COMMUNCIATIONS

+ checklist & intro

+ press
+ new media

best practices 2010 + campus publicity

By Dana Cronyn, National Communications Director

& the Communications Team of Michael Worley, Seamus Campbell & Jim Sheppard
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES
CHECKLIST “Setting yourself up for

& INTRODUCTION communciations sucess.”

+ Communications Checklist
(What every chapters/state should have and use)

c Logo |
c 2 Fonts |
c Signature Colors |
c Letterhead and flyer template |

c Website |
c Facebook Fanpage |
c Twitter Account |
c Extra Credit* Blog, YouTube, Flickr |

c Email Banner |
c Press Release Template |
c Press List |

+ A Note on Etiquette

As a chapter or Federation of the College Democrats of America, you are a representative of the Democratic Party. For
many students, you will be the first, and perhaps formative, contact students will have with the Democratic Party. Reaching
out to students, through on campus publicity, in the campus and local press, or online is an exciting and important part of
educating and organizing around Democratic causes. This exciting task comes with a great deal of responsibility. + checklist & intro
+ press
In any interactions with the press or fellow students it is important to always be “on message.” What does this mean? Ask media
+ new
yourself if your event, press release, and even novelty t-shirts are supporting and advancing the goals of the Democratic
+ campus publicity
Party. Mastering respect and appropriateness is the first step to communicating effectively.
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | PUBLICITY
“Make sure people recognize
your image across the campus, YOUR
state, and region.” IDENTITY
LOGOS

Every organization needs a logo. The best College Democrats logos combine traditional Democratic imagery (the color blue, donkeys, etc.) with your
campus, state, or regional identity. This can take many different forms depending on your preferences. For example you can include your school’s
popular mascot, school colors, buildings or seal.

Remember, that your logo should be recognizable big or small in color or in black and white. Additionally, read up on your University’s fair use poli-
cies before you mimic elements of campus. Often, campus symbols and seals will be under very strict copy right protection.

MAINE FEDERATION OF COLLEGE DEMS

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF COLLEGE DEMS
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PENNSYLVANIA FEDERATION OF COLLEGE DEMS

Create an Identity

On campus and around the state it’s important that people recognize your work through its unified visual cues. By using these consistently over time
people will begin to associate certain colors, fonts, and design styles with your organization and its work.

+ Make sure your organization has two signature fonts, one a serif the other a sans serif. Use the sans serif as a header, the serif for body text. Try to
avoid decorative fonts that can look childish and unprofesional (Comic Sans, Curlz).
+ Pick specific colors and hues that will be used on all materials.
+ This image (logo + fonts + colors + message) should be present on everything you do. This includes:

Sign in sheets at meetings
On banners, flyers, and quartersheets
On merchandise: t-shirts, button, stickers
Emails, fundraising letters, business cards
Websites, Twitter backgrounds, etc.
Anything else your organization produces!
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | PUBLICITY
“Examples of consistent branding. Repetition
FLYERS of colors, fonts, logos, and bars of color.

Flyers are an essential component in getting the word out about candidates, rallies, meetings and other important
events. However, on many campuses, publicity space is limited and often croweded with dozens of organizations
and corporations competing for the same advertising space. Here’s a couple of tips to make you a more compeitive
campus communicator.

Tile Flyers

Using your printer settings or a professional printing operation like Kinkos, expand you image to print on multiple
sheets. Then carefully tack these sheets together, creating your orginal image only larger. (See next page for example.)

Use Zones

Map out the areas on campus that are effective for advertising. Where are the kiosks, postings walls, and dormato-
ries located on your campus? Divide these areas up equally into “zones.” The next time you gather members to flyer,
equally distribute each member to a zone based on where they live. This system ensures that members are maximiz-
ing time and supplies by covering maximum space with minimal overlapping and retracing of steps.

Design Guidelines

In a perfect world, every College Democrats operation would have free and unlimited access to a professional de-
signer or student. If you’re not so lucky, not to worry--your flyers can still be attractive.
Create a hierarchy of information | Decide all of the crucial information for a flyer and choose which information
needs to be displayed more prominently.
Keep it simple | Use your set “indentity” to determine a simple color and font scheme.
Use space wisely | You want your flyer to be neither too crowded nor too sparce. Make sure that white space is used
effectively to create interest and make sure text and images are of different scales.
Take advantage of blacks and whites | While it’s important to design your posters in color for Facebook & Twitter,
printing in color can often be exteremely pricey. If you are going to print in black and white, consider using large
field of black with reversed type to attract the eye. These contracts between big and large, black and white, empty
and full will create visual interest.
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | PUBLICITY
“Use your creativity and better judgement
to present Democratic ideas in new and OTHER
exciting ways.”
MARKETING IDEAS

Chalk

Sidewalk chalk is an eye catching and inexpensive way to advertise for

events or elections. Make sure to target high traffic areas on campus
and use catchy slogans or obvious visual cues (Obama “O”). If you’re
feeling ambitious, buy spray chalk and create a stencil using an exacto
knife and cardboard.

Tabling

In a prominent location on campus, host a day of phonebanking, quarter-

sheeting, or publicity stuntery. These events can be a great way to find new
members, make connections with other groups, and generally establish
yourself as a campus presence.

To encourage others to stop by, try projecting a video, passing out candy
and buttons, or having an interactive feature. For example, one CDA chap-
ter had a fill-in-the-blank board asking students to write why they support
health care. Another, advertised free buttons in exchange for phone calls.

Publicity Stunts

Publicity stunts are usually big public statements that are designed to get
maximum attention from those passing by. For example, paint a campus
landmark (make sure that’s a tradition first!) or make a mascot. Even a
cardboard Barack Obama (faux Secrety Security optional) can be a big
draw on campus.

Use your creativity and better judgement to present Democratic ideas in

new and exciting ways.
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | PRESS
“Take time to craft tactful press
PRESS RELEASES releases that put your event in
the best light possible!”

Well-written press releases are an excellent way for your chapter to receive earned media coverage. Press releases are similar to news stories, providing
all of the key facts--who, what, when, where--for reporters. They’re intended to alert journalists about upcoming newsworthy events . Possible events
could include:

+ Student sponsored rallies

+ Out of district campaign trips
+ A fundraiser attended by local elected officials

In general, press releases should follow the following guidelines:

+ Keep the release short, always less than a page

+ Use proper formatting (see example on next page)
+ Pick an “angle,” a particular element of your story that is interesting
+ Don’t write the story for reporters: tell them they key facts and people and how they
can attend or cover the event
+ Include interesting quotes from key participants
+ Email releases at least 24 hours prior to the event
+ Target your releases to certain outlets based on the story’s intended audience
+ When possible, time releases for the morning to catch the reporters attention early
+ When appropriate, follow up on releases with a call providing more information

If you ever have any questions about a particular press release, do not hesitate to contact Dana or a member of the Communications Team.
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | PRESS
“An example press release--DNC
approved!” PRESS RELEASES

For Immediate Release

October 22, 2009

Contact: Dana Cronyn - (269) 290 - 2730 - cronynd@collegedems.com

Tell reporters when they can
Standard formating!
release the information, in most
cases immediate release will apply ***MEDIA ADVISORY***

CONCERNED COLLEGE STUDENTS TO DELIVER MOPS TO REPUBLICANS

ACROSS THE COUNTRY, WILL ASK REPUBLICANS TO HELP CLEAN UP THE
MESS THEY MADE OVER LAST 8 YEARS
Provide contact info so the
reporters can follow up! Watch President Obama Invite Republicans To “Grab A Mop” And Work With Democrats To Clean Up Their Mess: http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPSxDe-ae3I Include informative
headlines and subheads
Groups of concerned College Democrats will deliver mops to Republican offices across the country today and tomorrow to ask Republicans to pitch with every release
in and help clean up the mess they’ve made over the last eight years. Recognizing that we are all in this together the President has been hard at work
to create jobs, ensure stable and affordable insurance, and better secure the country. But he has been met by Republicans with knee-jerk opposition
and partisan obstruction to every new idea. Last week, the President suggested that rather than simply saying "NO" to efforts to help put the country
back on the right track, the GOP should “grab a mop” and help clean up the mess we're in to move the country forward.

Today and tomorrow the College Democrats of America will ask Republicans to take the President’s advice: either grab a mop and help clean up the
mess, or get out of the way.
This is the body of the release.
The College Democrats of America are the official youth outreach arm of the Democratic National Committee. Short but informative. Could also
include a quote from a participant.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22nd

Mop Delivery to the South Bend Republican Party Headquarters

Thursday, October 22nd at 7:00 PM
Contact: Caitlin Wurm – (574) 910-2148 or caity_grace@hotmail.com

4133 South Main Street

South Bend, Indiana 46614-2527
Seperately include detailed infor-
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23rd mation about events to encourage
Standard formating. Tells the
reporters to attend.
reporter the release is over.
Mop Delivery to the Texas Republican Party Headquarters
Friday, October 23rd at 9:30 AM CDT
Contact: Melessa Rodriguez - (214) 952-0878 or melessardz@gmail.com

1108 Lavaca, Suite 500

Austin, Texas 78701

###
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | PRESS
“Update your press contacts list
PRESS LISTS constantly. Google Docs are a
great ally”

Once you’ve developed a press release, the next step is distributing it to newspaper, television, and radio reporters. This takes a well-maintained
press list.

Press lists are essentially the contact information of all of the reporters in your area that could potentialy run a story. Media contacts should include:

+ Reporters from your campus newspaper

+ Reporters from local, state, and appropirate daily newspapers
+ Journalists from weekly newspapers or metro newspapers in your area
+ Local radio reporters and producers
+ Reporters from TV outlets
+ Bloggers from state-level political blogs
+ Communications directors and press secretaries of other progressive and Democratic organizations

As you develop relationships with reporters and find new contacts, update the press list. Doing this will ensure maximum coverage, amplifying the
effect of your efforts. With press, it’s often best to start local with your campus publications. Even this local exposure can be tremendously helpful in
advancing the goals of the Democratic Party.

Sample CDA
Press List
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | PRESS
“Monitor your local and campus
press. Respond when the student
LETTERS TO THE
perspective is needed.” EDITOR

Monitoring the Press

Monitoring your local and campus press is an important part of any College Democrats’ communications operation. To monitor these outlets, I would sug-
gest regularly reading local publications and searching their online homepage for terms like “College Democrats” freqently. In addition, subscribe to relevant
Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts). This service will notify you when your search terms are posted on major news outlets or on the Internet. Pos-
sible Google Alert terms could include the names of your executive board along with your organization name like “Tufts College Democrats.”

Letters to the Editor

If you discover an article about the Democratic Party, Democratic officials or your campus organization that is incomplete, misleading, or patently false you as
a College Democrat should use your best discretion to write a Letter to the Editor. Most publications will have an online page or email address for LTE submis-
sions.

+ Clear & concise | Most papers have a LTE word limit of 250-500 words.
+ Be timely | Submit LTEs quickly, preferable within 48 hours.
+ Proper & polite | Be courteous and use an “adult voice” with proper grammar and punctuation.
+ Show, don’t tell | Provide multiple examples that will make your case for you.
+ Write multiple letters | Aside from your organization’s “official LTE,” encourage College Democrats in your organization to also write letters. Be careful that
they write only on behalf of themselves not the entire organization.
+ Always be on message | If you don’t have anything positive to say about the Democratic Party, it is innapropriate to vocalize this to the Press.
+ Emphasize the student angle | Your voice as a College Democrat is unique. Publications are more likely to print your work because of this unique perspective.
Remember who you represent!

Op/Eds

If you feel that a publication’s article or editorial was particularly egregious, consider contacting the Opinion Page Editor about writing an Editorial. Newspa-
pers often like to show a variety of opinions on their editorial page, an op-ed on behalf of the entire organization gives you more space to fully articulate your
argument and helps to legitimize your case.

The formating and content will be similar to that of LTEs but with an expanded word limit. Individual editors will provide additional guidelines for their spe-
cific editorial page.
COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | NEW MEDIA
“Two cardinal rules of new me-
FACEBOOK dia: cross promote & update
frequently!”

Facebook Fanpages

As Facebook begins to move away from “Facebook groups” we would like to encourage CDA chapters
and Federations to also transition to the newer “Facebook fanpages.” Fanpages are more dynamic, allowing
greater interaction and more varied content than their group counterparts. Message your old group mem-
bers that you have made this switch and then begin updating your Fanpage immediately.

Your fanpage should look like a professional and natural extension of your other communications items.
For example, make sure your official logo is the default image. To encourage users to frequently visit your
fanpage, consistently update the page with a variety of content. Much like your personal facebook profile,
it’s important to use this as a place to start conversations. Posting interesting links, Flickr albums, and
YouTube videos will make you fan page appear on the news feed of other fans. More posts and the more
interactions per post will increase your pages prescense on these news feeds. When possible, debut content
on the fanpage and add/tag images and videos of your fans rallying, campaign, phonebanking. People
always love to see themselves on Facebook and this will draw traffic to the page.

Facebook Event Promotion

As students, Facebook is a crucial organizing tool. To effectively market campus events on Facebook it is
important that you invite as many students as possible to Facebook events. Encourage your members to cre-
ate “Friend lists” on Facebook. These lists will allow members to invite all of their relevant friends with one
click rather than having members sort through their hundreds of friends for every event.

In the days prior to an event, make members change their profile picture to your event’s flyer. As members
post on friends wall, comment on photos, and tag pictures, your event flyer will begin to spread across the
Facebook community. The CDA Facebook fanpage has a profes-
sional default image and highlights other
Once you’ve posted an event or event information to your Facebook fanpage, encourage members to
CDA social media.
“share” that item. Sharing is one of the three options available on fanpage posts, the other options being
“comment” and “like.” Sharing means the post will appear on a user’s personal newsfeed. When multiple
members (even just a handful) share the same item it is more likely to appear in mutual friends’ news- Also, the updates highlight events and pho-
feeds. This is a surprisingly effective and easy way to populate a message. tos and have prompted fan interaction.
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | NEW MEDIA
“Use Twitter to spread information
and start conversations.” TWITTER

Twitter has a reputation for being a glorified status update. However, when used effectively, Twitter can be a great way to share links, promote what you are do-
ing, and network with other College Democrats in a very public way. The best advice to those chapters and Federations without a Twitter account: start one today!
With frequent updates, you will increase followers and learn the ropes quickly.

TWEET | An individual status updates is that is less than 140 characters long.
NEWSFEED | The homefeed that displays all of the Tweets of those you follow in
real time.
FOLLOWING | Refers to subscribing to the tweets of others. The tweets of those
11
you choose to follow will appear in your newsfeed.
FOLLOWERS | Those who choose to display your updates in their newsfeed. You
want to maximize this number.
@TWEETS | By typing the @ symbol followed by a user’s name, you are able to
link to them on Twitter and they can see these links. 4
RE-TWEETS (RT) | Twitter method of forwarding a tweet to others. This is a
common currency on Twitter. If another Twitter user has tweeted a message you 5
would like to forward, tweet: RT @NameofUser “The message that they origi-
nally send out.”
HASHTAGS | These are used as keywords to track certain topics on Twitter. To
2 3
create a hashtag simply type a # symbol before the topic. Previous used by CDA
include #students4reform which was used in any tweet about students and 1 | This area shows how many people you follow and how
health care. many are following you.
DIRECT MESSAGES | Personal and private messages from one user to another 2 | CDA’s background showcases other social media
that are also limited to 140 characters. To send a DM type “d @usersname” in the 3 | The profile photos of those CDA follows
tweet box just like you would any other update. Note: DMs can only be sent to
people who follow you.
4 | A RT of a message from the CDABlack Caucus (RT @
CDABlackCaucus)
5 | A hashtag (#MASen) that tracks all of the stories about
the Mass. Senate Race
COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | NEW MEDIA
TWITTER “Bonus Twitter tips!”

HOW TO GAIN FOLLOWERS | To gain followers begin by following all relevant and
idealogically similar organizations. These can include other chapters, Federations,
OFA outposts, Senators and Representatives, US Departments, State Parties, news
personalities, and national organizations like the DNC, DCCC, and DSCC.

In addition to following others, constant updates with lots of RTS and @Tweets will
help direct more traffic to your account and gain the attention of other users.

Also, be sure to thank new followers and those who RT your messages by sending
them personalized DMs. This builds relationships and shows you’re monitoring your
account.

BACKGROUNDS & IMAGES | Many professional organizations and groups use their
Twitter background and color scheme to highlight their website and other social
media tools. Playing around with the “settings” of your account can set it apart and
advance your other online presences.

LINK SHORTENERS | Because Twitter limits you to 140 characters, many standard
URL links are simply too long. Many services like bit.ly or Hootsuite will shrink these
links to save characters. Some also can track home many people clink on your links,
showing which items are most popular and effective.

HOOTSUITE & TWEET DECK | As you become a more advanced Twitter user, con-
sider to switching to one of these Twitter services. Both programs allow you to man-
age multiple Twitter accounts, schedule tweets in advance, track key words, shorten
links, and follow your Twitter stats all in one place. Since these features can be a bit
overwhelming, many of these programs come with their own “How to” guides. Excellent Twitter background examples from
the University of Michigan College Dems
(@umichdems) & American University College
Dems (@aucollegedems)
 COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | NEW MEDIA
“Starting and maintaining a web-
site can be a difficult task. Make WEBSITE
sure you’re up to it!”

Having a website is crucial for any CDA chapter or Federation. Your homepage is your public face and should provide all of the information and resources a
prospective student, donor, adviser, or active members should need.

With that being said, creating and maintaining a website is often a difficult task that requires a fair amount of techincal knowledge.

When deciding to create a website, there are questions that should be considered first:

+ Is there someone (preferably, a member) that understands web programming and design and is willing to serve as a webmaster?
+ How often will the website be updated?
+ What type of content do we expect to have updated regularly (videos, image galleries, internship listings, event listings)?
+ What kind of content will most useful to active members? Donors? Prospective members?
+ How much would a site cost to design?
+ Does my school give webspace for student organizations?
+ If we decide on buying our own domain, what would a good one be? Is it available and how much would it cost?
+ Do we want to centralize all of our tools into the site (mailing lists, blogs, event calendars, photo galleries)?
+ If we get our own website, will we have it strictly be HTML or will we use a Content Management System?

The Columbia University, Baylor, and Princeton College Democrats all have well-run websites. Check them out for inspiration!
COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES | NEW MEDIA
WEBSITE “Organizing your website.”

After considering all of these factors and locating a qualified webmaster and content manager, it’s time to get the ball rolling. If your school offers webspace
and you choose to use that, you should contact your school’s web administrator. However, if you choose to get your own website, a good and low-cost site to
buy the domain and web hosting is HostMonter.com.

Next, you should find or create a webpage template. You can create your own or download templates for a low cost or even free from a number of places on
the web. After your template and domain are established, it’s time to develop and hierarchy that best presents the content of your organization. For example,
a typical site’s hierarchy could look like:
Also, make sure to roll out your website with a bang. Promote it on your school’s website, across
+ Home multiple listservs, and of course on Facebook and Twitter. It’s important that all of your contacts
+ About Us know that this is the place they can turn to for updated information.
Executive Board
Constitution
Contact Us
+ Events
Calendar
Past Events
+ Media Hub
Press Releases
Media Mentions
Photos
Videos
+ Connect with Us
Twitter
Facebook
+ Store
+ Alumni
Create Alumni Profile
Where are they now?
+ Links
State Federation
College Democrats of America
Democratic National Committee