Designing an Activation Campaign

Consider your messaging narrative and timeline for the coming Rebellion, think about how it links to the actions you are planning, the story you are telling. Who are you talking to, what information do you need them to know, what are you asking them to do?

Here we will look at how to design such a campaign and some of the tools available to carry it out.

Campaign Design

Consider your messaging narrative and timeline for the coming Rebellion, think about how it links to the actions you are planning, the story you are telling.

Who are you talking to, what information do you need them to know, what are you asking them to do? (Book time off work for the rebellion! Right now!)

Think practically:

GET ... TO ... BY ...

(Eg. GET grandparents TO join drop a banner BY introducing them to XR Elders)

To maximise the effectiveness of your campaigns aim for consistency across your platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and beyond socials onto Email, Ringing and Events.

So consider the time between now and rebellion, how might you theme your days and weeks?

*Example Week: GET Local Communities & Organisations TO the Heading for Extinction talk BY reaching out through the connections we have within our group.

We can then use this framing to create daily Social Media Posts on exactly how our system is killing us – start ringing campaigns inviting people to the talk at the end of the week and asking them to bring their friends and organisations. We can host discussion spaces on these issues through the week and reach out into the communities though our own contacts and on Social Media.

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Using Social Media

When using Social Media as a part of your campaign it is important to consider the platforms you are using and how this may alter your content. Check out the hashtags and links Here.

If you find the idea of Social Media alarming check out our Nervous Rebel's Guide to Social Media.

Here are some key tips to help:

TWITTER
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM

There are also many ways rebels can boost posts on social media. Again more information can be found here.

Engaging with posts (not just liking them), selecting “Going”, sharing events, and commenting all boost the reach of posts. When running with a campaign you could get a group of rebels together to do some “Facebanking” by interacting with posts or going further and interacting with people and communities on social media!

We touch on Online Outreach methods in the next section.

Email Campaigns

An email campaign is an excellent addition to any messaging campaign for your area!

It allows you to send timed emails over a period, target your emails to specific parts of your mailing list, delay follow-up emails and send emails in response to actions your rebels may have taken. It’s easy, a great role for remote rebels.

Check out the How to Guide for creating email campaigns on Action Network.

And don’t forget to ask rebels to take time off for the Rebellion!

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Rebel Ringing

Rebel Ringing enables us to call Rebels in our local area, check in with them and let them know about local actions/events/talks etc.

It is a really effective way to re-engage dormant Rebels, spread the word about upcoming actions/events and strengthen the movement… exactly what we need to do in the run up to Rebellion! This kind of ‘high touch’ outreach takes time though. So we recommend building teams of Rebel Ringers in each local area. Here’s how:

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Get Cracking!

  1. Watch the promo video above together with your LG and encourage them to sign up.
  2. Follow the steps in this starter pack. Or signpost them to our weekly webinar on Thursdays at 7pm here.
  3. Request a campaign for your event/area on p.19 of the starter pack.
  4. Get Ringing! You can Rebel Ring whenever you have a spare hour or two, or tackle a campaign as a group. The Rebel Ringers host a weekly drop-in on Saturday mornings at 10am for anyone to stop by and ring for some campaigns together.
  5. Check out our guide on Regenerative Culture to help us build meaningful and caring relationships with our fellow Rebels

And if you want to be clever with your Rebel Ringing...

  1. Action Network and CallHub Tag use.
    Action Network has a concept of tags, a tag allows you to note information about your Rebels. So for example we could mark if a Rebel is First Aid trained or a Chef or has done your NVDA training... this means we can find these Rebels on Action Network easily, send them targetted emails etc. Action Network tags can be automagically synced with CallHub so Rebel Ringers can apply these tags during their calls - we just need to know what tags you would like to be able to apply when we got to make up your campaign. This video shows you how to apply a tag in CallHub

  2. Automation site for vouch and follow-up email.
    When a Rebel agrees to the Rebel Ringer Data Agreement an email will automatically be sent to their Local Group co-ord asking for a vouch and they go onto the Pending list. The Rebel's access into CallHub will be approved by the Rebel Ringer Guides once the email reply from the local group confirming that this Rebel is indeed a trusted and known Rebel is received.

Alternatively Regional and County co-ords can also vouch for Rebels directly by registering on the automation site and asking for Admin rights on the Telegram Group chat.

Once that is granted you navigate into "Approve Ringers" and click on the + beside your Rebel's name - add your reason for the approval, e.g. "long standing and known Surrey Rebel" and click the green approve button. The Rebel will then receive their CallHub activation email a min or two later.

Note that there is another page Rebel Ringing on the "02. Group Building" shelf.

Don't be Afraid to Ask!

“The good news for organizers who want to help build the political revolution is that people really are just waiting for you to ask them to do something big.” ― Becky Bond, Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything

Every event should have a clear next step. Every conversation should end with “and this is how you can help”. Every interaction you have needs a small way that people can meaningfully tackle the climate crisis. They should be able to do it immediately or within 3 days, or their enthusiasm will be lost.

Show them they can make history!

Tiny Asks (5-10 min asks)

Small Asks (10 - 30 min asks)

Medium Asks (Can be done for a day or a week)

Large Asks (Longer term asks)

These are just a handful of suggestions, bring your group together and get creative!

Digital Team

Do you have a project in mind which has a digital side to it? See the Digital Team page for advice on how to get assistance.