Introduction
Welcome to the Digital Campaigning topic in the Commons Social Change Library. Digital campaigning leverages technology to create change, whether through emails and petitions or WhatsApp and Instagram. The resources here will help you finesse your mobilising strategy, broaden your engagement across platforms, and think critically about how to measure your success.
We have gathered a wide range of materials to inform the public in relation to digital campaigning and related activities and here are some suggested links. You can also narrow down the results in the Digital Campaigning Topic according to your interests by using the ‘Refine by Format’; ‘Refine by Topic’ (for cross overs with other topics eg Organising); ‘Refine by Author’; and ‘Refine by Collection’ functions.
Please note: we are conscious of the ongoing innovation in the digital space and the tendency for information in this area to date. If you spot things that should be updated, or if you have more current resources that would benefit others, please contact a Commons librarian.
Resources
Manuals
- How to Create a Successful Digital Campaign: Digital Activism Toolkit
- Blueprints for Change Progressive Organizing and Campaigning Manual
- Building Digital Power: A playbook for Changemakers
- Introduction to Digital Organizing
- Online Organising for Activists: Working Together Remotely, The Activist Handbook
Platforms and Types of Apps
- Digital Organising Tools to Reach and Recruit Supporters
- Tools Roundup: Apps and Digital Platforms for Organizers
- Three open source tech tools for your campaigning
Emails
- Email Best Practices
- Email tips and worksheet when writing to or asking something of your supporters
- Anatomy of a Perfect Fundraising Email
- Ways to Predict Email Performance
- Set Up Letter Campaigns for Contacting Australian MPs on Action Network
Online Petitions
- Using Megaphone to organise workers (or why you should care about online petitions)
- How to get more petition signatures
Websites
Texting and Messaging
- How to: Texting Campaigns
- Cell Phones for Collective Action
- Organizing with WhatsApp
- How to: WhatsApp uses for campaigning
- Telegram for Campaigners & Activists
Social Media
- Social Media Activism: A guide to online change making
- The Death of the Follower: Progressive Organizing in the Age of Algorithmic Discovery
- Lessons from European Election 2024: Toolkits for Organic Social Media
- Bluesky 101: How-to Guide for Progressives
- How to use Discord: A Guide for Progressive Organizers, Parties & Movements
- How to change the story on social media: ACF Community Toolkit
- Online Tactics: Digital Storms
- How to: Using Facebook groups for organizing
- TikTok for Organizing: How Groups are Using TikTok in Campaigns
- How campaigners are using Instagram
- Live tweeting at rallies and marches
- Surviving the Pile-On: Navigating Online Culture Wars
- Fighting online racist trolls
- Working with Influencers: #NurseTok Case Study
- How Disruptive Climate Campaigners use Social Media
AI
- Navigating AI’s Role in Politics, Campaigns, and Advocacy: The TON Reading List
- Tech, including Artificial Intelligence, and its Relationship to Movement Politics
- AI Technologies, Campaigning and Social Change (Commons Conversations Podcasts)
Digital Advertising
- Arena’s Digital Ads Playbook
- Guide to Facebook Advertising
- Facebook Advertising: An Intro to Methodology, Case Studies and a Few Resources
Videos
- Video as an advocacy tool: 3 how-to videos to improve your video and filming techniques
- How to do video content faster, lighter and without a big budget
- Beginner’s guide to making video with your smartphone
Content / Images
- Grassroots guide to creating quality online content
- Four magic steps to creating shareable, purpose-driven social media content
- Where do I find images reflecting diversity?
- Find Free Images Online
Online Meetings and Facilitation
- Online Meeting Guides
- Getting Started with Online Training and Facilitation
- Facilitating online meetings
- Mass organising calls and webinars
Measurement and Evaluation
- Measuring People Power in the Digital Age
- Beyond Vanity Metrics: toward better measurement of member engagement
- GetUp’s experiments and analytics
Security and Risk Management
- Activist Digital Security Practices
- Digital First Aid Kit
- Keeping Each Other Safe When Virtually Organizing Mutual Aid
- Digital Security Guide for Everyone
- Tools for More Secure Activism
- 7 Tips for Facebook Risk Management
- How to Manage a Social Media Crisis
- Facebook Comments Policy
Tips and Tools
- Movements, Organising and Transformational Politics in the Digital Age
- Digital Organizing Frameworks and Models
- Digital Tools Assessment Template
- Innovative Tech for Social Justice Causes: Resources from Democracy Labs
- How to stay sane in an ‘always-on’ digital campaigning environment
- Online Course: How to Create ‘People Powered’ Campaigns
- Digital Campaigning and Online Organising Courses with Social Movement Technologies
- Digital Organizing Glossary
Case Studies
- Digital Campaigning in Europe: A Series of Articles and Case Studies
- Be “digital critical,” listen first, and other lessons from 350.org’s digital transformation
- From Grassroots to Policy: The Inspiring Achievements of Pink Box in Poland
- How Hospo Voice leverages digital tools to win
- Grassroots led-campaigns: Lessons from the new frontier of people power campaigning platforms and programs, MobLab
- Digital Tactic Inspiration: Ecomark by WeMove
- Winning Social Media with Animals Australia
Tired of Reading? Watch and Listen
- Digital Campaigning Webinars
- Digital Campaigning and Online Organising Courses with Social Movement Technologies
- TED talk: How to Start a Social Movement | Tamara Richardson | TEDxUQ
- Changemaker Chat with Jeremy Heimans
- TED talk: What new power looks like
- Changemakers #21: The People v Twitter trolls
- Building 21st Century Movements
Browse Digital Campaigning on the Commons Social Change Library.