by Dick Armey
—ROBIN STUBLEN, PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA
FreedomWorks often has opportunities to book activists who we work with on national media outlets like Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, and the broadcast networks. If you prove to be an effective media voice for limited government, we will be happy to include you in future opportunities. Producers are always looking for good spokespeople who can go on the air live. This is a great opportunity for those of you who want a chance to do something like this. A number of FreedomWorks activists have appeared on national radio and television shows, and some have even been profiled by outlets like CNN and Fox News.
Building Media Contacts
You will find contact information for television, radio stations, and newspapers across the country on a national and local level online. It is highly recommended that you build a media list of your own for your group. Keep this information handy, as you’ll want to refer to it when you’re ready to mail your letters, place your telephone calls, or send e-mail.
Every local leader should have a big list of the reporters and producers who have covered local, state, and national politics. Many reporters are assigned to covering political events in the city or state in which you live. Get to know them personally and communicate with them often. They need you as a source just as much as you need them to write a fair piece about your group and your events. As frustrating as the mainstream media can be, there are good reporters and producers who are honest, objective, and looking for the true story. Work with these folks and you can help shape the narrative about our movement. I’d suggest offering to take your local beat reporters out to lunch or for coffee to get to know them. You’d be surprised at how few people actually do this, which is a major missed opportunity. Good journalists will take you up on your offer because they need to know their subjects very well in order to cover them correctly.
Try to focus on building not only the list of media contacts but also the quality of the list. This will go a long way toward making you a more effective communicator through newspapers, radio, and television. We can and should get our message out on traditional media outlets. To throw up our hands because of media bias would be foolish and counterproductive.
ACTIVIST SPOTLIGHT: BOB MACGUFFIE
Bob McGuffie was on a ski trip in New England when he heard Rick Santelli’s rant. By then, he had been organizing protests and connecting activists for some time and was prepared for the tsunami of activism unleashed by the instantly famous outburst. A native of Queens, New York, Bob is blunt and unapologetic about his views.
He is a cofounder of the political action group Right Principles (www.rightprinciples.com), a clearinghouse for economic and constitutional research and a gathering place for activists. As hits and e-mails to the Web site grew during the TARP fiasco, Bob realized he was at the center of something special. Technology was empowering individuals across the country to connect with one another, share ideas, and plan events.
After the April 2009 tea parties, Bob and his fellow Connecticut activists decided to focus on town hall meetings with members of Congress. “I thought we ought to go down and challenge them,” Bob said. “Representative Jim Himes had a town hall coming up—on my wedding anniversary of all days—but I wanted to start pushing back on all the happy talk. I ended up challenging him on the national debt and on the cost of the stimulus.”
Excited about the potential for similar results around the country, Bob penned a memo called “Rocking the Town Halls.” The message was straightforward: get your network together and come armed with facts; spread out across the hall and get to the microphone; challenge the political talking points. The memo was read by thousands of activists who used it to organize participation in town halls and challenge lawmakers.
Bob’s growing network of supporters combined first-time activists with veterans from a wide variety of existing organizations. A July barbecue cookout boasted representatives from no fewer than twenty-three distinct groups including Libertarians, Glenn Beck–inspired 9/12ers, second amendment defenders, and more. “We are a loose coalition united around the principles of small government,” Bob says of the political kaleidoscope in Connecticut. “We knew we would be strong if we worked together. We’re all travelers in the same movement, so we informally established the Connecticut Grassroots Alliance.”
Bob points out that the network represents Connecticut. “We have both urban and rural, rich and poor. We’re your neighbors and represent all the backgrounds that make up Connecticut. There is a myth that small government conservatism is only popular in the American south. Well, I’ve got a network here in New England that dispels that myth.”
5. SOCIAL MEDIA
THERE HAS BEEN MUCH written about Obama’s online campaign leading up to the 2008 presidential election. The greatest strength of his campaign was that he was able to meet people where they were through social media. People may or may not log on to Web sites daily, or even weekly—but they’re sure to check their Facebook and Twitter accounts on a daily basis.
The online world can be immensely intimidating to someone who is just figuring out social media. There is a constant influx of information and content, and organizing and making sense of it all seems overwhelming. The trick is harnessing all of that information and using it to engage other activists. It has helped the Tea Party movement grow and connect in new ways, creating a large, powerful, and sustainable movement. The power of these tools is undeniable, and using them may not be quite as difficult as you think.
Ning
Ning is a site that allows users to create their own social networks. Leading up to the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington, D.C., FreedomWorks created our own network to help people connect and coordinate. Local groups were started, people were able to connect and arrange transportation and share stories. A Ning network is very effective for organizations with members across the country. Smart Girl Politics began as a Ning network, and the site still serves as a hub, with members blogging, posting photos, joining their state groups, and sharing events.
If you feel that a Ning network would benefit your group, you can go to ning.com and create your network. Or join FreedomWorks’ Ning community at teaparty.freedomworks.org. This fast-growing network has quickly become an organizational hub where you can join your state group, plan and post events, network, and discuss important issues with others near you.
Facebook
Facebook is the most widely used social media platform. It’s incredibly user-friendly and easy to learn. Here’s a step-by-step walk-through to getting started. Be sure to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freedomworks.
STEP 1: Signing Up and Creating Your Profile
Getting started on Facebook is free and takes about five minutes. You just go to Facebook.com and enter your name, e-mail address, sex, and birth date and click SIGN UP! Use your real name. It’s tempting to use the name of an organization or group—but that is what the Pages are for. Your profile should be about you.
A big concern for many people new to Facebook is privacy. This is a valid concern—after all, it is the Internet. Nothing is “private.” Facebook, however, has privacy settings that you should take full advantage of. The safest way to approach online privacy, however, is to simply not post things you’re not comfortable sharing. You have the ability to hide your age, location, and networks. Don’t want people to know where you work? Don’t post it.
STEP 2: Connecting with Others
When you sign up, Facebook will prompt you to search for people by e-mail. Here you can enter in your e-mail login information, through Gmail, Yahoo, or whatever e-mail service you use. It will search by e-mail for people you know who are already on Facebook, and you can automatically add them as friends. Of course the search isn’t perfect. It will miss people. You can search by name and e-mail address to find your friends, classmates, neighbors, coworkers, and family members.
There are several ways you can approach your Facebook account. Most people will only add and accept
requests from people they know. This is the safest route, because really, who wants strangers to have access to pictures of their kids? However, as an activist, there can be a much broader use for Facebook. The other approach would be to accept other people who want to network with you—maybe a grassroots leader from a nearby city or even across the country. Share information and help promote one another’s events to your own networks. The more, the merrier!
STEP 3: Using Fan Pages
This is really useful if you have an organization or group you’d like to promote. There are several benefits to Facebook fan pages, not the least of which is that there is no cap on the number of people who can “like” your page. A basic profile has a limit of five thousand “friends” . . . which is plenty if you’re using Facebook to communicate with family and friends. However, you may want your reach to be much broader.
The easiest way to grow your group’s page is by inviting your friends and having your friends invite their friends. Have a bit of a budget? Buy a Facebook ad! Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive and can also be incredibly effective since they can geo-target your audience. You can choose to have your ads show up only to people in your city, state, or region.
Twitter
Twitter is slightly more intimidating for many. Some just plain don’t get it. There is an incredible amount of information out there, and a lot of it may very well be a waste of your time. However, it is also important to embrace the power of the medium and make it work for you.
Twitter served as an incredible catalyst in planning and organizing the beginnings of the Tea Party movement. It connected leaders from across the country and launched several grassroots organizations. Our Twitter handle is @freedomworks.
STEP 1: Getting Started
All you need to provide is your name and e-mail address. It’s a five-minute (if that) sign-up process. Suggestion: Use a real photo for your avatar, unless you are an organization. If you use a logo or cartoon, generally people assume you’re (1) spam, unsolicited communication, or (2) a troll, one who signs up only to insult and pick fights. If you’re concerned about identity, you can use something that will make people laugh.
Your bio is extremely important on Twitter. It’s the only thing that people will have to figure out who you are, and you only have 160 characters to do it. Start with something basic. List which organization you’re with (if there is one) or what you’re passionate about. At FreedomWorks, we simply list our tagline—Lower Taxes, Less Government, More Freedom. Just six words, but it gives people a clear picture of what we’re working for and what our mission is.
STEP 2: Who Do I Follow? And How Do I Get People to Listen?
The best way to figure out who to follow is to go to people you admire and follow the people who they’re following. Pick an active Twitter personality you are familiar with and pay attention to who they are following. Watch who they are replying to and follow them. In addition to following individuals, pay attention to the lists they create. Many have created lists of people they follow, which are all linked on the right-hand side of their profile page.
How do you reply to someone? Simply put an @ before their name. For example, if you would like to bring something to the attention of the FreedomWorks account handler, you would start your tweet with @FreedomWorks, and the tweet would be directed to us.
Retweeting is also important. When someone says something interesting and you want to share it, simply use the retweet feature and it will be sent back out to those following you, preceded by an RT and the name of the person who composed the tweet.
The best way to get people to notice you, however, is to engage them in conversation. If they follow you and are interesting, follow them back. This opens the line of communication. Twitter is about dialogue—it is a conversation starter. To use it to its potential, you need to listen as much (or more) than you speak.
STEP 3: Third-Party Applications
One of the best features of Twitter is that it’s completely integrated into your phone and computer. The web version is always available, but by downloading desktop applications, you can create groups, manage multiple accounts, and organize your Twitter feed.
Here are some of the most popular desktop applications:
TweetDeck
Splitweet
Hootsuite
Seesmic
Twhirl
Twitter can also be managed via phone. BlackBerry and iPhone both have great Twitter apps.
BlackBerry
Ubertwitter
Twitterberry
TinyTwitter
IPHONE
TweetDeck
Hootsuite
Echofon
Don’t have a smartphone? You can link your phone to your Twitter account and update via text.
To get the full effect of Twitter, keep it at your fingertips. It’s incredibly effective to cover rallies or any other event. Send photos from the middle of a crowd and keep people informed!
The biggest asset of Twitter is communication and information sharing. This can go viral with a click. To be effective, be consistent and be engaging. People want new information.
The Blogosphere
STEP 1: Starting Your Blog
Blogs are a huge component of the online news world. Today’s bloggers are investigative reporters, digging up dirt, and pointing out political trends. Bloggers are shaping the conversation and are a critical part of the political narrative.
The lines have been blurred between blogger and journalist—bloggers are the new media.
Starting a blog is simple and free. Platforms like Wordpress.com, MoveableType, and Blogger.com make it a point-and-click process. Just sign up, choose a catchy name and a template for your site, and you’re free to start writing. Pick something you’re interested in to write about. Maybe there’s a particular candidate you want to support or a policy you’re interested in covering. Find the information and start posting it.
STEP 2: Getting Your Blog Noticed
Linking is maybe the most important way to get your blog noticed. Has another blogger covered a story that you can add something to? Post a link to their piece, quote the relevant part, and then add your response. Some sites will display the links to people who have linked their story—they’re called trackbacks and are also a way to drive traffic to your site.
SEO (search engine optimization) is important. Choose headlines that are descriptive, with words that people will use in their Google searches. For WordPress, there is also a plug-in that allows you to create a separate headline and description for the Google searches, creating more search engine traffic to your blog.
STEP 3: I Don’t Have Time to Blog. Why Should I Care?
Blogging is time-consuming, and it isn’t for everyone. There are, however, ways you can contribute to the conversation without maintaining your own site. At RedState, everyone can be a diarist. Have a story or some coverage of an event? Post it as a diary. Sometimes the editors will promote it to the front page.
Also, if you don’t know how to get attention for an event or story, pass it on to a local blogger. Chances are, people who matter will read that person’s site. An example would be a blogger we know from Kansas. Now, he doesn’t have the traffic of one of the major sites, but he has a feature that allows people to subscribe to his blog by e-mail. His subscribers include the mayor, every member of the city council, and the staffs of both. What this means is that when he voices concern or support for particular policies or initiatives, the people who can affect change are listening.
YouTube
YouTube is an incredibly useful tool. Video has become the most powerful medium available in the online world. YouTube is a simple way to share any footage and television clips, or your own montages, slideshows, and so on, with the world.
You can start your own YouTube account for free. It’s linked to your Google account, so the people in your contacts will show up as suggested subscriptions—subscribe! It creates a feed and you can keep up with
new videos posted by your friends.
Upload original videos for your subscribers. Make sure to take them in the info area while you’re uploading them so people will find them when they search for those terms. The title and description for the video are important—make them as clear as possible so more people will find your video when they search for a particular topic.
Even without making your own YouTube account, the platform is a great resource. You can link videos, share them on Facebook, Twitter, and your blog, and promote other videos if you think they are interesting and useful.
Many people use YouTube as an information resource, finding their news and doing research by wading through the videos. It’s second only to Google as a search engine. Having news clips, videos of candidate speeches and interviews, footage of events, and other media clips available can prove invaluable.
ACTIVIST SPOTLIGHT: C. L. BRYANT
Activism has always been a part of C. L. Bryant’s life. He has long been a champion for civil rights, marching throughout the 1960s and 70s for freedoms many take for granted today. He has marched with Republicans, he has marched with Democrats, and on occasion he has marched alone. He is proud of what he has achieved. But as the years passed, he became disillusioned as many he worked with became more concerned with left-wing partisan politics than the movement.
“I found myself increasingly looking to conservatives,” he said. “Racism is a collectivist concept and I believe we should all be judged individually by our character.”
