Political Advocacy Groups Rely on Social Media Outreach

â–¶ Online Advocates: A Burson-Marsteller study tracking social media use by political advocacy groups found that nearly all (97%) are using at least one social media platform to communicate with stakeholders. The study tracked the digital presence of 34 U.S. groups such as the AARP, the Human Rights Campaign and National Taxpayers Union on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. (Of these groups, only one had no social media presence on any of these platforms.) Findings include:

• The majority (61% of groups on Twitter and 56% of groups on Facebook) use social media to encourage direct outreach to Congress and other politicians.

• On average, political advocacy groups had 4,880 Twitter followers, 32,588 Facebook fans and 777 YouTube subscribers.

• Most advocacy groups prioritize follower engagement. They follow an average of 2,261 accounts, and 73% mentioned or retweeted other users to engage or acknowledge them.

• Only about 1 out of 5 advocacy groups (21% on Twitter and 19% on Facebook) use social media to ask for fundraising support.

• Online video also proved an important outreach tool . Thirty-two groups had YouTube channels, and these groups have uploaded 3,432 videos total. The average number of videos per YouTube channel was 107.

Source: Burson-Marsteller