Tech Council of Maryland
Social Media Outreach Helps Win Repeal of Computer Services Sales Tax
In late November 2007, during a special session of the Maryland General Assembly, legislators hastily passed a 6-percent sales tax on computer services that would have cost technology companies in Maryland $200 million annually and $1 billion over five years. In virtually every interview on the “Tech Tax,” Maryland’s governor, its Senate president and its chair of the Budget and Taxation Committee said they would not favor repeal.
“Tuvel Communications taught us how powerful social networking is in reaching more people, more efficiently. We used social networking to get [a] tax repealed before it ever started.”
— Julie Coons: CEO, Tech Council of Maryland
Goals
Realizing this tax was destined to be a job-killer, and that nobody seemed to understand that concern, the Tech Council of Maryland wished to educate smaller businesses and affiliated groups so they could share their stories of declining profits and how the sales tax would affect their businesses; mobilize and connect the tech community and small businesses that were passionate about the sales tax increase; and see the Computer Services Sales Tax repealed.
Strategy
Tuvel Communications suggested that the Tech Council of Maryland use the Internet to educate and drive offline action; identify and leverage businesses, individuals and groups that would be affected by or interested in the issue and could help relay the campaign message; and use social media outreach to spread the word, by building online communities in social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Tactics
Tuvel Communications used the fightthetechtax.com website to drive traffic to a central informational website. Tuvel then turned to an army of bloggers and opinion influencers, Web forums, e-mail lists and broadcasts, technology user groups, business groups, and other online communities to spread the word about why the Computer Services Sales tax was so bad for Maryland’s tech sector.
The bloggers drove traffic to the website, which, in turn, educated more people and encouraged visitors to write, call and e-mail their legislators about the issue.
Tuvel then leveraged other social networks, with online tools such as Facebook, Twitter, flickr, You Tube, Delicious, Meetup and Google, to drive people to in-person rallies in Annapolis, Maryland’s state capital.
Results
For the first time in its history, the Tech Council embraced nontraditional media to educate legislators and rally a much larger public than it had reached in the past.
For months, the Tech Council of Maryland was told there was nothing it could do about the tax, but Tuvel leveraged people who told their stories through social media – and legislators listened. They had to: The noise was deafening. The campaign also used other calls-to-action, including faxing, writing, calling and e-mailing lawmakers, but the social media outreach was what turned the tide. Thanks to social media networking, hundreds of people attended the Tech Council’s rallies, where other groups routinely got 50 or fewer protestors.
Thanks to using social media, the Tech Council of Maryland killed the Computer Services Sales Tax. Technology companies that were on the verge of moving out of state are now staying put.
Achieving Similar Success
For information on how you can put a Tuvel Communications program to work for your company or organization, please contact us.