5 Tips for Sparking a Grassroots Movement Online

Anne Driscoll is the vice president of business operations at
Ning, where she is responsible for marketing, communications, creative services and human resources. Prior to joining Ning, Anne led communications and brand initiatives at Google.

“Social action” comes easy to those who understand the value of service, helping others and devoting themselves to making the world a better place despite challenges. The trick is turning that personal motivation into a widespread and impactful movement. Grassroots communities are a way to get actionable success even with limited budgets and resources.

One such organization,
Amplifying Education, is an initiative focused on creating a safe space for students to collaborate and share, inspire others to act, build connections around a cause and start conversations to drive momentum. In just three months, the organization called on a grassroots community to collect 6,238 books for New Orleans schools and help raise more than $250,000 for education programs including Teach For America and City Year Denver.

It’s further proof that you don?t have to be a millionaire to have an impact. It?s easier than ever to take an idea and ignite a movement. Thousands and thousands of people are leveraging the power of community through social websites to create grassroots support. Here are five tips for sparking your own grassroots movement online.

1. Don?t Raise an Issue, Tell a story

Many of us might start an issue-based campaign by talking about the goal. However, people are drawn in by the story. Build an emotional connection with your audience by sharing a true story of a real person?s life and struggle.

Simply combining facts and emotions into a powerful narrative conveys far more than a 40-page proposal. Through storytelling, you make a human connection between your audience and the cause.

2. Reward Your Supporters

A story may secure a one-time donation, sell cookies or land a
Facebook ?Like,? but you need to recruit a passionate group of volunteers to make a cause sustainable and scalable. We?re all constantly bombarded with requests to help, so a solid reason to participate is essential to get an initial connection to your cause.

Creating a sustainable program builds momentum and promotes growth. A campaign can ensure that volunteers become a bigger part of the story and its success with each action by rewarding people for their participation.

Getting to know your audience helps you build a compelling activity they?ll want to join and support. A grassroots movement is about building something self-sustaining. Enable and reward your biggest evangelists to increase their participation. They will in turn help you create momentum and spread your message.

3. Amplify your Message

Create an army of evangelists who will tell your story, spread the message and influence their social graphs. The social web helps you get in front of a massive audience but a dedicated community lets you spread the message with even greater reach and influence.

Build awareness for your cause or campaign across the social web using any social network you can, including
Facebook,
Twitter and
YouTube. Make it easy for your advocates to promote your cause with predefined hashtags and shareable content.

Build a campaign hub where you can broadcast online actions which your supporters can then share on their social graphs. Building this hub is like creating a ?virtual campaign office? where you can communicate to all your volunteers at once, helping them drive your messages and build momentum for the cause.

4. Remove Barriers to Participation

Letting people participate on their own terms helps build a base of support. Participation comes in many forms, and every dollar, ?Like? or signature will push your cause forward. Understanding how different people are motivated will broaden the appeal of your cause.

The first action is often the hardest. Emphasize the importance of low-commitment activities such as ?Liking,? +1′ing, or sharing. These, coupled with rewards, can transform passive supporters into more engaged members of the community.

Creating a central and clear call to action is key to getting folks involved in the next level of support. In addition to participation, make fundraising goals and tools a prominent part of your outreach so people can easily ? and safely ?

5 Tips for Sparking a Grassroots Movement Online