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Sign this PetitionOrganizing 101: Leveraging Social Media for Digital Organizing
This blog is part of a larger series called ‘Organizing 101: Outrage to Organizing.’
Digital organizing doesn’t replace traditional organizing—it amplifies and extends it, and social media is one of the most powerful digital tools we have. It’s where movements can grow to exponential heights on a global scale. Social media can break down barriers, reach new audiences, and educate audiences on others’ lives.
In this blog, we’ll show you how to use your voice with equity, how to create an engagement strategy, how to persuade with storytelling, and how to build a team.
Apply an Equity Lens Online
We mentioned this in our previous blog about choosing different social media platforms, but those closest to the pain should be closest to the power. This means those who are most affected by what you’re fighting against should be the leaders in telling their stories.
When sharing stories and causes of marginalized people, self-educate first. It’s not their job to teach you. If you share their work, do it respectfully and give credit along with supporting them through donations or volunteering.
If you’re ever confused on how to practice equity online, remember to be respectful, ask for consent, and give attention to marginalized groups and resources.
Why Digital Organizing Matters
Digital organizing is important because it allows movements to reach farther and spread faster than ever before. One post, one video, or one hashtag, like #BlackLivesMatter, can change national and international dialogue and draw the world’s attention to a cause that might have otherwise been overlooked.
Digital platforms also serve as a way to keep people engaged between actions, so that the relationships and momentum built at a rally or a meeting continue even after the event is over. Digital organizing is essential because it can be done quickly and transcends geography. It connects people from different cities, states, and countries to help build a sense of solidarity and shared purpose. For example, the No Kings protests were international, with peaceful protests all across the U.S. and even some in the U.K. and Europe.
What Is The Engagement Funnel? How to Use and Innovate It
The engagement funnel helps move people from the awareness stage (literally making them aware of an issue, candidate, etc.) to action (they’ve decided to vote, to sign a petition, or even join a meeting) to leadership (they are actively working with you in roles like hosting events, helping organize protests, organizing calls).
Awareness: First touchpoint. Someone sees a hashtag, social media video, or post about an issue. View this stage as someone who has seen a word or picture dealing with the issue you’re passionate about. They don’t know much about it except they’ve seen something somewhere.
Engagement: Someone likes, shares, comments, signs a petition, or donates to an organization fighting for an issue. They’re actively taking an action, even if it’s small with the topic you’re organizing about.
Onboarding: This is a higher level of engagement. They’ve seen your issue and have been moved enough to take a small act. Now, they are wanting to become even more active. This could be for a variety of reasons, like they’ve done more research, they’ve heard more stories, or they’ve seen more social media posts about it. When at the onboarding stage, their act will feel more sustainable, like they’ll join an event, a call, or a livestream.
Volunteer Leadership: At this stage, they’ve become heavily invested in organizing and making a difference. They’ve taken on a role in events, like hosting postcard parties, moderating chats, or training other volunteers.
Advocacy & Recruitment: When volunteers feel supported, encouraged and invested in a certain issue, they can easily become leaders in the space. At this stage, a volunteer may speak publicly at events or organize their own actions, such as protests, social media posts, or postcard parties. They may also start actively recruiting friends, family members, and colleagues to join them in their involvement.
If you want to move people through the funnel, try creating clear next steps on how you’d like someone to move through it. If you have an idea for how someone could become an active organizer, write it out. For example, they could see a viral post, then sign a petition, then join a training or call, then become an advocate and recruit others to join.
How to Use the Diffusion of Innovation Model
The diffusion of innovation model explains how ideas spread. It categorizes how new ideas spread through a social system and how quickly. Typically, you can see adopters of a new idea (in this case the people you want to join you in organizing) in the following categories:
- Innovators (3%): early risk-takers, often activists starting new tactics
- Early adopters (13%): trendsetters who amplify ideas to wider circles
- Early majority (34%): more cautious, join once ideas gain traction
- Late majority (34%): resistant but will join once it’s normalized
- Laggards (16%): unlikely to ever join
For your message to spread quickly, target innovators + early adopters online. After this, show testimonials, numbers, media coverage, etc. to move the majority to give them reassurance.
How to Harness Citizen Journalism & Hashtag Activism
Citizen journalism can be categorized as livestreams, protest footage, and firsthand accounts of how policies or systemic problems have affected someone. This content created by the average person can have global impacts and really make a difference. A citizen filmed the brutal murder of George Floyd and it sparked a movement that resulted in the police officer being convicted and sent to prison.
Hashtags are a key part of activism, like the #MeToo movement and #SayHerName. They can take a serious issue and injustice and amplify it to global audiences.
Make sure to fact-check videos, hashtags, or any other online source first to avoid spreading misinformation.
Strategy, Objectives, & Tactics (SOT) for Social Media
When thinking about how to create a strategy, the objective you want to achieve, and the tactics you want to use in order to achieve your goals, remember it’s more simple than you think.
- Strategy: your overall vision (e.g., mobilize young voters through TikTok/IG).
- Objectives: measurable targets. How you know you’ve been successful. This is something you create. You decide how you define success. (e.g., 1,000 petition signatures by Friday).
- Tactics: specific actions that contribute to your strategy (mobilize young voters) and how you’ll achieve your objectives (e.g.,reposting reels, Q&As on Instagram live, or tweet storms). Leaders must keep SOT aligned with offline campaign goals.
Persuasive Storytelling Online: How to Use Ethos, Pathos, Logos
Ethos
This is what gives you credibility. Share your lived experiences and expertise. No one is a better expert on your lived experience than you.
You can also partner with organizations or credible activists to build trust.
If reaching out to a thought partner or organization for more credibility, always connect human to human before asking them for a favor.
Pathos
This appeals to the emotions of others and is important when recruiting people to fight for a just and equitable world. It takes a lot of passion and heart to organize. Lean into that. Use personal stories, images, and videos to spark empathy, show people who you are and what you stand for.
It can be extremely valuable and moving to pair data points with human stories.
Logos
This is the logical side of all of us. Even people who are extremely passionate about getting involved want to know clear facts, numbers, and actionable steps they can take to make a difference.
To help appeal to the logical side in people, link to trusted sources, petitions, or explainers.
Effective social media posts blend all three: establish credibility, connect emotionally, and back it with facts.
Tools to Help You Create and Schedule Social Media Posts
- Scheduling: Hootsuite, Buffer
- Creating designs: Canva, Adobe Express
- Video platforms: TikTok, Reels, livestream tools
- Analytics: Social media platforms have analytics in the platform itself. You can track engagement on a spreadsheet to help with your strategy, objectives, and tactics.
Remember: Don’t wait for perfection — start posting, see what does well, adapt, and repeat your successes.
Social Media Is A Powerful Activism Tool. It Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect, Just Authentic.
Social media can take movements to extremely large scales and bridge issues across geographies. It’s important to lead with equity and authenticity when starting to use social media as an organizing strategy.
Engagement funnels are an easy way to visualize how you want people to move from being aware of your issue to becoming a leader in the movement.
Persuasive content is credible, emotional, and logical and can transform online energy into real-world impact.
Next in the series: Going from online activism to in-person activism through canvassing and protesting.