As political campaigns become increasingly complex, it is becoming more and more important for teams to have efficient methods of communication. Slack offers an effective solution to this problem, providing a powerful communication tool that can work across platforms (desktop and mobile, iOS and Android) and ensures everyone stays in the loop.
Here are nine ways your campaign can better use Slack to boost your campaign.
Streamline The Approvals Process
Your campaign has a lot to approve. Create a dedicated Slack channel for specific content types and the approvals required. You should have only the responsible parties in each channel.
With an active Google Drive integration you can make sure editing is captured elsewhere. Use emoji to clearly indicate when content is reviewed or approved. In each approvals channel, you should pin the approvals process so everyone can refer to it even if they're added later.
Share Daily Updates
Campaigns get busy and teams don’t always have time to talk to each other. This is when the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing and messaging can get confusing, or you might not know someone can help you.
Set a reminder for a daily updates channel for a 2-3 bullet point update on key accomplishments or tasks for the day from each team member.
Create A Campaign News Feed
With Slack’s integrations you can combine RSS feeds, Google Alerts results, Twitter and more into a single channel that serves as a custom news feed for your entire team to stay on top of the news that matters most.
With an additional Zapier integration and Mailchimp, you can even create an automated daily news clips email from the Slack channel. An app like Newslit offers additional Slack integration options.
Discuss Emails
You’ll often need to discuss an email amongst your team, such as a media inquiry or request from an event organizer. Rather than forwarding the email and risk leaving someone off or accidentally replying to the original sender, you can forward the email to the relevant Slack channel to organize the conversation.
Track Supporter Inquiries
Supporters get rightfully frustrated when they reach out to a campaign and don’t hear back in a timely manner – if at all. Often this is an issue of a website form or email inbox not being monitored.
You can configure your signup and contact forms to trigger new messages in specific Slack channels. From there, it’s easy to assign, delegate, and track any necessary followups. It’s a simple thing that will surprise supporters by your responsiveness.
Create To-Dos And Reminders
Slack has built-in commands like /remind or /todo that you can use within a channel, thread, or message to create action items and followups. Whether you’re on the go or at your desk, nothing will fall through the cracks.
Learn Slash Commands
Beyond the /remind and /todo there are dozens of third-party commands you should learn to save time and get more done. Discussing an address for an event? Try /quick-map with an address. Respond with a GIF using /giphy and a keyword.
There are so many options to add to your Slack.
Make A Searchable FAQ
Save time by keeping a channel with commonly asked questions – everything from “Who do we call for more bumper stickers?” to “Why didn’t my paycheck come on time?”. Slack will also make this searchable for your team.
Build Camaraderie
With more distributed campaign teams than ever before, Slack can help fill the gap by building camaraderie across time zones. It can be as simple as an active #random channel or more robust with an app like Ricotta that offers trivia and games.
Conclusion
While Slack is the perfect tool for keeping your entire team campaign in touch and more, it does have its limitations. Some things are best discussed over email, the phone, or in person. Slack rewards those who respond quickest so big decisions and important questions need a more thoughtful forum.
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