Political advocacy & organization

Diane K. Danielson

Megan Amundson

Diane has been focused on social media and advocacy since the Coakley/Brown campaign turned a local election into a national spectacle. For those who, like Diane, were tracking the activity online, it was clear Brown had momentum and an online advantage as early as January 3, 2010, nearly three weeks prior to the election.

When it comes to advocacy, often clients need “on the ground” as well as online organization. In order to provide clients with complete services and support, Diane partners with political consultant, Megan Amundson of Megan Amundson Strategies.  For a list of our services, please view our Campaign Services flier (.pdf).

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In the 2010 midterms, Diane served as the social media consultant for Vote No on Ballot Question 2 in Massachusetts. The question sought to repeal 40B, the Affordable Housing law responsible for 80% of affordable housing in Massachusetts outside of major urban markets.

Vote No on Question 2 in Massachusetts won with 59% of the vote. Online stats indicate that Vote No on 2′s presence dwarfed it’s opponents and was key to educating voters. Diane’s role as new media consultant to the campaign included the following:

  • Designing the look of the Facebook and Twitter pages
  • Developing a social media strategy that included:
    • increasing fans on Facebook (to over 3,000 in 6 weeks), followers on Twitter, viewers on YouTube, and visits to the campaign’s main website.
    • training and policy input for staff and volunteers
    • advising on how to make the main website more social media friendly
    • participating in weekly campaign-wide strategy meetings
    • coordinating with the online ad team
    • building on editorial and op-ed momentum
    • educating voters
    • GOTV campaign
  • Launching an online fund raising “money bomb” (increased online donations by 800% in one week)

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Diane also served as a social media adviser in the hotly contested Massachusetts District 10 House race. Working with the online rapid response team for eventual winner William Keating, Diane designed the Women for Keating Facebook page and assisted in it’s administration (Keating’s Facebook fans on his women’s page outnumbered his opponent’s 3:1).  She also helped advance the campaign’s message about “trust” and the candidate’s experience and positions on equality, alternative energy, the environment and women’s issues via Facebook, Twitter and blog networks.

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are now standard practice for any campaign and Facebook’s stats on election day showed some correlation between winners and pages with the most fans. For the most part, these stats only played out in “normal” races, not those where a candidate was too extreme or made national news.

Yet, regardless of the race, social media provided many candidates with supplemental data points between polls and at much less expense.

However, social media should not be “for campaigns only.”  Politicians can use social media as a tool to interact with constituents throughout their terms of service.  If you would like to find out how you can start building your online presence now, please contact us!

 

In addition to the three campaigns mentioned above, Diane’s new media expertise has been tapped by local town campaigns, political organizations, foundations, lobbyists and non-profits.

Diane does her political “tweeting” under the username: @DKDpolitics.