President Obama showed that new technologies and new communications tools can be very helpful in the promotion of a campaign. The advantages are many: tools like Twitter are inexpensive, provide a quick response mechanism and are searchable on the Internet to give your campaign greater reach.
The disadvantages are few but important to understand: Twitter will not move poll numbers in any significant way. I have met candidates who spend so much time on their social media that they ignore their door knocking or their fundraising. Social media is important, but should only be given the amount of time that it currently warrants. While its tough to say exactly what that should be, in 2009, that number is probably around 15-30 minutes per day.
That being said, I believe its a tool worth incorporating. I foresee opportunities where it can be especially valuable if you have to respond to an attack by an opponent and set the record straight. A quick Twitter lets your supporters know the truth so they can spread it through the coffee shops and their circle of friends.
Beware that you don’t Twitter too quickly without giving your words some thought. They can be used against use just as easily as they can be used for you. Those 30 second TV commercials in the future will inevitably carry some poorly thought out Tweet.
So, what are the three things you should include in daily Twitters? Well consider these ideas:
1. Thoughts on issues of the day. Responding to an article in the newspaper where it clearly provides you an advantage can be a quick, inexpensive way to get a message out.
2. Tweets related to events happening in the campaign have the potential to increase your turnout and potentially increase your fundraising success.
3. Tweets related to your opponent may also play a role. This could be responding to something he or she has said attacking you, or a polite way to contrast yourself with something your opponent has done. For example, perhaps you are running against the sitting mayor, you might want to point out how you would have spent money on fixing roads instead of an expensive remodel of the mayor’s office. My caution is this: tweets on Twitter are very personal. What may not sound negative and whiny to you, may sound that way to someone receiving your tweet. So be careful about the words you choose and run it by a friend or advisor with good judgment just to see how it sounds to them.
In short, Twitter will become a more powerful tool in a political campaign over the next two election cycles. Beginning to integrate it now will put you that much further ahead of the curve with that many more followers when you really need it.
Good luck. Feel free to respond with your thoughts.
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Using Twitter in a Political Campaign
Sunday, June 7th, 2009A Political Campaign Internet Strategy for 2009 and Beyond
Sunday, April 26th, 2009The 2008 political campaign changed the world of politicians and if you’re not paying attention, you should be (at least if you are a candidate or plan to be one).
Barack Obama’s Internet campaign pushed the ball further down the field in terms of an Internet strategy. To be fair, the first national candidate to really do some something dramatic with a Web site was John McCain during his 2000 presidential primary against Governor Bush…now former President Bush. After McCain won the New Hampshire primary, he raised a crazy amount of money through his Web allowing him to fight on in South Carolina.
But the Obama campaign empowered users to launch their own campaigns through the tools and social networking inherent in a Web 2.0 political Web site. We won’t cover every piece of political magic in the Obama presidential campaign, but here are a few that you should be considering as you develop your Internet strategy:
1. Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace
2. Social communication sites such as Twitter
3. Text Messaging group communications (see www.VictoryText.com for pricing and background information).
4. A campaign products store.
5. A ‘campaign central’ where supporters can organize and reach voters through online organizational tools.
6. A viral recruitment tool that allows supporters to enter email addresses and reach out to friends and family.
7. Sites such as Digg that rank news stories based on ‘votes’
8. A tool to allow online contributions.
9. Various tools that can be downloaded by supporters and distributed to their friends and family.
10. A volunteer tool which measures and rewards those who recruit the most supporters.
These are a few tools that have come into their own in the political campaign world. It’s unlikely that a competitive statewide or national campaign will ever again undertake an effort without at least a few of them in their political toolbox.
So what do you think? Are there tools I should have mentioned? Have a question? Use the comment box to post your own thoughts.