Tips for keeping volunteers engaged throughout the campaign
It doesn’t matter whether your campaign is large, medium, or small; all of them can be enriched by the support of volunteers. And, who knows? Perhaps the time will come when far more people than you expected join your electoral adventure, and you end up with a campaign much larger than you imagined.
However, although the advice we have given applies broadly to all types of campaigns, it will still need to be adapted to the reality of each one. Depending on the resources and time available to you, you may be able to carry out more or fewer actions to maintain contact with your volunteers. And if you don’t have many resources, do not rest on your laurels: there are still many things you can do to maintain a direct and consistent relationship with them.
Below, we show the actions you should take to guide your volunteers, depending on the format of your campaign: basic, ideal, or outstanding.
Basic Volunteer Engagement
It’s important to send an email every 15 days to all the volunteers registered through the form. Include all the activities they can take part in and the next steps:
- Choose one person to be responsible for replying to volunteers on a weekly basis;
2. Hold at least one in-person meeting with the volunteers to present the campaign and, during these meetings, distribute flyers and connect with them more closely;
4. Add your entire team to a WhatsApp or Telegram group;
5. Share daily updates about the campaign, such as challenges and achievements;
6. Set basic group rules, such as not sharing news, stickers, or visuals that are unrelated to the group’s purpose. But be careful: talk about this in a calm and friendly way.
On social media
Send an email explaining the importance of outreach on social media, with specific activities they can carry out. Create challenges for them to complete, almost like a game. Put together a materials kit for posting and sharing, and place it in a cloud folder so everyone has access.
On the streets
Explain to the volunteer that, ideally, they should use as much of their free time as they can to hand out flyers, and that they can invite friends to join them, forming small distribution groups. Make sure there’s always a pickup point where people can get materials. Create a simple video, recorded on your phone, explaining how to distribute flyers.
In conversation circles
Create a specific WhatsApp or Telegram group for those who want to organize and host conversation circles. Send the group link by email so interested volunteers can join. Write a standard message with the group rules, and send a message every three days asking who already has a date, location, and group of friends lined up to host a gathering.
Ideal Volunteer Engagement
In addition to the Basic campaign tips:
- Hold at least three in-person meetings with volunteers;
2. Remember to create a social media outreach to promote each meeting two weeks in advance, so you can invite as many people as possible;
3. Send weekly emails to volunteers and make sure to reply to them at least once a week;
4. Actively manage the WhatsApp or Telegram group, or assign someone to do so;
5. At the start of the campaign, ask volunteers to fill out a more detailed form so you can better understand each person’s profile and how they can support the campaign most effectively.
On social media
In addition to the Basic campaign tips, create weekly challenges for volunteers to complete.
For example: “our goal is for a video to reach 1,000 likes next week”. This builds unity among volunteers and gives everyone a clear objective. Share updates on progress regularly and always celebrate wins.
On the streets
In addition to the Basic campaign tips, check the form to see which neighborhoods volunteers are in and choose a pick-up point in each area. To make things easier, you can create WhatsApp groups by neighborhood or region to organize leaflet distribution. Record a short training video and ask for help from a volunteer who produces and edits videos.
In conversation circles
In addition to the Basic campaign tips, call your volunteers and build a closer connection. Phone calls help strengthen relationships. Set a goal of three meetings per week and motivate volunteers to work toward that target together.
Outstanding Volunteer Engagement
In addition to the Basic and Ideal campaign tips:
- Choose one person to act as the overall volunteer coordinator/manager.
2. Put out a call to recruit volunteers who can coordinate different teams, such as leaflet distribution, social media, and meetings.
3. Your coordinator can organize meetings twice a week to carry out the necessary activities with volunteers.
4. This person should also stay in daily contact with all volunteers and with you.
5. In addition to the general group, create WhatsApp groups based on the activity each volunteer will be carrying out.
6. For meetings, aim for a target of four meetings per week that volunteers should try to meet. Call them and ask about potential contacts.
7. Share campaign updates daily. Don’t leave volunteers in the dark.
8. Record short videos with team members on your phone, thanking volunteers for their participation and motivating them even more.
9. Keep an organizational spreadsheet for volunteers – a place where your coordinator can note who’s most active, for example.
10. Pick one day of the week for volunteers to go to campaign headquarters and work together, maybe even organise a happy hour to get to know each other better.
Meetings: talk, talk, and a bit more
- Already have a place in mind that seems perfect for a meeting? Great! Get in touch and check availability. Call your friends, send emails, WhatsApp messages, it’s totally okay to knock on doors. Try reaching out to schools, offices, and businesses and get partnerships.
- If your team is ready, ask them to talk to people who might be willing to host a meeting in their space, like in a building or a shop.
- Try to be present at meetings organized by collectives and organizations connected to your agenda. Go to debates in schools and universities, condo meetings, your aunt’s friend’s office, your best friend’s birthday – any place is a good place to talk about your campaign.
- Broadcast lists are a great tool! Ask your team to create a WhatsApp broadcast list to share campaign updates and announce meetings. You can send short voice notes inviting people to each meeting through this list.
- Set goals per meeting! For example, aim to have at least 20 or 30 people per week at meetings. Make it clear this is a shared team goal to engage volunteers.
- Understand the different audiences who might vote for you and, based on that, develop strategies using the Electoral Canvas, a tool available on the Im.Pulsa Platform.
On social media
Here you can follow the same tips as in the Basic and Ideal campaigns. Since a “Marvel” campaign assumes you’ll have guaranteed funds to boost your social media, setting goals to force organic engagement isn’t as important. It’s best for social media goals to be handled by your digital communications team.
On the streets
In addition to the Basic and Ideal campaign tips, organize leaflet distribution with groups of volunteers at least once toward the end of each week. In your volunteer form, include the option of grassroots volunteer: someone who’s willing to offer their home as a leaflet pick-up point, host meetings, and place a poster of the candidate in their window. With a full communications team, you can plan all the assets to be produced, including a training video on leaflet distribution.
In conversation circles
In addition to the Basic and Ideal campaign tips, set a goal of five meetings per week, each with at least 30 different people. These can be debates, home meetings, or events. Think about creating exclusive communication materials for this purpose, for example, a guide on how to host a meeting. Talk to volunteers in the area of each meeting so they can invite their networks and take part. Depending on your country’s legislation, you can also hire people to do this, but it definitely won’t have the same effect. Here, organic engagement matters more, bet on people who truly believe in you.
Leaflet distribution
It makes a huge difference when you go out with your team to hand out leaflets! People need to see you in action, you know? Connect with those doing this work too, whether they’re volunteers or paid staff (if allowed). Let them build a relationship with you so it doesn’t feel like careless, mechanical work. It’s great when they believe in what they’re doing, because they need to know what to say if someone asks a question while receiving your campaign materials.
A few extra tips:
- Are you in the final stretch of your campaign? It’s worth bringing everyone together to call all campaign contacts. When people answer, ask them to call three more people and ask for their vote!
- A letter to neighbors also works! Ask your volunteers to deliver a standard letter asking for votes to all their neighbors.
- Call on your most committed volunteers! Motivate them to become local pick-up points themselves. That way, whenever someone needs campaign materials or information, they’ll know they can count on them.
- Remember your candidate number! Ask your neighbor if you can hang your campaign poster on their window or wall. Many people vote without much information, and some choose their candidate at the very last minute. Let’s help them remember your number.
- Always carry a folder with you! Wherever you go, collect people’s contact details to add them to your mailing and broadcasting lists.
Content: Duda Alcantara, Marcelo Bolzan, Marina Frota, and Tulio Malaspina
Writing: Semayat Oliveira
This content was developed collaboratively during an immersion held in March 2020, with representatives from several organizations.
