The Enduring Value of the Online Communications Tripod
June 4th, 2009
Working on a presentation for tomorrow’s Vocus user conference, I’m stuck by how often I keep coming back to a simple model for online organizing: the tripod. The basic idea (which I stole from Josh McConaha a while back) is that most online advocacy campaigns end up with three essential components:
- An online hub (usually a website although it could be a MySpace profile, a Facebook fan page or a blog)
- Some way of keeping in touch with people (usually email though it could also be Twitter or a social network)
- Online outreach (everything from blogger relations to video to social networking)
The great thing about this idea is that it breaks online communications down by function, into a structure that’s easy to digest. People often get overwhelmed by the sheer number of communications options available online — paralyzed by the plethora of channels! But the tripod model puts the pieces in context without isolating them from each other, since each reinforces the other: online outreach sends people to the website, where they’re captured on an email list, which in turn keeps them involved in online outreach, and so on.
Once a campaign has the basics down (the website’s doing its job, the email list is up and running), outreach should be a natural extension, with the choice of tools being driven by an organization’s goals and capabilities. While a policy-driven campaign might benefit from publishing a blog, for instance, a group that’s more focused on media outreach might find blogger relations a good fit, and a campaign with a strong spokesperson could score a hit with online video. Just as long as the pieces work together…
– cpd
Robot-Selected "Related" Articles:
- Social Media for Elected Officials
- Blogger Relations Resources
- Resources for Today’s Presentation at the Virginia Government Communicators Conference
- Thanks for a Terrific Conversation Wednesday
- Winning in 2010: Putting the Pieces Together
- Resources for this Week’s Online Outreach Presentations
4 Comments Add your own
1. Online campaign planning:&hellip | June 5th, 2009 at 9:28 am
[...] goes right into my toolbox, alongside the ladder of engagement. > Read Colin’s full post « Greenpeace: Thank you, Earth Day [...]
2. levjoy dot com - Up and r&hellip | August 11th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
[...] Colin Delany explains the “enduring value of the communications tripod” using his standard down-to-earth and reasonable way of explaining [...]
3. e.politics: online advoca&hellip | December 7th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
[...] The Enduring Value of the Online Communications Tripod [...]
4. Jafa Moot 2009 | February 14th, 2010 at 6:44 am
Really good read..learned a few things. Love this blog.
Help build e.politics
Make a comment, correct my errors, suggest more tools and tactics, leave a case study, or otherwise make this page a better resource.
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed