Now that you’ve created a petition you’ll need to gain more signatures to build awareness and support for your cause. So what are the best ways to do this?
We’ve laid out the best ways to share your petition with your social networks and others who care about your goal to get the signatures you need to achieve change.
Share on social media
Email your petition
Send a petition update
Join a conversation on social media
Create a hashtag for your campaign
Share on social media
User-added image
After creating your petition, we provide an easy way to share your campaign on Facebook and Twitter with Campoal’s social media sharing tools.
Simply visit your petition while logged into your account and use the “Share on Facebook” button to share directly to Facebook, or “Send a Facebook message” to send a direct message to your friends over Facebook messenger. To share the petition to your friends and followers on Twitter, just click “Tweet to your followers”.
We recommend using these tools more than once to get your petition the most exposure possible on social media. You can also add a personal message to the Facebook or Twitter post to give your followers an update.
In addition to sharing your petition on your own social media profiles, you can:
Join Facebook groups related to your petition topic or location and share it there
Join online message boards related to your topic or location and share
Link to your petition in the comment section of related news articles
Tweet directly to influencers and ask them to retweet
Email your petition
Like sharing to social media, emailing your friends and family about your petition and asking them to sign is a great way build support and gain signatures.
Asking your friends and family to sign and share your petition is the absolute best way to build momentum for your petition. Not only do they know and support you, their signatures show how important this campaign is to you and your community.
Here’s a sample message:
Hey,
I just signed the petition “Help Save Our Daughter Hannah” and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.
Our goal is to reach 500,000 signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here:
Thanks!
Send a petition update
Our Petition Update tool is one of the most effective ways not only to get more signatures but also to keep your supporters updated and encourage them to take action to win your campaign.
Angie; a mom who fought for stronger anti-bullying laws, used the tool to send petition updates to her supporters and gained the signatures she needed to win her campaign.
Our top three tips for using Petition Updates to help win your petition
- Update your supporters every single time something happens in your campaign
Remember, they signed your petition because they really care, so they will want to know what happens next. If you’ve got something valuable to share, you should consider sending an update.
Example:
- There are many reasons to post an update. Try to use each of these in your campaign:
Share media coverage or news stories that relate to the campaign
Ask your supporters for advice or contacts that will help the petition become successful
Tell them when you’ve been in contact with the Decision Maker
Ask your supporters to help your campaign in some other way, like donating to a Crowdfunder, posting on the decision maker’s Facebook page, or tweeting at them
Example:
- Always ask your supporters to do something in support of your petition when you send an update. Here are a few examples:
“Read and share this news article so more people hear about our campaign”
“Leave a comment if you have ideas for how we can win the petition”
“Tweet at the decision maker”
Example:
Join a conversation on social media
Is your decision maker hosting an online conversation, or is there a Twitter conversation going on around your issue marked with a specific hashtag? To get attention from your campaign, start using the hashtag yourself to spread the word.
Example:
Online advocates used the hashtag #TooMuchDoubt to spread the word about doubt surrounding Troy Davis’ Death Row sentence. When Troy’s sister started a petition on Campoal, signers tweeted links to the petition with #TooMuchDoubt, making sure others following Troy’s story would see the petition. Troy was tragically executed on September 21, 2011, but advocates around the world were able to change the conversation about the death penalty.
Create a hashtag for your campaign
Are you fighting a longer-term campaign; one that many groups and individuals might want to tweet about? Create a hashtag for your campaign so that supporters can follow the campaign updates and talk to one another on social media.
For events and actions, hashtags should be as short as possible and should be spread widely in advance. Abbreviations and acronyms are okay (Example: #NN15 for Netroots Nation conference 2015). For branding a campaign, hashtags can be a little longer to allow for full words, and potentially, the decision maker’s name.
Example:
After learning that Facebook refused to remove pages from their site encouraging rape and violence against women, John Raines created a petition on Campoal. Facebook didn’t respond to the petition, so supporters created a Twitter hashtag, #notfunnyfacebook. Facebook agreed to meet with advocates as a result. Read more about the #notfunnyfacebook Day of Action.