Often in my personal, professional and contracted life I have worked with, around and led efforts of membership organizations to increase involvement and commitment from their members.

Usually these projects have entailed impacting government action or reaction to an issue of importance to the organization. The practice works in the business world as well to drive consumer action.

I have recently come to label efforts like this #AstroNetTurfRoots and have spoken in several locations around the country about it. One such speech is linked below and this post is inspired by that presentation.

When working with membership, I try to put things in perspective by asking members if they have ever had a face-to-face lobbying or advocacy meeting with:

· A local official from one of the 19,000 municipal governments in America?
· An elected official from one of the 3,141 county governments in America?
· Someone from one of the 99 House of Representatives or State Senates in America?
· A Governor?
· A United States Congressman or United States Senator?
· A President?

Having the enormous amount of American governmental bodies in actual numbers puts things in perspective.

I then ask if they have had a social media conversation – outside of email of course- with an elected official about an issue that was on a personal level not just blasting press releases or talking points at them?

We then discover it they have organized groups –we are talking dozens, hundreds, thousands of people - to take real world action on a legislative idea? Extreme examples would be uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, or Libya? This is the real world action I am talking about and a lot of that activity was driven by social media.

But then we hit a stumbling block. If you ever watch CSPAN and see officials and staff members spaced out, not paying attention and with noses in their smart phones? Speaking from experience, they are checking twitter, Facebook and email. Maybe they are reading your messaging, but probably not.

At this point anyway.

Chances are increasing that your neighborhood elected official at the local, state and federal level is active on either twitter or Facebook and probably both. And if they aren’t more than 90% of their staff employees and other government influencers are active in social media.

This is where organizations need to be communicating outside of their membership silos.

The reason for the AstroTurf reference? Because, when folks are organized for issue specific events and rallies just as we do in political campaigns, government debate, or those flash mob things, critics and naysayers say you are ‘ASTROTURFING’ - creating and utilizing false grass roots.

But by combining time and commitment, speaking with truth and transparency, and being able to activate your engaged and involved NetRoots to take real-world action I like to say we are using AstroNetTurfRoots.

Think about this: We live in a time when only 90 out of 435 members of the U.S. House consider themselves ‘rural enough’ to be members of the Rural Caucus. Additionally, these numbers are not getting better for most of us in most Congressional redistrictings in the states right now.

And that covers most of us here in the Midwest.

Let us also consider that in the Midwest, according to the current HubSpot Twitter Grader, states like my Missouri is 42%, Iowa at 14%, Nebraska 17%, Wisconsin 14% below the national average in twitter.

Just another category the Midwest allegedly lags behind the coasts in right?

Well, combine those two facts and think about the shrinking representation and influence agribusiness and rural concerns receive in government and how do relate with the 345 Congressional City Cousins we need to engage on our issues?

We must impact them with our AstroNetTurfRoots and using our truth and transparency.

Here are some of my suggestions for membership groups across the Midwest to more successfully, aggressively, and positively communicate ideas and leadership in this modern era.

These include:

· First, follow and friend the elected officials and staff members on twitter and Facebook. All of this information is readily available in places like TweetCongress.com
· Observe how they communicate in tone and topic for this is how they want to be communicated to.
· When appropriate and effective, do respond to their messages or retweet or share them with your community.
· Encourage your organizations members and leaders to engage the officials and staff members as well. Do offer a social media directory or follow list of the elected officials and staff you communicate with.
· When you do engage them, Don’t talk in PRspeak or try to Thomas Dolby them – blinding them with science. Speak in personal terms. Impact on jobs always opens ears. But speak the truth when you speak.
· Do speak to them as yourself and your issue, preferably not as your organization. Organizations talk to them, throw talking points at them, and direct mail them all day, unfortunately it’s all white noise.
· Don’t be afraid to follow and sensibly engage your loyal and respected opposition, be they Democrats, Republicans, City Cousins, or groups that may be working against your current efforts. You’ll be surprised when you need to expand your base of allies who will step forward. Again, we can’t keep talking in our silos.
· Be an expert on your issue: water regulations, rural broadband, education needs, taxation, whatever. Know the impact to your area, their area, and your business. Be able to back your knowledge with real information.
· Don’t attack, start online fights, or join into them. Don’t drink the Koolaid either. Just be professional.
· Let them know events that are coming up such as meetings or tours where they can get real-world experience in your affairs. You will be rewarded when they attend, learn something new and tweet about it to the world.
· When you meet them in the real world, do remind them gently of your social media relationship.
· Don’t forget those city and county leaders. More often, this is where activist regulation which impacts you is occurring or being discussed.
· Do be aware that the internet, like a diamond, is forever. If you put it out there it can help you or come back and bite you in the butt.
· Also, seek out the press that cover government at all levels so they have a more familiar relationship with you.
· Don’t become a pest, Don’t use ‘form letter’ type messaging, and Don’t blindly attack people who have no idea who you are. These are called ‘frequent flyers’ and they are largely ignored and dismissed. And blocked.

One of the whole paradigm-changing goals of social media is to base communications and commerce activities on relationships and transparency, these same goals apply to the way we communicate with our elected officials in this 21st Century.

A couple of tips for you to apply:
1. Build and develop a content and mission plan
2. Establish Web Portal, Facebook, and twitter accounts if you don’t have them
3. Establish an Email Newsletter Sign up program and form
4. Publish 8-10 pieces of content full of information and personality before you go live with your plan.
5. This is the key to your plan: Begin influencer outreach: members, investors, electeds, bloggers, local media, statewide media, etc.
6. Begin a responsible email program
7. Utilize Facebook Ads and AdWords programs
8. Be transparent in who is delivering these comments and whose voice is speaking
9. Monitor your Analytics and Insights
10. Post content at least twice a day-it is acceptable to mix message tone. Post more if you can.
11. Follow up to all responses, posts, likes, welcome new followers
12. This is the other main key -Commit to keep at it

The lesson here is with a commitment to using these affordable and effective tools to communicate and educate with the people who regulate and legislate our lives.

By comparison to other media, whether they are political or issue oriented - TV and Radio ads are ignored. Direct mail is tossed…and hopefully recycled. Lobbyists are expensive. And once-a-year days at the capitol with your groups are incredibly ineffective.

Social Media relationships are quickly becoming more important than personal relationships in impacting the Hearts and Minds of our elected leaders, and your membership, into real world action.

Now who’s ready to rock their AstroNetTurfRoots into real world action?