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School Tax Elections:Twitter Your Way to Victory

American Association of School Administrators National Education Conference

Presented byDon E. Lifto, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Springsted IncorporatedJ. Bradford Senden, Ph.D., Center for Community Opinion

National Education ConferenceFebruary 2010

Summary of Presentation

• Research model for analyzing school tax elections• Technology applications for campaign planning

and execution

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Research Model for AnalyzingSchool Tax Elections

“Non-strategic factors, critical events, and strategicfactors affecting the outcome of school referenda….”g

Research Model for AnalyzingSchool Tax Elections

• Non-strategic factors

• Critical events

• Strategic factors• Strategic factors

Non-strategic FactorsEconomic, Political, and Social Context

• Economy

• Foreclosure crisis and declining home values

• Concerns about future energy costs• Concerns about future energy costs

• America at war

• General tone of media coverage

• State budget crisis and its effect on public schools

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Non-strategic FactorsEconomic, Political, and Social Context cont.

• Socioeconomics and demographics of community

• School and community climate

• Consumer confidence

April 2008 – December 2008 May 2009 – January 2010

Research Model for Analyzing School Tax Elections

• Non-strategic factors

• Critical events

• Strategic factorsg

Critical Events: Unexpected and Significant Negative Variables

• Local, state, national, or international crisis

• Organized opposition

h ! ( ti l l l t i i )• _ _ _ _ happens! (particularly late in campaign)

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Critical Events Critical Events cont.

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Research Model for Analyzing School Tax Elections

• Non-strategic factors

• Critical events

• Strategic factorsg

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Strategic FactorsResearch and Best Practices

• What will the school board and administration do or not do to affect the outcome of the election?

• What will the campaign committee do or not do

to affect the outcome of the election?

• Effective use of technology is one strategy within the

context of planning and executing a school tax election

Gunfight at the OK Corral Meets Smart Phones

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By permission of Dan Piraro

Summary: New Campaign Tools• Web sites

• AdWords• Email• Texting and Tweets

F b k

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• Facebook• Video• Blogs• Laser printing• Robo calls• The “virtual” town hall meeting

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A Web Page Outline: The Home Page

• The home page must contain the logo and should have the same “look and feel” developed for the campaign’s voter contact program.• The home page links users to other pages with specific

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The home page links users to other pages with specific information about the school finance proposal.

• It is core message should change regularly as it functions as the place where “current events” in the campaign are posted.• Calendar and plan how and when the home page will be

changed as part of the campaign’s communications plan.

Campaign Web Sites: Home Page Look and Feel

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Campaign Web Sites: Coordinated with Printed Materials

This is the doorhanger

used by the Measure Acampaign

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p g

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Campaign Web Sites: Pictures, Color, Motion

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A Web Page Outline: The Linked Pages

The fact sheetBecause this is a campaign page, we can present a fact sheet that overtly asks people for support.

Frequently asked questions

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This section of the web site will grow over time to answers questions the campaign hears.

The ballot languageThis is very simple: the language voters will see on the ballot.

A project listA list of the projects the levy will fund.

A Web Page Outline: The Linked Pages cont.

What others are sayingAs we get good press, editorial endorsements or good letters to the editor, they should be posted here.

Endorsements

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This section will grow as the campaign progresses. It needs to have a link to a form where individuals can endorse.

Volunteer and/ or DonateThis section will allow people to volunteer and/ or donate.

Voter registrationProvide a link to a site, usually the Secretary of State, where people can register to vote. You may also want to provide links to sites where voters can apply to vote by mail.

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Campaign Web Sites: Projects

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Campaign Web Sites: Press

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After the Campaign: A Thank You

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Campaign Web Sites: Adwords

• Google Adwords can also be used to drive visitors to the campaign website

• Adwords product causes a Google ad to appear when someone searches on a specific word or phrase

• If the campaign has established an Adwords ad for the key word “learning levy” or “parcel tax” that links to the campaign’s website, that ad will be shown to anyone who searches Google for the same phrase

• An Adwords ad can be structured so that it is visible to the nation, a whole state, or just one city

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Campaign Web Sites: A Sample Ad

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Campaign Web Sites: Adwords Reporting

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Email

• Email addresses can be appended to a voter file– Allows for precise voter contact but match rate is still

relatively low• You can effectively distribute an email message by

asking each person to forward an email to friends asking each person to forward an email to friends – Very effective way to contact the parent community

• The campaign web site will allow you to collect email addresses

• The campaign needs to develop an email calendar coordinated with its direct mail calendar

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Email: Sample Plan

• Measure G Email blasts every Tuesday, 9/28 thru 11/3– 9/28 Subject line: What if one local high school had to close?– 10/6 Subject line: Watch for your ballot!– 10/13 Subject line: Is Everybody Ready to Vote Yes on G?

• Text Begins: Voter registration closes on October 19th • Text Begins: Voter registration closes on October 19th. – 10/20 Subject line: The Postmark Won’t Count for Measure G– 10/27 Subject line: What to do if you still have your absentee

ballot– 11/3 Subject line: Vote! Vote! Vote Yes on Measure G!

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Text Messages and Tweets

• Even “faster” than email…– Text messages and Twitter messages can remind people

of important events: • Recent press coverage• Opportunities to volunteer• A forum or debate• Election Day

– They must be very short– Always remind people to forward them to friends– Always remind people of the campaign’s web site

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Text Messages and Tweets

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Text Messages and Tweets

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Facebook: Text and Members

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Facebook: Events, Pictures and Links

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New Technologies: Video

• Video allows district and campaign to make a compelling case for a bond or levy proposal– Like all campaign communication, the script for the video

needs to use survey results to structure the presentation

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y p– A video must quickly make a connection to the rest of the

campaign – Video can be distributed on a DVD, posted to YouTube or

directly on the Web site– You can use free on-line video editing sites like jaycut.com

and moviemasher.com.

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New Technologies: Video

• Links• Bellevue - pictures• Big Walnut – facts• Seattle - cartoon

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• Fremont – parcel tax partnerships

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Blogs

• A blog allows a campaign Web site to develop two way communication with the Internet community– A blog should have a theme– A blog must be updated regularlyA blog must be updated regularly– A blog should allow visitors to post comments

• Like email, the regular updates to the blog should be planned and coordinated with all other campaign communications

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Blogs: A Q&A

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Blogs: A Community Blog

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Blogs: Be Prepared to Comment

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Mail With Targeted Messages

• Using laser printing technology, you can deliver messages tailored to specific audiences

• The following examples show variations for:– Parents– Pre-school parents– Non-parents between 25 and 54– Older voters

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Linking Mail and the Web

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Robo Calls

• A recorded message can be delivered to hundreds of households in a matter of hours

• Celebrity counts – Robo calls were developed by the business community and

first tested to sell Ford cars in Canada Using the sales first tested to sell Ford cars in Canada. Using the sales manager had little impact but response increased dramatically when a film actor delivered the message

– Acknowledging that robo calls are annoying at the beginning of the message can increase the response to the call

• Check – and watch – the law

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A Virtual Town Hall Meeting

• A recorded message invites the audience you select to participate– Pick up the phone and stay on the line, they join the town hall

immediately– If they screen their calls, you can leave them an 800 # so

they can join in• Functions like Talk Radio

– Have a moderator and hosts who will answer questions– Script the event so that you know what you will say while

waiting for questions

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Summary

• Plan your campaign after determining which tools you can very effectively use as part of your voter contact effort – A good campaign executes the limited number of steps

included in its campaign plan completely and effectively– A poorly managed campaign tries to do everything and,

usually fails to fully and effectively complete any part of the campaign

– Just because a technology exists does not mean it should be used in your campaign

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Summary

• Using any of these tools will require volunteer time, some demand unique volunteer skills and experience, and some will cost the campaign money

• Successful tax elections harness technology to a gyresearch-based, comprehensive campaign plan and execute the “big three” at a very high level: canvassing, communications and GOTV

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Questions?

Don E. Lifto, Ph.D.651-223-3067dlifto@springsted.com

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J. Bradford Senden, Ph.D.800-827-1466brad@communityopinion.com