Get the right message about sexual violence out there, Rise above the ABUSE

Marianne Winters is a leader in the movement to end and address sexualized and domestic violence and is passionate about progressive movements that are visionary, inclusive, current, responsive and proactive. Some would say that she’s “all over the place”. She prefers to say that she thrives on variety and is energized by the multi-faceted, never ending, interconnected and always exciting work of social change. She is the Project Diva for Graphix for Change and consultant and trainer for Praxis for Change.

I just did my “let’s see what comes up when I Google something” exercise and kept it simple. I just googled the word rape. The front page led me to a series of offensive and degrading videos on YouTube – and the comments that were equally degrading. Then I saw some of the political news – debates about whether the definition of rape will be changed at the federal level. Unfortunately, it was difficult to find any links to a hotline or any information about the realities of rape. I imagined what I might be thinking, how I might be feeling if I were a survivor looking for information and help. I’m not sure that I’d ever reach out, that I’d feel trust in any group or service.

Social media has provided a means of communicating with our constituents that is unprecedented in this work. Unfortunately, in spite of all of the efforts at speaking survivors’ truth, debunking the myths, and helping the world understand that there is a difference between sex and rape, this message appears invisible in the very medium that many people are using to seek out organizations for help and information.

We can turn this around. What it will take is an intentional effort on the parts of local rape crisis centers, state and national coalitions to understand and utilize social media to get the truth out there.

Article marketing is one way that we could begin to get our messages out there. Remember, the best website in the world fails to create change if no one finds it. The most articulate leader will fail to gain followers if no one hears her voice. This is where marketing with your content comes in.

Article marketing is part of the comprehensive marketing process that gets your voice out into the wider world. The process is simple:
• create a 400-500 word article on a topic of interest to your audience
• syndicate it for online publishers through a content distribution system
• include a link back to your site, to drive readers there for more information

The article marketing process is a simple yet effective method to drive more traffic to your site and make it easier for your audience to find you. It also positions you as a recognized expert in your field. Having a number of published articles in your area of expertise creates a solid professional online "snap shot" of your work.

If the idea of distributing articles feels like an impossible increase in work, don’t forget that you already have much of the content. You have grant proposals, program descriptions, fact sheets, materials that your community education staff are using, training materials. You probably already have the rough materials for hundreds of articles that your audience needs to know. Once you realize this, your job is to organize it into short articles and develop a system to distribute them. It won’t be long that your information and a link back to your website will come up before the victim-blaming and abusive information.