Before you start filling up this google doc, Read these guidelines on how to compose & write an effective post for your advocacy.
Start with the most important question before writing a post…
<aside> đź’ˇ Depending on your goal, the tone and content of your post will differ:
| If you are… | Then you should… |
|---|---|
| Introducing a new concept | Take the time to introduce new terms, say things simply, don’t try to change their opinions yet, just lay out the facts. |
| Deepening their Understanding | Speak from a personal level, use real life stories and tangible examples, introduce the face the face of the other, try to show a new perspective. |
| Changing their opinion | Rationalize what's wrong with status quo, address misconceptions about the idea you’re promoting, cite evidence to back up your statements, emphasize the necessity to move of neutrality. |
| Mobilizing & calling to action | Emphasize the urgency of action, give concrete ways to get involved. |
| </aside> |
In a perfect world, people would simply get up and work together with little convincing, but in reality, the reader has to go through each of these steps, and each step gets incrementally harder. So the second questions to ask is…
<aside> đź’ˇ In order to identify the reader and understand your goal, try to plot out How much they know vs What their stance is:
| The reader… | Disagrees with me | Is Neutral | Agrees with me |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does not know the concept | Introduce the concept | Introduce the concept | Introduce the concept |
| Knows little about the concept | Change their opinion | Deepen the Understanding | Deepen the Understanding |
| Knows the concept | Change their opinion | Change their opinion | Mobilize & calling to action |
| </aside> |
In a single post, you can try to do each goal, but you are more likely to lose the attention & engagement of the reader by overwhelming them. As general rule of thumb, in a single post you can try to: ****A) Introduce a concept & deepen their understanding; B) Deepen their understanding & change their opinion; or C) Deepen their understanding & mobilize.
Understanding your reader is key to knowing what you have to write. You can only put so much information in one post. It’s much better to use 2 or 3 posts to get from introducing to mobilizing.
Remember: you only have 10 slides in a post to effectively get a message across. You have to make every word count and make it simple to read.
Your title should immediately capture the attention of someone browsing their phone, in order to do that your title needs to be Comprehensive and Interesting.