ACTION PLAYBOOK

Drop Links on Social Media

  • Get others to take political climate action by commenting on social media posts.

    1. Learn about the featured priority

    2. Pick your platform

    3. Search climate and political hashtags

    4. Comment on a post with your link

    5. Repeat, but don’t spam!

    6. Report back

“Link-dropping” is strategically sharing information and links in online forums and comment sections. It leverages the connectivity and reach of the internet to influence public opinion and raise awareness.

Folks engaging in online discussions are generally looking for answers and solutions. By sharing a link, you’re providing valuable insight and resources to the conversation. A single link can be shared widely, reaching a large audience quickly and generating direct engagement, discussions, shares, and further dissemination of the advocacy message.

Step 1. Learn about the featured priority

Link-dropping is an effective strategy for promoting discourse around both climate policies and important elections. Take a few minutes to brief yourself on the featured priority, whether policy-or elections-related. You don’t have to be an expert, but the featured content will serve as the basis for your commenting and link-sharing.

Use the table below to find recommended links for the featured priority. Click on each card to expand it.

Step 2. Pick your platform

Choose the social media platform you’re most comfortable navigating, as long as it has a search function and comment feature. Any comments section is fair game.

If you’re a member of a Slack or Discord community that would be interested in climate action, start there! Places like LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and X are also all great places to start (and allow links in comments). Savvy users can also focus on Reddit. This is a great action for Instagram and TikTok, though you’ll point toward fellow account handles, rather than provide webpage links (the platforms don’t hyperlink URLs in their comment sections). You can even link drop in the comments section of news articles and blog posts.

Open one or two platforms then move onto Step 3!

Step 3. Find relevant online conversations (and the right audience)

Now it’s time to find some posts to comment on!

What you’re really looking for is the right people: who is ready to learn about climate action and willing to get in on the action? Rather than seek out spaces where climate denial is more common, research says it’s the folks who are middle-ground/open-minded but uninformed who are the most productive use of climate advocates’ time. While we don’t want to stick to solely our own echo chambers, we do want to seek out receptive discussions with minimal trolling.

You’re looking for online communities and posts that are highly relevant to the policy you want to share. This increases the likelihood of engagement and reduces the chance of it being seen as spam.

A few search strategies:

  • 🚨 Current events
    Is there a recent event that could be a catalyst for conversation on your climate priority? For example: extreme weather, excessive heat, a power outage, a new law or regulation, or even relevant pop culture moments. Search for posts about this recent event, then connect the dots to the policy you’re focused on.

  • 📰 For blog posts and news articles
    Search recent blog posts and/or news articles using Google’s news filter or by going straight to your favorite media outlet’s website. Two places you may have an opportunity to drop a link are the comment section and messaging the journalist/blog author directly (always be respectful, kind, and solutions-focused!).

  • 🤗 Fellow climate accounts
    If you already follow a lot of climate and political accounts, you can start by looking through your own feed. To search for new climate communities, we suggest going to a mainstream climate media account (like Future Earth or Environment by Impact) to see what they are posting and who is engaging with their content.

  • 🛍️ Sustainable lifestyle or brand accounts
    Climate-concerned folks often become ethical consumers before they become advocates. Brands that already encourage climate-conscious individual action can be a natural place for advocates to 1) recognize and celebrate that individual action and 2) encourage folks to level up by advocating for systems-level change, too. Never shame people for imperfect sustainability choices; just treat ethical brands as an exciting gateway into climate advocacy. For inspiration, here’s an example of activist Lauren Bash doing exactly this with composting.

  • #️⃣ Hashtags
    Search relevant hashtags and geotags. You can keep it really broad, like #ClimateActionNow, #ActOnClimate, #CleanEnergyBoom #ClimateSolutions or #2024Elections. Or you can get more specific if there’s a particular climate lens (e.g. environmental justice, industrial decarbonization), specific policy (e.g. #foodwastewarriors), or candidate you’re interested in.

  • 🎯 Other policy priorities
    Another tactic that works is searching for posts about other policy priorities that draw a similar demographic as the climate-concerned. These tend to be progressive causes, like abortion, immigration, or social justice. When you find people who are already fired up about other issues, you have a good chance of moving them to act on climate.

Scroll around using these strategies. You’re looking for an online conversation where the link will add value, not necessarily where you’ll find the most heated or controversial discussions.

When you find your first post, move on to Step 4.

Step 4: Like and comment with your link!

It’s link-dropping time!

  1. Like it: First, like the post you’re going to comment on so you can find it later and see the engagement with your comment.

  2. Draft a comment: Write a short reply in your authentic voice. Use something in the post as a hook. Feel free to react to the content of the post, or keep it more generic by talking about how you personally feel productive when you organize for elections or policy, or how you’re feeling the urgency of the 2024 election. Keep it short—if it’s too long, people might not read it. You want to contribute and pique readers’ interest just enough to click for more info. Well-crafted content can lend credibility to your advocacy effort, making your message more persuasive.

  3. Include a link: Grab the link that corresponds to the featured priority in the table above. If you’re feeling creative, you can also share links to our events page, specific resources, the current campaign, or a blog post.

  4. Have fun! Feel free to use emojis or slang—however you usually talk online! Keep it productive; the goal here isn’t to get into heated arguments, which are rarely persuasive.

PS. To tag Climate Changemakers, we are @TheClimateVote on all platforms and Climate Changemakers on LinkedIn.

➡️ Example response to an Instagram post about participating in the U.S. political process:

Yes 👏 to 👏 this! 👏 We MUST do more than simply vote this year. If you’re feeling that too but don’t know where to start or feel too busy (same), check out @theclimatevote. I’ve been channeling my fury into their one-hour Action Plans for a few months and am so grateful I found them. Legit modernized climate advocacy that is productive, not performative.

➡️ …or a LinkedIn post amplifying a specific climate issue:

Yes to this! Food waste is nuts. AND the vast majority of us would compost if it were easier to do. Climate Changemakers has a free online playbook for urging your reps to make widespread composting a thing in your city. Super easy-to-use and it’s not a petition or template email –highly recommend checking it out if you care about systems-level solutions on this issue!

➡️ Example response to an article or post about climate change impacts:

So stressful 😓 It’s helpful for me to come back to the fact that the U.S. is actually making historic climate progress this year ✨ The Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest U.S. climate law EVER ✨ Passed in 2022, it’s set to distribute $300B+ in investments to states and already added 300K+ U.S. jobs in less than 2 years 🌞 Absolutely insane that Project 2025 is trying to undo all that’s been accomplished and stop efforts that would put us on track with critical climate goals 😡 The IRA is the policies and momentum we need to turn around this crisis. 💚 If you’re a #climatevoter or care about Earth at all, seriously scroll through this quick overview about the IRA to see all the real, tangible climate progress happening everywhere in America (and of course, keep advocating for smart climate solutions everywhere!) https://www.climatechangemakers.org/ira-climate-progress Uncle IRA kinda rocks, y’all (Uncle BIL and Uncle CHIP too!) 😜

➡️ And if the original post is about a climate WIN…

LET’S GO! Shout out to the advocates making stuff like this happen. 👊 To add to this, the last 2 years have actually been a truly historic time for U.S. climate progress! ✨The…

➡️ Example response to a serious Facebook post about heat deaths:

I’m honestly afraid for our future here in Virginia. The problem feels overwhelming. I did recently learn that all our residential natural gas infrastructure has a ton of leaks – not only does the methane pollution have like 80x the global warming effect of carbon dioxide in the short term, but the cost of these leaks are passed directly to you and me, as taxpayers, AND the gas is super explosive. WTF! Last week I emailed our state utility regulators about it (using this: https://www.climatechangemakers.org/methane-regulation-all-access) Highly recommend everyone take 5min to do it! Something meaningful. And we’re stuck inside the AC anyway - might just do all the actions in this playbook library.

5. Repeat! Don’t be spam—be a solution.

Follow Step 4 a bunch more times! But a few tips as you do:

  • Be social (it is social media, after all!) by liking fellow commenters and engaging with the content in a real way.

  • Always include relevant conversational padding to your comment; never post an out-of-context link, or it will look like spam.

  • If you’re posting A LOT on the same platform, be sure to vary the wording of your comments a bit to keep it sincere (and so you don’t get “shadow-banned” by the platform for spamming). Or mix it up by trying a different platform!

Climate Changemakers is committed to ensuring every Action Playbook, including this one, equips you to take meaningful climate action in 60 minutes or less, therefore we recommend striving for 10 link drops! After you pop into a few online conversations, be sure to enjoy some time offline. :)

That said, now you know this advocacy tactic and can effectively link drop climate information anytime!

6. Report back

If any of your comments blow up or spark meaningful conversation over the coming days, take a screenshot and email it to advocacy@climatechangemakers.org or post it in Slack! This helps us track the direct impact of our community and, if you share in Slack, it’s so fun for fellow changemakers to see advocacy getting results.

And that’s it, playbook complete! Feel accomplished.
Thank you for taking action.

🎉 CUE CONFETTI by clicking COMPLETE! 🎉

Want more action?
Go to the current Action Plan

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