This document provides 5 ways for politicians to use social media: 1) Social mobilization and micro-donations through platforms like Wildfire and ActBlue, 2) Establishing an online presence by writing for blogs, 3) Engaging women voters through female-focused social media, 4) Optimizing search engine results and profiles, 5) Using Facebook and Twitter for advertising, engagement, and connecting with constituents. It also lists relevant social media platforms and resources for each tactic.

1. Prepared for: National Foundation for Women Legislators Washington, DC | October 29, 2009 Developed by: Leslie Bradshaw Director of Engagement | New Media Strategies 5 Ways to Use Social Media to: Engage Your Constituents Own Your Personal Brand Extend Your Campaign

2. #1: Social Mobilization + Micro-Donations

3. URLs you’ll need: http://www.wildfireplatform.com/ http://www.actblue.com/ http://kimbia.com/ What Obama Did What You Can Do

4. #2: Establish Your Own Byline

5. Content Credit: William Beutler Regional Target your constituents by writing a diary or guest post for a localized outlet

6. Left of Center Right of Center URLs you’ll need: http://www.soapblox.net http://www.dailykos.com http://www.democraticunderground.com/ http://mydd.com/ URLs you’ll need: http://www.redstate.com http://www.thenextright.com Rally your base by maintaining a diary and establishing relationships with site editors

7. #3: Engage Women

8. Social Media Skews Female Content Credit: InformationisBeautiful.net; Media Post; eMarketer

9. Harvard Says: “Women Are the WORLD’s Largest Opportunity” $13T 2009 $18T 2014 $4.4T 2009 $6.6T 2014 Content Credit: Harvard Business Review, September 2009 $1.2T 2009 $1.8T 2014 Global Female Income China’s GDP India’s GDP FACT: Women have more purchasing power than combining and doubling the GDPs of China and India.

10. National Regional Left of Center Right of Center URL you’ll need: http://bit.ly/SV-Mom-Full-Roster URLs you’ll need: http://www.blogher.com/ http://www.womengrowbusiness.com/ Top 100: http://www.enkayblog.com/top100/ URLs you’ll need: http://womensrights.change.org/ http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/ URLs you’ll need: http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com/ http://www.lizmair.com/ http://sistertoldjah.com/

11. #4: SEO / SMO

14. #5: Facebook & Twitter

17. Contact & Resources

19. Fundraising & Organizing Platforms: http://www.wildfireplatform.com http://www.actblue.com (D) http://kimbia.com Recommended Social Media Profiles: http://www.linkedin.com http://www.facebook.com http://twitter.com http://www.mahalo.com http://friendfeed.com Facebook Resources: http://www.facebook.com/advertising http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php Twitter Resources: Search Twitter: http://search.twitter.com/ Multi-Term Search: http://tweetgrid.com/ Monitor Twitter: http://tweetdeck.com/ Twitter Email Alerts: http://tweetbeep.com/ Congress on Twitter: http://tweetcongress.org http://www.congressional140.com http://twitter.pbworks.com/USGovernment Blog Resources: Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com Blog Authority: http://technorati.com/ Blog Directory: http://alltop.com/ Wikipedia “How To” For Politicians: http://bit.ly/Wikipedia-BestPractices Left of Center Blogs: http://www.soapblox.net http://www.dailykos.com http://www.democraticunderground.com http://mydd.com Right of Center Blogs: http://www.redstate.com http://www.thenextright.com Trending Topics – Political: http://www.memeorandum.com Female Blogs – General: http://www.blogher.com http://www.womengrowbusiness.com Top 100: http://www.enkayblog.com/top100 Regional: http://bit.ly/SV-Mom-Full-Roster Female Blogs – Left of Center: http://womensrights.change.org http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats Female Blogs – Right of Center: http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com http://www.lizmair.com http://sistertoldjah.com Social Media / New Media Resources Recommended Blogs