Meet Mike Bell
Mike Bell of Toledo, OH has been launching a social media campaign to attract citizens for his Mayoral race. Honestly, his website is pretty good, a little rough in spots, but definitely serves his informational purposes. However, what did I see that I just could not believe (in a bad way)? His use of social media.
LISTEN! Ten years ago we had to convince you that you, as politicians, needed websites. This is 2009. The website is not something that should be touted UNLESS it utilizes significant social media integration. No, social media will not get you elected. It is about the message. But with so many millions staying connected online, you cannot leave a 1″ x 4″ rectangle for four social media icons, none of which, by the way, belong to Twitter.
An effective online campaign strategy (OCS) is developed around the integration of new media concepts and networking sites. When I say integration, I mean a comprehensive, synergistic powerhouse of video, audio, and text content. It’s about creating a two-way conversation even beyond your constituency that cannot be done anywhere else and in any other way.
Yes, kudos everyone that has a website. Just realize it’s not enough. If all you have is a small rectangle that only contains four network sites (Facebook, Delicious, Digg, and Yahoo Buzz) where only one of which has the profile capabilities you need, YOU are still in web 1.0. Last I checked, those that are successful with their OCS moved to web 2.0 a while back.
Or if you are thinking that this kind of stuff is only for “big” politics and not for individuals running for Mayor, City Council, or even School Board, you are wrong. Where do grassroots movements begin? At the local level. Remember that and figure out what you can do to improve your OCR. Read the article below.
http://www.mikebellfortoledo.com/meet%2Dmike%2Dbell
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Social Media Mistake: Up Close and (Not Very) Personal | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com
Don’t ever think that self-promotion and personal branding can occur if all you do is tweet announcements and press releases. We’ve been over this a lot but unfortunately there is no end to the need for this echo.
Superficial networks mean nothing. This article discusses how businesses are notorious for setting up RSS feeds to Twitter to update news, blog posts, sales, and other marketable ideas. What do they typically lack? Hear it from Bob Pearson, President of the Blog Council.
“Lot of companies do RSS feeds to Twitter accounts and then don’t have a personality. We all like the human touch about Twitter. People want to know who is talking to them. They probably won’t pay as much attention to companies that just pump in all their content. Same thing with Facebook, where companies simply take their Web site content and put it into a Facebook page and try to attract fans. Why would people care?”
The author of this article even mentions how his company pumps out tons of content that is 100% relevant to their audience but they lack a personal face. Content will NEVER replace personality. How many of you are just dieing to hang out with your co-worker that has no social skills and yet has the highest IQ level you’ve ever seen? Probably not many of you. If you can balance the content with the personality you have created synergistic power that will push your online voice and brand to the next level. It will drive your message and ensure your constituents will listen and believe.
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- Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success by Dan Schawbel (bargaineering.com)
- How To Release Brand Updates to Increase Online Visibility (lookuppage.com)
- Marketing Authentically with Personal Brands as Corporate All-Stars (micropersuasion.com)
- Turn Your Commenters into Connections (slyvisions.com)
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Conservatives4Palin.com: Bear Rugs and Fake Tweets
- Image via Wikipedia
Are you listening on the web? Do you know what others are saying about you? Here’s a great example as to why you should be if you aren’t already.
Let’s face it. No matter what you will have to change how you act as a politician due to social media. Either you will accept it or it will jam itself down your throat. The latter may even be that painful when it happens. If for no other reason, you should be listening on the web to make sure you aren’t being misrepresented. And I mean that in the most literal sense.
Don Young, Republican Congressmen from Alaska has been twitterjacked this past week. Someone started a twitter account under his name and spent all week tweeting Young to be a fool. While the Twitter feed is quite hilarious and I do find myself re-reading it a couple times over again, it just proves the point.
You cannot avoid the web. Even if you aren’t going to participate, at least listen. How is a US Congressmen didn’t have a single staffer that was able to notice this until after a week? Is everyone on his staff his equal age? Even so, his age is a growing demographic on Twitter.
Listening on the web is vital to your success. Not only will it help you understand your constituents and share your message to them but you will avoid the folly of being twitterjacked by a random person that has no other intentions than to make you look like an ignoramus.
If you are a candidate running for office and don’t have any idea how to listen on the web, sign up for our charter membership which is still open because it’s the best training you’ll find at only $97 per quarter (which ends mid-June by the way).
You have to read the tweet stream here: http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2009/04/bear-rugs-and-fake-tweets.html
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Technology and Political Links From ORS 05/01/2009 (a.m.)
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Candidates utilize Facebook, blogs in a new political era | newsleader.com | The News Leader
This is a great and balanced article that describes how many more races are leveraging technology, building email lists, and raising money online. Another key point is that technology is being used to rally support/troops for policy issues. Great article.
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Big decisions eh? I wonder if we’ll hear what he decides first via Twitter? I bet. Go git’um Chuck.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of operationredstate group favorite links are here.
Reddit Launches Video Site | WebProNews
As far as I could tell, until now, Reddit has really had limited penetration in the realm of social media. Reddit seems to have mostly had a large user base suffering from “group think.” Nothing worse than a bunch of people agreeing on everything and alienating any and all opposition.
Now with this launch of Reddit.tv they have gone a step further – Twitter TV. They have an integrated Twitter channel on their new site that tweets new videos. After all, where better than Twitter to promote a new video hosting site. Does this solve their “group think” issue? I doubt it. But it definitily gives them an edge. Kind of ironic though, this article has Reddit.tv posting their promotional video on YouTube. While ironic it makes complete sense since something liek 70% of all video searches are done there.
What impact can this have on your political campaign? TBD. Reddit has yet to prove a significant use in politics. Again, the “group think” aspect really kills any potential conservative candidate to use it without getting slandered. We’ll see though, maybe Reddit.tv will operate outside this user base with their Twitter integration and provide just another video hosting site for you to share your message.
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/04/29/reddit-launches-video-site
The State of the Website | Online Republican Activists
Found some interesting stats here. Check these out:
- Republicans as a whole (68%) are actually more likely to be online political users then Dem’s (53%)
- 84% of Republicans go online and of that group 79% are online political users.
- Only 40% of Republicans engage in online activism.
What does this mean? well, 84 of every 100 Repubs are online and 79 of those are political users. While based on sheer numbers we dominate the left, this last point is devastating. "Only 40% of Republicans ENGAGE IN ONLINE ACTIVISM." So based on the three stats above only about a third of Republicans use the internet for political activism. This is extremely disappointing. On the flip side though, look at the potential. With more Republicans online conservatives can really push some strong grassroots movements through viral networking and probably have a higher likelihood of being successful. What are you doing to build your conservative grassroots movement online?
These were originally from GOP.com/blog.
http://www.kxmb.com/News/Nation/368598.asp
Cuyahoga County Sheriff candidates turn to Facebook for campaigns
Local politics, once again, accessing the world for political advantage to build grassroots support. Small town politics are very interesting and very different from running in a metropolitan area. To be honest, I myself don’t quite understand how they do it. How do you beat out an incumbent that has been in office for a decade or more in a town of 4,000. This scenario isn’t representative of the article linked below, but it’s worth looking at. Unless the current office holder just completely botches how can new blood threaten the old blood.
I’ve decided to go out and figure out the answer to this one. I think small-town politics are the beginning for larger grassroots movements. Now that they have access to the world through public media a strong movement really needs to start here. I’m going to bring you back some interviews and answers to these questions and more, otherwise, I’m afraid we’ll never understand how a Facebook group is going to benefit a town with less than 1,000 people in it. This will especially help those running in Mayoral and City Council elections. Heck, we may as well throw school board elections in there too.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=112612&catid=3
7 Ways to Use Social Media to Build Stunning Business and Personal Brands – Ecademy
Great slideshow here, bare with it as there is no audio to it. Author covers seven basic ways of building your brand. This slideshow is directed at business but again, it’s the very same concepts in politics, just a slightly different context.
- Reputation Management – Duh. You may not control what people perceive your brand but you do have control over how you position yourself in the political arena.
- Customer Service – You may not have a customer service function in your campaign but you do need to be apprised of what your constituency is saying about you. Social media helps you do this.
- Public Relations – This doesn’t just mean announcing your campaign via Twitter. Just like you would submit articles to a local newspaper, submit them to blogs and link them on your social networks.
- Customer Acquisition – Your online appeal can win you a lot of voters. Just make sure you’re doing it right.
- Customer Loyalty – This results in two things. First, a co-owned brand. You are your constituency (or at least you should be). Second, word of mouth buzz and viral networking abilities.
- Though Leadership – Create content. Show us you’re an expert. Show us what you know and why we should support and vote for you.
- Networking – Do I really need to go over this??????
The author of this slideshow also covers six fallacies of social media branding that, in a general way, I agree with.
- It’s inexpensive. - (It is and it isn’t)
- It’s fast
- It’s viral
- You can’t measure
- It’s optional
- It’s hard
All great points. Long story short, it takes a lot of planning and work. It’s incredibly unlikely you will be an overnight success. ENJOY THE SLIDESHOW!
http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=127558
Obama’s outreach pays off in first 100 days
Two major issues with this article. First, why is the media continually giving props to President Obama for using social media to share his message when it is a fact that for the most part, his social media campaign has died since he was elected back in November. Read here.
Second, 75% is unheard of in presidential politics???? San Fransisco really has forgotten the last eight years. As a matter of fact, Bush exceeded the 90% mark. Not that I really care about the past, I’m just sick of hearing how Obama is the “first” to do everything.
Major Front in Va. Race Is Online – washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/04/28/ST2009042804112.html
This is new media at its best. We are seeing an increased number of local and statewide campaigns turning to the nation for support. What kind of impact can the nation have on a gubernatorial race? We’ll find out here soon in Virginia.
We are also seeing an increased amount of negative advertising online. Opposition is buying Google ads. While ads online are somewhat targeted, are these dollars wasted? We’ll find this one out soon also as this next election season rolls around.
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Social Media
