Every cause and campaign is different, but we wanted to let you know what to expect during a “typical” HelpAttack! campaign.  We suggest making a calendar reminder for yourself – you don’t have to do it all at once, but if you check Twitter, Facebook, and HelpAttack! every day, you’ll be able to easily engage with supporters, and build continuing support.  We also suggest using a social media dashboard like Hootsuite, TweetDeck, or Sprout Social to track what’s happening online.  You can add the links to your HelpAttack! cause pages, and any other important materials, to your calendar reminder so they are always handy.

First Things First

• Decide what kind of HelpAttack! campaign is best for your cause.  Is your community stronger on Twitter or Facebook?  Is there a particular event (with a #hashtag) that you want to support?  Do you have awareness of advocacy goals you can support?  Learn about different kids of campaigns here.

Before your campaign starts

• Ask some “super supporters” to pledge early – staff at the cause, volunteers, and perhaps some great people from your personal network.  This will help populate your page, and demonstrate to new visitors that they are joining a great team of supporters.
• If appropriate, talk with your celebrity ambassadors (big and small) and make sure they have what they need to participate.  You can provide them with sample messaging, or set up a webinar to make them feel special, included, and in-the-know.
• If appropriate, talk with your bigger funders about participating in the campaign.  Companies especially are looking for new cause marketing ideas.  If someone is already planning a gift, you could ask them to set aside 25% of it to match donors on HelpAttack!
• Once the campaign starts, perhaps line up a matching donor to up the ante.  For example “Acme Co. is willing to match NEW pledges up to $500…
• Set up searches in your social media dashboard to monitor campaign activity, and make a calendar reminder to engage with campaign participants (in case you get busy!)

After your campaign starts

• Review pledge and donor data as it develops, and use it in your messaging as appropriate.  Log in to HelpAttack! with your cause account, and check out the “Activities” and “Reports” links at the top.  We’ll send you some of the same information via email.
• Campaigns work best when supported on multiple communication channels.  Reinforce your campaign with asks on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, your website and newsletter.  All should all direct donors to link that will make it easy to join the campaign.
• Keep promoting as appropriate on Twitter or Facebook, and track what people respond to the most.

Mid-campaign

• Celebrate victories publicly (We are up to $20/#lungcancer!!! … More than 100 people are giving with their Facebook updates!)
• Thank donors publicly on Twitter or Facebook.  You may be able to “tag” individuals on Facebook from your page.  Remember, Tweets that start with someone’s @handle are shown only to that person and their followers.
• Keep making your primary ask and sending out links.
• Ask your celebrity advocates, partners, and matching donors to help broadcast victories and additional asks on your behalf.
• Continue to set achievable specific goals (can we get 10 new supporters by lunch?!)
• Keep track of what your community responds to, and build the best feedback and responses into your campaign.

Wrapping up

• Keep doing what you did in the second and third weeks
• Mention the end of the campaign and how it’s not too late, and that it’s easy to keep giving into the next month and beyond with recurring pledges.
• Show what the total campaign accomplished (3,000 Facebook updates means we can help 50 kids in need…)

After the campaign

• Add all new donors brought to you by HelpAttack! to your donor database, and email lists, as appropriate.
• Thank your new donors.  You can thank them as a group or as individuals on social media, or send emails.  Be sure to make clear how each supporter helped your cause.
• Reflect on what worked well and what didn’t.  Is there something you would change for next time?  Is there something HelpAttack! can do to make it easier or better?
• If your campaign was event specific, or short term, consider transitioning those supporters to recurring pledge types like giving with their own Tweets or Facebook updates.