people across the country. Here are just a few examples of methods they use:

MoveOn Sample Email #1 with links to the website to take action
MoveOn.org sends emails out at least once or twice a week. Generally, the emails make an emotional connection and include a link to take you to a specific page (tailored for you) on MoveOn.org where you can fill out a survey, donate money, etc.

Things to note:

  • personalized email gets your attention more than a generic email
  • emotional connection in an email motivates taking action (i.e. following the link)
  • ease of completing a task (once you get to their website) makes it "worth it" to complete the action
  • completing a task leaves you with the satisfaction of knowing that you did something (even if it only took a few minutes).

MoveOn Sample Email #2 with repeated links
Here's a good example of giving the link (for action) early in the message (for those who are likely to act quickly after just reading the first paragraph) as well as later in the message (for those who want to read the full message before deciding to act).

Things to note:

  • use of clear and specific language to articulate a request for action:

(Ask WHOM                  to do WHAT         WHY              WHEN     HOW                   WHERE
Ask your Member of Congress to pledge to reveal the truth right now by signing the petition at:
http://moveon.org/wmdpledge

  • use of P.S. to attract attention to additional information. (This technique is frequently used in printed solicitation letters.)

MoveOn Sample Email #3 with link to video
Here's an example of an email that links to a page on the MoveOn.org site that has a video clip. The email highlights a photo from the video clip to bring attention to it. When you get to the website, you can easily view the video clip (and donate money).

Things to note:

  • access to video on the web causes reader to "linger" a little longer in your sphere of influence (i.e. your website)
  • having video clips created by other ordinary citizens (i.e. in the contest) arouses the reader's curiosity more than simply seeing a professional video (same might be true of graphics or photos)

Patty Murray Weekly Updates

Patty Murray Sample Newsletter #1
Senator Patty Murray sends out weekly updates to subscribers.

Things to note:

  • link to alternative print-friendly version http://murray.senate.gov/current.pdf
    gives an alternative view because not all computers have email set up to view html messages
  • specific current topics highlighted with descriptive text, but also "Patty in the News" links provide balance and lend credibility (you're not just promoting yourself; the media is "helping" with the promotion by mentioning your name in news articles)

South Beach Diet

Daily Dish Sample Email #1
The Daily Dish is a daily email sent out from the South Beach Diet website.

Things to note:

  • brief tips or "to do's" tend to create a sense of support and promote action
  • convenient link back to the site makes it more likely that people won't forget about it
  • additional links (in this case, paid advertisements) potentially add value by linking people to other relevant info (such as link to Diabetes info)
  • some menu item links from the website repeated in the email (for reinforcement)

League of Education Voters

LEV Sample Email #1
The I-884 Education Initiative email is sent out to subscribers.

Things to note:

  • message begins with "latest" news, making it engaging
  • next section highlights top priority action (i.e. sending in signatures)
  • next section delineates very specific ways to help
  • last section talks about ways to learn more (realizing that many readers will never get to the last section, but in case they do... here's where to go to learn more)
  • message ends with complete info about the Alert and the organization (makes sure that everything is clearly identified, and a person getting this message out of context knows what it's about)

http://www.educationvoters.org/index.html
Their website has lots of good tools to make it easy for people to get the job done.

Things to note:

Online Conference Listservs

Gifted Sample Email #1
This is a fascinating process. The organizer has created a listserv with subscribers from all over the world. Every few weeks they launch an "online conference" moderated by an expert in that topic. People post their messages to the listserv (as they would on a normal listserv) until the conference date is over (then they stop).

Things to note:

  • more likely to get people engaged when a topic has a sense of "urgency" (i.e. expert only available for a few days)
  • people who post feel they create a sense of community (and sometimes they make contacts that they continue to keep after the conference)
  • even people who just read ("lurk") gain a lot of information or new perspectives
  • very efficient way to exchange a lot of information among diverse people quickly
  • the organizer can glean from the interchanges "nuggets" of information to post as content on a website after the online conference