Posted by Thomas Frank, Managing Director, kglobal edge

Let me begin by admitting that the guy writing this post does not consider himself a member of the grassroots team here at kglobal—but with each new campaign, the line between our digital and grassroots efforts becomes more and more blurred. The reality is that social media and grassroots are just terms to describe the same end game in the world of advocacy: to spark conversation.

Last Friday, two colleagues and I had the pleasure of talking about digital advocacy to a collection of university deans and professors at the LEAD21 conference in Washington, D.C. Our discussion centered on those same two terms—social media and grassroots—or, as we’ve coined it, "digi_roots."

We started with the video below, originally used to help the folks at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) better understand our approach:



The video represents how we tend to think about most campaigns. We put a clear target on the decision makers, whether they’re legislators, regulators or consumers, and use all of our strategies to drive home the same message, over and over again.

The underlying theme here (yes, I'm about to give away a trade secret), is that none of this is rocket science. At the end of the day what we do is this:



I think the picture says it all. Now, it's not easy work, but it’s not brain surgery, either. Grassroots and social media are about influencing what someone thinks by providing education on a topic, turning up the volume and igniting influential third parties to deliver that message for you.

I'll give you the same simple and somewhat silly story that I told last Friday.

My wife wanted to move out of the city and close to Annapolis. She was the organization with an issue on the line and, for the sake of this story, I was the target or the decision maker (though we all know there is no chance I'm the decision maker with my wife, so just roll with me here).

My wife refined her messaging and narrowed it down to four key points, which is another trade secret: You really should never have more than three to five key messages. Here were hers:

1. The kids will be close to family.
2. The schools are better.
3. The neighborhoods are safer.
4. The houses are cheaper and have bigger yards.

She then turned up the volume and before I knew it my kids were giving me the same stump speech. And then she really kicked the campaign into high gear and got friends and family and even my mom to deliver the same messages.

All this drives home my point that social media and grassroots are really all about spurring conversation around your key messages.

And yes, today I live in Annapolis.