Fix Housing First Coalition’s Twitter page.
Hoping to stem falling home values, a coalition of builders promoting the inclusion of a homebuyer tax credit in the most recent stimulus bill turned to Fleishman-Hillard for help. The result? Fix Housing First, an Internet-based advocacy campaign that utilized new media to target its message. By using Google’s Ad Words system, which links homebuyer online ads to designated search terms, the group, backed by the National Association of Home Builders, was able to go outside its own constituency to pull in a wide array of builders and real estate professionals. The coalition also fed its messaging into a Web site that, in turn, added a Twitter feed in the days leading up to floor votes. This allowed the groups’ lobbyists and others on Capitol Hill to distribute a real-time account of the negotiations via cell phones and PDAs. The coalition also posted Twitter updates urging supporters to contact their legislators and incorporated a software tool to track those who had weighed in with lawmakers preparing to vote. The digital lobbying effort was successful: supporter e-mails and letters to Capitol Hill doubled and when the bill finally passed, it included a per-buyer benefit.
