Congrats! You Have a Published Op-Ed. How Do You Make Sure More People See It?
Did you just write an amazing blog post for your organization, or just published an insightful op-ed in a news outlet? Many experts and advocates would consider this a job well done and move on to the next project, but they’d be wrong. There is much more you can and should do to get the…
Read MoreDon’t Get Caught Creating Content When Breaking News Hits
Breaking news opportunities spotlight which advocacy organizations are prepared and which are not. While it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario, all communications shops should have evergreen digital content at the ready for crisis response. You can always update content or share text to better suit the breaking news situation, if needed, but you don’t…
Read MoreHow to Effectively Engage Your Elected Officials
Perhaps the best thing to come out of the 2016 Election is the mobilization of huge numbers of constituents motivated to demand that their elected officials actually listen to them. Civic engagement is at an all-time high. Congressional offices have been flooded with faxes, emails, and phone calls. But this flurry of activity begs the…
Read MoreExecuting a Crisis Communications Plan: A Case Study About the Pulse Nightclub Shooting
Our previous blog post, “Prep for a Crisis Before It Hits: A Guide to Creating an Organizational Crisis Communications Plan,” established that having a crisis communications plan in place before a crisis happens can save a lot of headache and make for better and quicker solutions. The New America Foundation recently released a report that…
Read MorePrep for a Crisis Before It Hits: A Guide to Creating an Organizational Crisis Communications Plan
Let’s face it: 2016 was a train wreck. A particularly volatile and unpredictable election year was coupled with a barrage of violent domestic and international events that had multiple advocacy groups scrambling to respond in a crisis. To many, 2016 felt like a year of working from one crisis to the next, without respite. Crises…
Read MoreOrganizing a Tweetstorm to Respond to Breaking News
In a breaking (or developing) news situation, one trick up our sleeve as communicators is to organize a Tweetstorm, harnessing the collective power of allied organizations that share a policy objective. This can bring much more attention than a news story may have garnered organically, and is a great way to use social pressure to…
Read MoreHow To Respond to Opposition Interview Requests
Over the last six months, multiple spokespeople across all three ReThink Media issue areas have fielded interview requests from “opposition outlets,” from Fox News to AM radio “shock jocks.” These outlets express a very strong position and cater to a very contentious audience. In this post, we wanted to share some thoughts you should consider…
Read MoreBig News: One of Our Favorite Social Media Tools Is Now Free
One of my favorite social media tools, CrowdTangle, is now free. For everyone. For every platform that it measures (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram). We use CrowdTangle to measure when posts are over-performing compared to a page’s typical posts, signaling that this is good content to share and repurpose – and would likely also do…
Read MoreThis Year, Resolve to Be a Better Communicator
Welcome to a new year, no doubt flush with resolutions. In the spirit of some common New Year’s Resolutions, we at ReThink Media want to help you out, making you the best communicator possible this year. Say your New Year’s Resolution is to be more organized this year. This month, the ReThink Blog will focus…
Read MoreWhat Nonprofits Can Say to Influence the Transition to a New Administration – And What They Can’t
The long-awaited 2016 Election has now come and gone, leaving nonprofits racing to refine their advocacy goals and strategies in the new administration. But as nonprofits, we still need to be aware of which actions are allowed (and which aren’t) under 501(c)3 restrictions. Luckily, the Alliance for Justice Bolder Advocacy initiative has pulled together a…
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