DISTRIBUTE ONLINE AND OFFLINE – EMAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA, WIDGET AND PRESS
You started a new petition in step 1 . Now it is important that you continue to be active, because the first day counts! You have created your petition online, so it makes sense to also gain online supporters. openPetition provides you with various functions for this purpose.
Before you begin, please review your petition: Is your request clearly and concisely formulated? Will people understand what you want to change and why? Have you included a compelling image for your petition?
If your petition is intended to be international, create translations in the relevant languages. To do so, click the 'New language version' button below the text of your petition.
If you're satisfied with your petition, you can start sharing it. You will find the following options on the petition page:
Emails and messengers: Send your petition by email to all your contacts. In recent years, many more people have signed a petition on openPetition via personal email than by any other means. Not to be neglected are messengers such as WhatsApp or Telegram, which many people use with their smartphones. Create a group with your contacts and their contacts and send the link to the petition. Student Dario's petition reached 45,000 people via WhatsApp – in just 48 hours!
Social media: Facebook, X and Instagram are essential for reaching many people. You can use your Facebook account to regularly share photos and news with your friends. Please also ask them to share and forward your message. Press articles on the topic or your petition are an excellent starting point for a contribution. Newspapers often post links to individual articles that you can repost and add to with your own words. Holidays that are thematically related to your petition or draft laws are also suitable for a post. You can also ask organizations and clubs whether they would like to share your petition on their websites. Especially on Facebook, there are groups on almost every topic. Take advantage of this and publish your petition there. Always use the same #hashtag for your posts and tag or mark the people involved.
Very important: All posts should always include a link to the petition! There is a short link on every petition page, use it!
Let us know what social media activities you're planning and send us your photos and videos, so we can support you and give you feedback. You can always tag us on Facebook and Instagram. To do so, write @ openPetition in the post and select our profile: @openPetition on Facebook and @openpetition.de on Instagram. Then we'll get everything and can share the post via our channel if necessary.
Widget and banner: You have the option of integrating a widget into your website or that of a friend. The widget allows supporters to sign directly on the website without having to go to www.openpetition.org first. This allows you to collect signatures decentrally. Another option is to embed a banner directly on your website that redirects signatories directly to the petition page. Both widget and banner can be found on the petition page at the very bottom of " Tools for distributing the petition ".
Share petition offline
Offline signatures: This is a special feature of openPetition , because here you have the opportunity to collect signatures online and offline. This way you can reach more than just internet-savvy people. On the petition page, you can download signature forms, print them out, and upload them again later. If you have any questions, please read here.
Tear-off stub: You can also download these leaflets with the petition link from the petition page, print them out, and distribute them to friends or display them at events. This will make your petition even more well-known!
Local press: You can raise awareness of petitions, especially at the local level, and reach potential supporters by placing advertisements in the local press.
If the petition increases significantly in the first few days, you can generate a lot of attention and carry the momentum into the hot phase of the collection period.
Support through openPetition: We will support you in all these steps. It is important that you keep us updated. If we notice that you are strongly committed, then we will also commit ourselves to you. For example, if we learn of a planned handover, we can advise you and, if necessary, inform you about it through our channels.
This is the starting signal, but what should we do next? Create your roadmap to success with Videos, images and offline actions .