More Ways to Get Your Actions Noticed

04:00 PM Jan 28, 2011

We've been talking a lot at Salsa about Advocacy campaigns, and the best way to communicate your issues with Members of Congress and others in office. Recently, a study was published on how Congress communicates with their constituents. The study itself was published online and you can view the results here, or just take a peek at a few key findings. Here are a few suggestions from the results of the study:

Unsurprisingly, in-person visits are the most influential way to communicate with Members of Congress. The best way to visit isn't by just showing up. Give the office a call and schedule a visit in advance. You will be more likely to talk with Congressperson, but speaking with a staff member is also very helpful. As a campaign manager, you can encourage volunteers in various districts to schedule meetings with their Members of Congress. It's best to call the office to schedule a meeting. Phone numbers can be found on congressional websites: use the lookups on house.gov and senate.gov.

Form letters are less influential than personalized letters. Definitely allow your supporters to customize the content of the emails they send through your Actions. Constituent's reasons for supporting or opposing a bill or issue were voted as the most helpful type of content. In your Action, encourage supporters to describe why they are encouraging their Member of Congress to support or oppose a bill or issue. Information on how the bill or issue impacts their district is also important.

Members of Congress are beginning to use Social Media more and more to communicate with constituents. The main problem with social media communication is that offices have no way of telling if people using it are actually constituents. Still, it's not a bad idea to encourage constituents to use Facebook and Twitter, particularly if they are expressing why a particular bill or issue impacts their district.

It's exciting to see how new technologies are changing the way we reach out to our elected officials. At the same time, this study shows that the best way of communicating is the oldest: talking face to face.

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