Social posts compete with everything else in someone's feed. You get a second or two to earn a stop, and the platforms reward emotion, which is exactly where honest posts and manipulative ones start to look alike. These templates are built to travel without crossing the line.
Best for: any platform. Check each platform's current length limits and political-ad rules before you post. Pairs with: Template: flyer or leaflet (same message and image).
Four formats
1. The single card (image + caption)
[IMAGE TEXT] Your core message, ≤ 8 words, large type.
[CAPTION] Line 1: the hook (a number, a question or a moment).
Line 2: the fact, with its source.
Line 3: the action, with a link.
[who is posting / paid for by, if applicable]
2. The short thread (3–5 posts)
1/ Hook: one person or one surprising, sourced number.
2/ The problem, with its comparison.
3/ What would change it, concretely.
4/ The strongest objection, answered in one line.
5/ The action, with a link. Core message repeated.
3. The short video script (30–45 seconds)
0–3 s Face to camera, or the place itself. Say the hook.
3–15 s Story of self or one person's moment.
15–30 s The fact and the fix, with the source on screen.
30–45 s The action. Core message. Who you are, on screen.
4. The reply
Acknowledge the point that's fair. Give one sourced fact. Link. Stop.
Fill-in notes
| Element | Write | Technique it uses | Keep it fair |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook | A real number, a real moment or a real question. | Narrative, Negativity bias | No bait-and-switch; the body must deliver what the hook promised (Outrage bait). |
| Emotion | Hope, worry or anger that fits the facts. | Emotional appeal, Moral outrage | Moral-emotional words spread faster (Brady et al., 2017), mostly within your own side. Don't let the fury become the product. |
| Fact | One claim, one source, a link. | Evidence and credibility | Screenshots of numbers need the source, not just the chart. |
| Image | Real photo with permission, or a clear graphic. | Framing | No AI-made image of a real person or a real event (Synthetic media). Label AI-made illustrations. |
| Action | One link, one verb. | Efficacy | One action. |
| Who | Your name or your group's; "paid for by" on ads. | Credibility | Follow the platform's and your jurisdiction's disclosure rules. |
| Sharing | Ask real supporters to share in their own words. | Social proof | Never pay people to post as if unprompted without disclosure, and never use fake or borrowed accounts (Astroturfing; see the Rally Forge and Project Birmingham cases in Anatomy of deception: how documented operations worked, and how to spot them). |
Filled example: for
Invented case: Riverton's Measure 12, a half-cent sales tax for buses every ten minutes.
Card. Image text: Buses every 10 minutes. Yes on 12. Caption:
40 minutes. That's how long you wait for the Route 4 right now. Measure 12 makes it 10, on six routes, from next September (Measure 12, sec. 3). Vote yes on 3 Nov: riverton.example/12 — Riverton Families for Transit
Thread.
1/ Last winter a Riverton parent missed her daughter's school concert because the Route 4 came 40 minutes late. 2/ Six Riverton routes run every 40 minutes. [1,400] north-ward households have no car (census, 2020). 3/ Measure 12 funds buses every 10 minutes on those routes. About [$X] a year per household (council fiscal note). 4/ "It'll hurt Main Street"? The price gap on a [$40] shop is [20¢], and most Main St customers live on the new routes. 5/ Vote yes on 12, 3 Nov. Buses every 10 minutes. Your evenings back. riverton.example/12
Filled example: against
Card. Image text: Keep Main Street fair. No on 12. Caption:
3 Main Street shops closed last year (business licence register). Measure 12 would put our sales tax [0.5 points] above the next county's, two miles away. Better buses, fairer funding: vote no, then back the county grant plan on the 14th. — Main Street First
Thread.
1/ Harlow Hardware has been on Main Street since 1988. Last year [three] of its neighbours closed. 2/ Measure 12 would make Riverton's sales tax [half a point] higher than the county line, two miles away (state tax tables). 3/ The county transport grant could fund two of the six routes with no new tax (county grant schedule). 4/ "Buses will bring shoppers downtown"? Maybe, but nobody's measured it, and Main St routes already run every [20] min. 5/ Vote no on 12, 3 Nov. Keep Main Street fair. riverton.example/main-street
What the research says about sharing
- Moral-emotional language spreads. Each moral-emotional word in a tweet on contested issues was associated with roughly 20% more retweets, mostly within the sender's own political group (Brady et al., 2017). Emotion helps you reach your side; it does less to reach the other.
- High-arousal emotion gets shared. Awe, anger and anxiety beat sadness (Berger & Milkman, 2012).
- A moment's thought about accuracy reduces sharing of false claims. Pennycook et al. (2021) found that prompting people to think about accuracy improved the quality of what they shared. Put your source in the post; it invites that moment.
Before you post
Run Before you publish: the fair-play check.
Sources
- Brady, W. J. et al. (2017). Emotion shapes the diffusion of moralized content in social networks. PNAS, 114(28), 7313–7318.
- Berger, J. & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What makes online content viral? Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192–205.
- Pennycook, G., Epstein, Z., Mosleh, M., Arechar, A. A., Eckles, D. & Rand, D. G. (2021). Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online. Nature, 592, 590–595.