Twitter’s Role In Grass Roots Advocacy: A Lesson Learned from Agchat and MPKbest

Wondering how Twitter could play a role in your advocacy mission?

Do what I’ve done — watch and learn from the best.

I’ve been lurking. I admit it.

For the past couple of months it has been my pleasure to watch and sometimes even participate in a Grass Roots Advocacy community on Twitter. It has been quite an education.

You may wonder what role Twitter has to play in generating support and action from a community. To find out you need to look no further than the group of farmers and agriculture advocates known as AgChat and FoodChat.

Yes, farmers Tweet! — and they are very effective at sharing their stories and educating their followers about issues facing the people who grow our food.

Recognizing there may come a day when this community will need to activate and share a common message, they’ve decided to practice. Tuesday, October 27th at 9:00 pm central time the MPKbest campaign launched. Michele Payn-Knoper (MPK) is the spark behind the AgChat community and they have decided to band together to get her voted Mashable’s Twitter User of the Year. (Thus MPKbest)

How to you watch and learn?

1. Follow The Players:

@MPKbest: The campaign Twitter Account – follow for official MPKbest Tweets of the Day

@mpaynknoper: Michele Payn-Knoper:

Speaker connecting farm gate to consumer plate. Nutrition thinking mom. Community social media strategy, agriculture advocacy and food focus

@AgChat: A weekly conversation for folks involved in the business of growing food, fuel, feed and fiber on Tues., 8-10pm ET (created and moderated by @mpaynknoper) You can follow the chat at http://twubs.com/agchat

@FoodChat: A monthly conversation for people concerned about food, those who produce it & the nutrition involved. Join streaming conversation 3rd Tues., 8-10 p.m. ET.

Follow other people you find interesting. I suggest: @JPlovesCOTTON, @FarmerHaley, @RayLinDairy, @GilmerDairy to start.

Here are some blog posts about what MPK and AgChat mean to the community:

Why MPKbest

Honoring Those Who Motivate Us

Embodiment of Service

More Than A Speaker

2. Follow the Hashtag #MPKbest:

The group created #MPKbest. Check out the desciption at: http://wthashtag.com/Mpkbest Creating a listing at What The Hastag?! is a great way to solidify the message. (I’ve created one for Go Red for Women #GoRed4Wmn)

Create at Twitter search field to follow #MPKbest and watch the conversation.

3. Understand The Message:

Several key players got together via e-mail and Twitter DM to come up with a plan – here is what they shared with the community:

The time period:
Vote once per day now through November 15th to secure the nomination
Vote once per day November 18th – December 13th to win the award

How to vote:
You can, and should, vote once per day by going to http://mashable.com/owa/
Signing in through Facebook or Twitter (if you have multiple accounts, log in to them separately.

Nominate @mpaynknoper for Twitter User of the Year (scroll down to the very bottom of the dropdown)

How to spread the word:
Tweet about it — and use the #MPKbest hashtag
Follow @MPKbest & RT the message of the day
Think of newly creative ways to talk about it over the next few weeks
Facebook about it — status lines, all other cross posts.
Blog about it.
Post on You Tube about it.
Ask your friends and followers to do the same — for those who don’t tweet, help them connect by showing how much more info you bring them, etc.

KEY EXISTING LINKS
The mashable election site http://bit.ly/OLfBy (goes directly to the user of the year page

What the hashtag explanation page http://bit.ly/3kn3Aa

Eliz’s initial blog on why http://bit.ly/4EJ0YB

Sample Tweets:

Ag Tweets:
Show MPK the #agchat & #foodchat love by nominating her as #MPKbest (link to your blog or WTHashtag page –http://bit.ly/3kn3Aa )

Agriculture rocks social media — vote mpaynknoper for twitter user of the year props http://bit.ly/OLfBy #MPKbest

Join members of #agchat & #foodchat to get @mpaynknoper named twitter user of the year http://bit.ly/3PYzd2 why? http://bit.ly/3kn3Aa

Farmers, foodies & more — show your appreciation to MPK here’s how (link to your blog or WTHashtag page) #MPKbest

We #moo #oink & think #MPKbest — vote daily http://bit.ly/OLfBy why? (your blog or http://bit.ly/4EJ0YB)

Practice what MPK preaches – speak up for what you believe. I believe #MPKbest http://bit.ly/OLfBy

We’ve encouraged her speaker friends to participate with Tweets such as:

Show the Cavett spirit – Vote fellow NSA Speaker Michele Payn-Knoper Twitter User of the Year http://bit.ly/3PYzd2 (or link to your blog) #MPKbest

Hey NSAXY Tweeps! Show some love for MPK vote her Twitter User of the Year http://bit.ly/3PYzd2 #MPKbest

Making the pie bigger! Just voted @mpaynknoper Twitter User of the Year http://bit.ly/3PYzd2 #MPKbest

Here’s to an amazing speaker who never stops fighting for ag! Vote Michele Payn-Knoper twitter user of the year (link to your blog or WTHashtag page –http://bit.ly/3kn3Aa )

Why we are doing this:
We all come across people who claim to have a mission or passion, but it only lasts so long. It’s true in in the world of professional speaking — we have a lot of people who are cultivating some relationships but how many show their passion and make a real difference every day? Finding someone with true purpose and the fire to make a difference is rare and should be celebrated. Michele Payn-Knoper is one such person. Sure, she’s a great speaker, trainer and friend. She’s more though.

Using her skills in advocacy and her talent for social media, Michele has empowered the agriculture community to give voice to their issues and share their own stories with passion and purpose. The Twitter community of farmers and agriculture professionals is vibrant and active thanks to Michele’s encouragement and orchestration of #agchat and #foodchat. And while she will credit the entire community and maybe single out others, there seems to be agreement that her leadership was the critical kickstart!

Without a doubt, Michele is deserving of recognition for her passion and skills. She is however, far too modest to ask for your vote or assume she deserves it. Which is why the people who respect and value her are asking on her behalf. The Ag community has put together a campaign to get it done – and we’re asking some of her speaker-pals to help.

Please help us make Michele Payn-Knoper Mashable’s Twitter User of the Year. This award is based on the viral nature of social media and requires daily voting through November 15th to win the nomination.

We would like her to get lots of tweets but some of the time we will use initials to keep from overflooding her account & its utility… the hashtag tracking will help her see. Feel free to put @mpaynknoper in a tweet now and then to remind her how valuable she’s been to our community’s development.

4. Participate:

Once you watch for even a short period of time, I know you’ll want to help make MPKbest happen.

We encourage other advocates to vote and participate with tweets such as:

Here’s to an amazing advocate who never stops fighting for ag! Vote Michele Payn-Knoper twitter user of the year (link to your blog or WTHashtag page –http://bit.ly/3kn3Aa )

Follow a leader in advocacy and vote @mpaynknoper Twitter User of the Year! #MPKbest http://bit.ly/OLfBy

Learn from the best – and then … let’s talk about how to use Twitter to make a difference for heart disease and stroke!