Save time and money by reaching out to the people who are most likely to help you.
Need people to turn out to a local government meeting? Reach out to older folks. Need to build some buzz online? That’s going to be younger folks.
As with all things human, there are demographic and ideological patterns to our behavior.
According to 2018 polling from the Pew Research Center, people 65+ were more likely to engage IN PERSON in political activity. While younger generations (ages 18 – 49) were more likely to express support via social media. People with post-graduate degrees are the most likely to be politically engaged.
Recall from our last set of tips that knowing the size of your audience is important. The Pew Data above indicates that the most educated folks are more likely to participate in political action. But MOST Americans’ education ends at a high school degree (88% vs 32% with a college degree or higher). If you need a lot of people to take action, you’re going to need to develop your message that will appeal to people of all education levels.
Tip #16: Make Your Data Work for Your Issue
Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. How do you find people who are already politically engaged?
You can use direct mail databases, data brokers and list enhancers, social media advertising sites, the US Census Bureau stats, and other online tools to determine the size of your audience. Social media and data brokers can also help you reach out to people based on your selected criteria.
Don’t forget your own donor and supporter lists. A donor engagement survey published by Abila in 2015 found that about 8% of nonprofit donors reported engaging on advocacy issues.
Do you have a list of people who have taken action on your issues before? Start there! Use what you know about your existing supporters to help you recruit those people most likely to be key advocates.
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