At AMSD, our team advocates on behalf of our member school districts for the transformation of public education — and we encourage you to advocate on behalf of our schools as well.
For the legislative sessions, AMSD focuses on two social media channels: Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). While there are multiple social media platforms through which to convey the AMSD platform and messages, we strategically concentrate our efforts on the platforms with the best reach to our audiences. We also occasionally post videos on YouTube occasionally as well.
Many at the state level currently use X, but Facebook remains popular for legislators as well. More tech savvy legislators and communicators will also communicate with video on platforms such as Instagram or YouTube, but it’s important to remember your messages remain short and to the point to be most effective.
- Know the difference between the mediums: X is much faster-paced and about immediacy. Facebook has shelf-life —and allows discussion and commenting that can resonate and be more thoughtful.
When encouraging our members to communicate with legislators on social media, we want you to tell your story. We have learned that sharing your original story, in your own words, is the most effective ways to communicate the importance of your message to a legislator. A couple of tips:
- Always read your posts out loud to yourself before you publish them.
- If you really want your voice to be heard, write a post or leave a comment on a post by a legislator or policy influencer — keeping your messaging positive and nonpartisan. Negative or partisan conflict may draw engagement or attention, but that conflict is rarely productive. We engage with these policymakers frequently, and interacting with our legislators respectfully is paramount, even when we may disagree.
Picture This. When posting on social media, a picture truly is worth 1,000 words. Engagement can more than double when a social media post has an image. So take a picture of yourself with your family or a student (make sure you have permission), or even just take a picture of your message written on a note card — a $ figure of the amount of your district’s shortfall, for example.
Tag, tag, tag. Tagging means you include them in your message with an @ symbol and their social media handle — i.e. the “@amsdmn” — so they, their followers, and members of their team may see your message as well. Likewise, if you “hashtag” a general topic (#mnleg for the Minnesota Legislature, for example), then followers who search for those #hashtags will find your content as well.
Influence the Influencers. Follow influencers and tag them, too. If an influencer with a large number of followers likes or shares your post with their social media followers, that can bring more attention to your message. Make the effort to build digital relationships with influential brands or people you align with — like and share their posts. Doing so will associate you with their brand —and they may even return the favor when you have a post to share.
An example of all of this put together may be a post that includes a photo of yourself and/or a student in your district, and a message as simple as:
I am a parent in Xxxxx. My district’s special education funding shortfall is $xxx.
If the #mnleg would fully fund the costs of special education, our district could Xxxxx.
#mnleg #SpecialEducation @amsdmn @mnmsba
You can find most of your legislators’ and state leadership’s social media contact information using these links below, or by going directly to each respective platform and searching for the person.
- LINK: View Contact Information for the Governor, Legislative Leadership
- LINK: View Contact Information of House Membership by School District
- LINK: View Contact Information of Senate Membership by School District
