Should Social Media Have a Role in Your Advocacy Efforts?

As an association professional, should you encourage your members to reach out to their legislators via social media? Is it effective? Years ago, fewer constituents engaged with their legislators via social media, so those who did might have made a disproportionate impact. However, in today’s world, does it still make sense to include social media in your advocacy campaigns? Here’s a look at some pros and cons.

The Case for Social Media

First and foremost, social media platforms are free to use and relatively easy to engage in. It isn’t a huge ask of your members to share posts supporting your association’s positions, especially if you draft posts ahead of time and ask them to share as is or with the customization that makes sense for them.

In addition, you never know what legislators or staff are among your members’ contacts. If they’ve developed their social media presence well, are serious about government relations, and have connected with their members of Congress, your message has a better chance of getting seen.

Instruct them to follow their Congressperson, tag them in relevant posts, and use the hashtags associated with your issues. While legislators may not always read everything in their social media streams, they certainly have staff looking for instances when they are mentioned, and those posts may get attention, especially if there is some critical mass around your hashtag. In addition, when you want your members to use a hashtag, make it easy for them to find by including it in all your materials.

The Case Against Social Media

Because social media platforms are free, there is a lot of noise in most people’s feeds. That makes the likelihood of your members’ posts getting any attention slim. If your members haven’t already embraced social media, developed their networks, and engaged with useful posts or thoughtful commentary to the point where others take notice, their posts will not get the traction you want.

It’s also important to consider your board’s attitude about social media. Are board members realistic about what your association can accomplish via social media, or do they expect you to work miracles if only you could get more members to tweet? We must set expectations when it comes to whether social media can be effective and assess how much investment makes sense for your association.

You also want to be careful about volunteer fatigue. If you continue to ask your most engaged members to do things—even those that don’t take a lot of time and effort—they may eventually burn out. This is especially true if they aren’t seeing progress after all their efforts. That’s why it’s always a good idea to be judicious about how you ask your volunteers to spend their time. Make it worthwhile and rewarding for them, and they will want to continue. You wouldn’t want to lose a good volunteer because of their frustration over social media.

So, What Is Social Media’s Place in Advocacy?

This point is up for debate. While social media posts probably won’t move the needle on your association’s legislative priorities, they are a great way to thank a member of Congress for a meeting. During your next fly-in, encourage participants to get a photo at each of their meetings, and then post it on their social media platforms with a thank you for the meeting, tagging the legislator and including the hashtag for your association and/or issue. If character limits permit, they should include a few words about the issue they discussed. It’s not only a good reminder to the legislator, but it also shows your members the great work your association is doing in Washington, DC.

While social media may be less effective than more traditional advocacy tactics like fly-ins and face-to-face meetings, it’s one that you have at your disposal. Remember to make it easy for your members and make sure that they have realistic expectations about what they can accomplish via social media.