Communications Strategy

[Dalimbar]

Communications & PR Strategy Guide

Quick Guide - What to Say (Subject to Change)
  -Opportunist/JAList/Durkist - As in, power for power's sake, for teh lulz, purge for purge sake, etc
  -“Exploiting game mechanics to boost his ego”
  -Very subtle insinuation of being a peon to a foreign power (Do not mention specific regions)
  -Accurate ejection numbers for each update
  -Native nations he’s keeping banned.
Quick Guide - What Not to Say
  -Foul Language
  -Politically charged terms (eg ‘fascist’ or ‘francoist’) *Note: Some politically charged terms can be useful, in a given situation, but should be used sparingly.  If in doubt, don’t post it.
  -Personal attacks
  -Any mention of Gatesville, the NPO, or other non-engaged entity.
  -Gloating about how Milo can’t ban you because you’ve got Influence (don’t feed the troll)
Rules of Thumb.
Trust us when we say this: we’re not trying to control your freedom of speech, we’re trying to make sure our side wins. Do you want to be seen as a reasonable person who knows what they’re talking about, or as a loud-mouth asshole who’s just out to win points?  
Here are some rules of thumb, and the reasoning behind them. All rules are subject to change, but for the most part, treat these as gospel.
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[*]You ARE The South Pacific! As a person engaging in public activities on behalf of the Coalition of The South Pacific, both in war and in peace, it is your responsibility to work within these guidelines on what to write and what not to write. You are trying to convince others to join you, and not the opposition. The average player is not going to want to join you if you engage in trolling, flaming, or other aggressive behaviour. Spamming or posting the same message over and over and over again also does not help the cause. Further, misbehaving can (and will) distract or anger allies and the NationStates public, whose support we need in actually removing the delegate.
[*]There are lots of methods for posting propaganda. It could be a tabloid article parodying pro-Milograd supporters being robots, or a serious analysis on the policy flip-flops (broken promises) Milo has made. It could be a propaganda poster, a youtube video, or even a random convo in Gameplay or on the RMB or IRC. Campaign-based communications are always in play, and people need to understand that simply saying pretty things isn’t going to win a PR-war.  
[*]Watch what they say. Anything that Milo’s side says can be used against them, watch for their government members to say something inflammatory, and quote it! Make sure the public knows exactly what the delegate and his supporters think. The flip side to this: remember that everything you say can be used against us, no matter where you are. We want the other side to slip up and make mistakes we can use, while giving them as few propagandic points as possible.
[*]Be sure of what you’re saying, and how it will be taken. It can’t just make sense to you, but other people as well. If you are in a group of people you trust, bounce ideas off one another. Ask yourselves, “how will this make people react?” It may sound fantastic to you, but will the audience you’re targeting be turned on or off by it?
[*]The usual exception to this is within RMB/IRC convos, as you want to post as quickly as possible. There’s certainly not time to go back and forth about wording with a friend. Even so, stop, check, and think about how that post will be taken. Did you really need to take a swipe at so-and-so’s dead grandmother or sexual preference? No, didn’t think so.
[*]Who are you targeting with your propaganda? Know your audience. Trying to convince WAs to switch their endorsements typically follows the rule of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). No one is going to read a 2000+ word essay in a tg on why our opponents are horrible monsters who should be removed. If you want to have a big essay (and please have that checked over by superiors before you do) and want to show people you are tg’ing, provide a link to either the forum or your factbook, (or best of all to your webring factbook which also links to other parts of the webring and the forum) or other approved areas. Same with RMB posts, do not over-post. This could either be in pure word-count in a post (tl;dr), or in number of posts made that are not interesting and do nothing to help move the agenda forward.
[*]Keep your material fresh and avoid unnecessary repetition. There is a time and place to hammer the same philosophical point, but remember, many of the same people are reading every post you write. If you don’t change your approach, or your points, occasionally - people will yawn and start to overlook your posts and you will become ineffective.
[/list]Be Smart. In whatever you do, read what you’re saying - and consider what your reaction would be if you saw Milo’s people posting the same thing. Does your post contain charged statements that you would quote to others while saying ‘Look what this idiot said, I’m going to reply to that!’.  You WANT people to quote you, but for support, not to attack you (and, by extension, the Coalition).
 
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[font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"][color=rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;]I request formal approval for this document, and public release[/color]. The "Quick Guides" may require revision, as the situation progresses[/font].

[Hileville]

Looks good.