Social Banking 101: A Playbook

Too busy or awkward to make phone calls or knock doors? Host a social bank to help support Democrats on social media!

 What is “Social Banking?”

From phone and text banking to door knocking and beyond, organizers and volunteers have a number of tried and true tactics at their disposal for engaging voters. While these traditional tactics remain fundamental to modern campaigning, they neglect to meet Americans (especially young voters) on the social media apps and platforms like TikTok and Instagram where they spend vast amounts of their time and attention.

“Social banking” is an addition to the modern organizer’s toolkit that involves gathering volunteers in-person and/or virtually to collectively amplify the most persuasive pro-Democratic narratives on the most popular social media platforms. It’s a fun, flexible, and low-cost way for progressive and pro-democracy communities to leverage the energy and creativity of their members to help steer the online conversation in a more constructive direction.

On TikTok, for example, it has been estimated that there is as much as 5-10x more pro-Republican content than pro-Democratic content, making it all the more important for Democratic organizers to help ensure mission-aligned content and messaging gets seen and boosted. Instead of posting new pieces of content in the elusive hope of going viral, social banking events encourage everyday volunteers to speak up where they are most likely to be heard and have an impact on the platforms: in the comment sections of the most viral posts.

At social banks, volunteers are introduced to the concept of social banking and spend their time adding, replying to, and liking pro-Democratic comments on the most viral pieces of mission-aligned content. In similar fashion to phone and text banks, social banks (especially those conducted in-person) should be accompanied by refreshments (food and/or drink — either BYO or provided by the host) and include ample time for attendees to meet and socialize with each other.

Note: We piloted social banking on TikTok and Instagram, but these tactics and principles can generally be applied to other platforms.

Why is Commenting Valuable?

Whether conducted virtually, in-person, or individually in one’s spare time, social banks are moments where mission-aligned volunteers are asked to pick up their phone and add constructive comments to the most visible and relevant mission-aligned pieces of content on social media.

Here’s why commenting matters:

  1. Online comments can persuade people. There’s a growing body of research demonstrating that online comment sections affect how people evaluate a given piece of content or claim. For example, studies have found:

    1. People are inclined to favor news coverage with positive comments over identical content with negative comments

    2. Disrespectful, uncivil, and otherwise negative comments negatively impact how people regard a piece of news coverage (and its credibility)

    3. People are more inclined to view content that challenges their pre-existing beliefs as being useful if it’s accompanied by comments that support and echo its argument

  2. Comments can help boost content. The discovery algorithms that underpin TikTok and Instagram rely on a wide range of signals to decide how far and to whom a given piece of content is boosted. Comment-based engagement plays a significant role in signaling demand for a piece of content, especially in the period right after it’s posted. As a general rule, the more authentic comments on a recently-uploaded post, the better it performs.

  3. Younger volunteers really like it. We piloted social banking with individuals from across age groups, but none were more receptive to or enthusiastic about it than the college student volunteers we worked with. Not only did the students respond positively about the event as a whole, but they explicitly named the process of commenting as being their favorite part and ~60% indicated that they preferred social banking to phone and text banking.

What are the goals of social banking?

The objectives of social banking are threefold:

  1. Generate and affirm pro-Democratic energy, community, and narratives in the comment sections of relevant and highly-visible posts. We know people can be persuaded by what they read in the comments; social banking aims to harness the energy of mission-aligned volunteers to help spread important messages and win the comment wars.

  2. Amplify compelling pieces of pro-Democratic content on the platforms so more potential voters can see them. We know the algorithms treat comments as important signals for boosting a given piece of content; social banking aims to engage volunteers in the process of collectively amplifying compelling pieces of mission-aligned content.

  3. Train volunteers and help them build habits around how to most effectively use social media to support Democrats moving forward. Social media is central to how so many of us communicate and consume political information, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon; social banking aims to introduce volunteers to a set of tactics and principles they can use to engage more effectively online moving forward.

How to Host a Social Bank

Social banking is simple, easy, and fun. Here’s how anyone can host a social bank:

  1. Get a group of friends together! It can be three people or thirty — and social banks can happen in-person or virtually.

    • Tip: If hosting in-person, provide refreshments for attendees if possible!

  2. Ensure everyone has either a TikTok or Instagram account. If they don’t have one or don’t want to use their personal account, they can make a new one. Social banking is a good fit for anyone who uses social media on a regular basis (or is interested and willing to learn!). 

  3. Explain social banking to your friends and why it’s important. You can use this presentation deck and run of show and script to help guide you.

  4. Walk attendees through the “Dos and Don’ts” of social banking. They’re summarized in our presentation deck and listed in detail below, and they help ensure the social banking experience is as constructive and enjoyable for everyone as possible.

  5. Get everyone started on Comments for Kamala. This is a tool that includes a curated library of relevant and regularly-updated pieces of content to comment on, with options for volunteers to toggle between TikTok and Instagram posts. On slide 9 in our presentation deck, you will see a QR code for people to scan or you can go to https://comments.forkamala.fyi/. The “Training” section of our presentation deck demonstrates to use Comments for Kamala in the format of a step-by-step guide.

    • Note: While it is possible to social bank without using a pre-curated tool like Comments for Kamala (for example, participants can simply comment on relevant videos in their personalized “For You” feeds or simply engage with content under specific target #hashtags), we recommend at least starting social banking events with Comments for Kamala because we found that participants (1) enjoyed using this tool and (2) appreciated the structure and ease it brought to our events. It’s especially useful for introducing social banking to new volunteers.

  6. Start commenting! After going through a brief training of how to engage constructively in the comments, the rest of the time is filled with people watching videos and adding comments. Remember, it’s just like a phone or text banking gathering, but for commenting on social media. Whether in-person or on Zoom, this a great time to play some music. As the host, make sure to check in with volunteers to see if they need any help or have feedback.

    • Note: Social banks are flexible in length and can be run for as short as 30 minutes or as long as an hour. We recommend starting with 45-minute time blocks (including ~10 min for the training portion) or incorporating social banking as a component of larger events or convenings.

Dos and Don’ts for Social Banking Volunteers

We recommend introducing the following guidelines to volunteers before they begin commenting to make sure they have a constructive and positive experience social banking.

Do

  • Comment on posts that resonate with you. Whether using Comments for Kamala or just scrolling through your “For You” feed, seek content that resonates with you and add meaningful comments to those posts, seeking to keep your comments no more than two sentences in length. As a goal, it is a good practice to spend no more than one minute per post.

    • Note: Nontraditional videos that touch on political or social themes can be the most impactful to comment on because they’re likely to reach more persuadable audiences (e.g. those who do not follow politics for its own sake and may be undecided as a result)

  • Be authentic, creative, and thoughtful in your comments. Bring your own unique energy and creativity to your comments, and feel free to use humor where possible. Where possible, draft meaningful, fact-based, and positive comments that are true to you and your values — while it’s better to post personal comments than generic ones, it is okay to post generic messages of support such as “💙” or “Vote Blue!” if you can’t come up with something better. If you don’t know what to comment, it is better to leave a generic comment than not to comment at all.

  • Like and/or reply to high-quality comments that you feel deserve boosting. Come across comments that you agree with and think more people should see? Like and/or reply to them to signal to the algorithm that they should appear higher up in more people’s comment sections.

  • Aim to comment on relevant content that was either posted recently or is at least currently generating engagement. If the post itself doesn’t appear to have been posted recently, make sure to look at the comments to confirm that people are still engaging with it.

    • Note: This issue applies primarily to social banks that revolve around hashtag searches or other curated collections of content, where volunteers may encounter old or no-longer-recommended posts. While not perfect, the content recommended in Comments for Kamala and the platforms’ main feeds (“For You” on TikTok and the home feed on Instagram) is generally ideal to comment on, as both sources are weighted to privilege recent/current posts.

Don’t

  • Engage with negative, counterproductive, or false comments. The algorithms decide what comments to show to users based on engagement metrics such as likes and replies to those comments. For this reason, it is best to ignore harmful or misleading comments, only interacting with comments that you believe are constructive and would be beneficial to boost.

    • Note: This means ignoring the temptation to get into fights with opponents and those who post negative, misleading, or otherwise harmful comments, as such interactions will help boost the original comment.

  • Spam the comments, replies, or likes. As a general rule, it is good practice not to add more than three comments to a given post (that includes replies — it’s perfectly fine to comment just once and move to the next post). The platforms are likely to penalize your comments and potentially flag your account for spam if they detect too much repetitive activity.

  • Play into polarizing narratives. While you should aim to make your comments as fun, pithy, and engaging as possible, you should not do so at the expense of the ability to persuade on-the-fence audience members. Instead of driving attention to polarizing topics, it helps to focus on popular, mainstream issues that matter to broad audiences and therefore have a higher chance of making an impact (e.g. economy/taking on corporate greed, reproductive freedom, healthcare, etc.).

  • Post anything in a comment that you wouldn’t share with a friend or family member. This one should go without saying. Do your thing and have fun with it, but refrain from posting stuff that you don’t think would resonate with others in your life :)

Resources

We’ve provided these resources that anyone can use to host a social bank of their own!