The Basics

This week’s readings covered the fundamentals of an online campaign and serve as a good foundation for anyone getting into digital communication.

Dr. Rosenblatt’s overview of the “The Dimensions of a Digitally Networked Campaign” describes the three dimensions of online strategy:
• 1-Dimensional: tightly controlled messages and information, pushed out from an organization to audiences
• 2-Dimensional: two-way transactions between an organization and audiences
• 3-Dimensional: community based communication involving the organization, its audiences, and their audiences and communities, with little or no message control

Colin Delaney’s “Online Politics 101” teaches us how to translate the above strategic approaches into action through tactical execution. While Delaney strays a bit too often into inside jokes and anecdotes, he also presents a straightforward and comprehensive overview of the most important tenets and tools of online advocacy.

One important take-away from both of these readings is to make online outreach a positive, easy experience for your audience. For example, we are reminded to:
• Respect our audience’s communication preferences, whether email, facebook, twitter, text messages
• Make sure action is easy – “just one click away”
• Be easy to find
• Be navigable
• Present information logically and succinctly

Far too many organizations still forget the importance of these principles. A cluttered, hard-to-navigate website can send a message that an organization doesn’t care whether users find the information they need. Political campaign emails too frequently place the “act now” button at the bottom of a long diatribe that explains why we should care about their cause. The bottom line is, to be successful online, keep it short and sweet, and think about how to make action easy for your audience.