7 Questions to Ask Before Your Next (Feminist) Digital Campaign
You’re busy. Like really busy. But tackling patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism is a team effort. We still need to make sure that your work reaches the right folks. Of course, there are many elements at play to make this happen—and capacity, funds, and bandwidth are all very important factors. Not to mention the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic meaning that the best (and only) way to engage right now is remotely. Cue that good old fashioned decision-fatigue (we feel you!).
So let’s break it down: here are some questions to ask your organization (and yourself) to determine whether your next project warrants its own (feminist) digital campaign.
1. What are your goals with this project?
First things first, what are you trying to achieve? Are you launching a new project and looking to garner excitement and engagement? Do you need to raise funds for a new initiative? Before you start any campaign it's important to have clear and measurable goals—this will be the foundation of your strategy.
2. What sets this apart from your other work?
Your organization is doing a lot of important work, a lot of the time. And this in and of itself may be worthy of spotlighting. But what makes a project the right fit for a full-blown digital campaign? Why this, why now? How does this complement the core work you are doing, and how does it build on it to create something new? Campaigns can be a lot of work and require time and energy from the whole team. On a pragmatic note, does your organization have the capacity to take this on?
3. Who are you trying to reach?
Who are you trying to engage with? Is this content directed at your avid supporters, or are you looking to grow your base? Or is there a targeted group, a specific policymaker or political influencer that you are hoping to engage with? A digital campaign is a great way to renew engagement with your current followers, while also exploring new methods to reach people who are often overlooked due to barriers such as accessibility or non-inclusive digital media tactics.
4. What do you want people to do?
Now that you’ve got internal goals and a target audience, do you have an ask? Engaging campaigns are action-oriented. What is the issue, and how can we take action to push for change? Is there a petition we can sign, a hashtag we can contribute to, a politician we can call? Or is the campaign more about community organizing and building a foundation for political action? You’re presenting something new to the world, what do you want us to do with it?
5. How have you engaged your audiences in the past?
What different strategies, platforms, and/or media have you used before? What worked and what didn’t? Digital campaigns can take many forms, but should always fuel engagement in your content. Past hits and misses are a great source of inspiration and provide a quantifiable foundation for your campaign design. It might not be the most glamourous part of a campaign, but data-driven measurement and evaluation should be prioritized and implemented right from the start.
6. Is it time to try something new?
That being said, maybe you’re stuck in a bit of a slump. Digital media coordinating is a full time job, but often the people doing it fill many different roles. Campaigns are a good opportunity to branch out, reinvigorate your brand, and draw more eyes to your initiatives. They are a place to experiment and get creative with how we might engage with folks outside of your usual audience.
7. Would an outside perspective be helpful?
Who’s voices are you amplifying with this campaign? Are they meaningfully included in the design process? These voices can help to address equity, diversity and accessibility concerns, to ensure that the executed campaign is as inclusive—and therefore effective—as possible. And yes, this means more than face-value representation, with actual meaningful input and authority. Work of this sort is incredibly valuable and should be compensated accordingly.
Do these questions have you buzzing with excitement? It might be time for a brand new digital campaign! So, what now? Anti-Heroine Media specializes in creative digital organizing strategies. Great feminist digital campaigns are a collaboration of thoughts and ideas, they adapt and respond to what’s going on in the world around us.
Radical change requires disruption. If you’re looking for guidance, get in touch for a free 30-minute consultation! There are so many mediums to build a movement.