Gloria Fong is one of Mobile Commons’ Account Managers, dedicated to helping our customers get the most out of mobile. On November 1st, she participated in a panel discussion at Salsa’s Community Conference. Here are some of the results of that panel.
Earlier this month, at Salsa’s Community Conference in Washington, DC, I was fortunate to sit on a panel with Sarah Alexander from Food & Water Watch (a Mobile Commons customer) and Craig Zingerline from New Signature (the guys who designed the Mobile Commons website). The panel was called “Engagement: Climbing the Ladder,” and we talked about the best ways for organizations to connect with their constituents.
If you don’t know what a “Ladder of Engagement” is, you’re missing out on a good time! Lots of groups plan “Ladders of Engagement” to move their members through the “steps” of membership – for example, from picking up a flyer at an event to becoming active donors.
The big takeaway from our panel was – everybody wants to get their constituents climbing that ladder, but not all ladders look alike. The most important thing to remember is that you need to think about your organization’s goals when you’re conceiving your ladder.
And that’s just one of the lessons learned. Based on our panel, I wanted to present the top 5 Tips to Remember when you’re planning your own Ladder of Engagement.
1) What does YOUR engagement ladder look like? Maybe your top rung is not getting people to donate. Maybe it’s getting people to volunteer at your events or to make phone calls. Make sure you define your ladder to meet your organization’s goals.
2) Start on the bottom rung. Use a “welcome series” to ease your newest users into the fold. Don’t ask a new supporter to give you money or collect signatures on a petition right off the bat. New supporters may not know your organization or issues well. Broad sign-on statements (as opposed to specific policy asks) can work well. Even invitations to check out “101″ materials on your site can be good. Don’t ask too much too soon.
3) Seize the moment after someone does take action. The moment after a user takes an action is the perfect time to encourage him/her to move up a “rung”. Always say thank you, and ask him or her to take a simple action like tweet about their action or post it on Facebook.
4) Move online activists offline. Ask high-level activists to take an offline action: Collecting postcards, hosting a film screening, hosting a call-in day, or delivering postcards.
5) Track, track, track your supporters’ actions so you can target your messages to them. Don’t just send mass emails all the time. For example, send messages about recruiting volunteers to people who have already volunteered. They can speak personally to their experiences and get others on board.
The Salsa panelists. Gloria is center stage!
Mobile can, and should, play a large role in your engagement strategy. When looking to move your supporters up the engagement ladder, contacting them on their mobile phones is a great way to keep supporters engaged, while also giving them a quick and easy way to take action.
Whatever your organization’s top rung is on the engagement ladder, use all of the tools in your toolbox (e.g. mobile and click-to-call tools, your CRM system, Facebook, Twitter, your website) in concert with each other to move your supporters to the top!