The Opportunity
Internet Outreach is known by many names, such as "Buzz Marketing" (when persuasion is the primary goal) and "online organizing" (when recruiting and mobilizing supporters is the primary goal).
The chief benefit of Internet Outreach is that you get to leverage other people's audiences. Rather than "preaching to the choir" at your own website, Internet Outreach involves motivating internet users at the social networking and social media sites where they already spend their time.
For instance, why just post an advocacy video at your own website, when you could also post that video at YouTube, which extends your potential audience to 22 million?
Your Internet Presence
If you haven't done so already, it's time to take an expanded view of how you could win friends and influence people on the internet. Stop thinking that your website is the only outlet for your online presence.
With the advent of robust social communities on the internet, such as MySpace and Facebook, winning the battle for share of influence requires investing time and money to participate in these communities.
Active members of internet social sites spend considerable time interacting with friends and organizations within their networks. Many of these community members will never venture out to your website, but would be willing to interact with your organization if you were part of their social network. This is a classic case of: "If Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed."
Internet Outreach Rookie Mistakes
Organizations that are new to internet social networking sometimes run foul of spamming guidelines, or may act in a manner that is deemed impolite by community members. Learn the limits.
But the bigger mistake is just trying to extract people from their online communities to your website. If that's all you do at social networking sites, you'll be getting only a fraction of the possible benefit.
Instead, bring the best of your website to each major social networking community. Be prepared to interact and collaborate with social networking members entirely within their online communities. For instance, if you want to launch a petition, that can be orchestrated fully within MySpace.
Internet Outreach Priorities
If you are new to Internet Outreach, start with YouTube and MySpace. If your efforts there prove to be worth your time, then the next highest priorities include Facebook, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Digg, Care2, and Wikipedia.
Each of these Internet Outreach priorities are covered in this chapter.
