Analytics should run your eCampaign

I’m a metrics freak.  I love analytics.  Every tool I use has some sort of measurement figure that enables me to make good decisions that will have positive impacts and adapt to change.  Analytics SHOULD run your eCampaign, not gut feeling or perception.  The numbers are always right.

Let me give you an example.  As you saw from my last post, content distribution is insanely important.  The question is, where do you distribute your content?  What media outlets to you most aggressively send your press releases?  Is it based on that sites traffic demographics?  Is it based on their traffic count?  What is it based on?

Enough with the rhetorical questions.  It comes down to this.  It’s all, some and none of those.  The solution you’re looking for is the site that drives people to your site AND to the pages on your site that are most important for them to see.  We’ve heavily leveraged analytics in all our work.  In one of the campaigns we are working on, the results are astounding.  Of the three main competitors here are the monthly traffic levels:

Candidate 1:  From 1/20/2010 to 2/20/2010 they had 185 visits to their website.
Candidate 2:  From 1/20/2010 to 2/20/2010 they had 815 visits to their website.

Our Candidate: From 1/20/2010 to 2/20/2010 we had 1,610 visits to their website.

Recently we had a blog post on their site that received 218 unique visitors.  That one blog post had 18% more traffic than Candidate 1′s site.  How?  Effective distribution that was identified through rigorous analytics.  Our data was able to tell us what sites gave us the most referrals, which gave us the best referrals, which referred people to the pages we wanted them to view.  We can figure out anything and everything via analytics.  Whether it’s analytics on Facebook where we can independently measure click through rates or whether it’s on Twitter?  It doesn’t matter because we have the infrastructure built to handle analytics on everything we do.  Thanks to analytics, our candidate OWNS the eCampaign in his race.

The lesson here is this:  Don’t just trust your gut.  Don’t just trust perception.  Trust the numbers because they justify gut and perception.

How to win your race with technology

Today I’m talking to those of you that run in those statewide races that are won primarily on name recognition.  Races like Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of State, etc.  These are very important positions but are almost always over-shadowed by popular gubenatorial and congressional races.  They don’t spend nearly as much money and they don’t raise as much money either.  This makes it difficult to manage, especially in states like Iowa with 99 counties!

So the answer to winning is a combination of two things:

• Be competent and know what you’re talking about (people know a fool when they see one)
• Get your name out there

For most people the second is the more difficult of the two.  To do this there are three things you need to focus on to be successful in spreading your name.

1. Video:  You MUST leverage video.  Video is both highly searched and easy for any demographic to view.  Furthermore, we’ve given you EVERYTHING you need to produce better-quality video on our blog and you can do it everywhere you are.  I’ve been asked more than once, “Usually when I’m in front of groups I give my stump speech.  Which basically means if I record myself I’ll be recording the same thing over and over again.  So why do I need to record every event?”  The point is not to just hear what you have to say.  It’s to see the people listening to you.  See their reactions.  You shouldn’t ever upload your entire speech anyways more than once.  So take soundbites, create commercials, segment your videos into issue categories.  Use video.  At your events you or someone on your campaign should be walking around asking supporters why they are going to vote for you.  Ask “soon-to-be” supporters what matters most to them in your race.  Be creative.  Video is the top of the totem-pole and I have yet to see anyone fully leverage it.
2. Blogging:  Yes, I’m going to beat this dead horse into non-existence.  I love what we’ve done with Dave Funk’s campaign.  We didn’t design the site but have helped his campaign with content strategy.  If you go to his issues page you’ll see a list of 12 or so  important issues.  Now, obviously we don’t’ want pages and pages of positions on each issue.  No one wants to read that much.  So we’ve taken small excerpts that cover the general idea but links to a blog category.  So every time Dave blogs about Taxes and Spending, you can click on the issues page link for Taxes and Spending and see an archived list of EVERYTHING he’s ever blogged about on that topic.  It’s organized, and it gives everyone the level of content they want.  That’s step one.  Step two is to distribute your content effectively.  Sending it to the masses.  Your race may only be statewide but remember, in-bound links are important.  Publish your content on large networks.  We have targeted sites we use for Funk’s campaign and even the most obscure & bland posts get more than 50 clicks easy.  So create your content, organize your content and effectively distribute your content.
3. Email Marketing:  Go and get an effective email marketing tool.  Almost every demographic is using this tool.  This is equal to Facebook and Twitter in importance when you campaign.  This is a way to reach almost every demographic in one simple outlet.  Use a good email marketing system that allows you to customize your email blasts, automatically pull in your blog feed and allows you to build customized sign up forms for your website, Facebook and anywhere on the web.

These tools are key.  Just because you do them doesn’t guarantee you success, however, if you effectively leverage these three things and distribute them properly you are looking at unprecedented success in your campaign.  Remember, you need to create content, organize content and almost more importantly, effectively distribute content.

Blue Swarm launches Facebook Donation Application

Well, it’s the tool we’ve all been waiting for.  A way to process transactions without ever having to leave Facebook.  With Facebook being the largest and most active of social networks it was only a matter of time before this came around, but now we have this great tool offered to Blue Swarm clients.  I’ve gone ahead and recorded a screen cast on setting it up.  Sorry, it’s not very formal, I just threw it together so we could start using it in one of our client’s campaigns which you’ll also notice.  Nonetheless, you’ll see it’s still a great tool that you can leverage to maximize the donation potential of each and every fan and friend on Facebook.  The great thing about it that I immediately fell in love with is the fact that ANYONE can add a DONATION tab to their personal Facebook page.  That’s right!  You can literally have hundreds and thousands of Facebook users raising money for you with little to no effort on their part.  Watch the screen casting below and hopefully you can get started as soon as possible on this innovative tool.

If the Flash video player isn’t working go ahead and click here to watch the WMV version on Windows Media Player.

CLICK THE MAGNIFYING GLASS IN THE LOWER RIGHT OF THE PLAYER TO GO FULL SCREEN/ZOOM IN

Fire Your Campaign Manager

If you’re a candidate or campaign team ready to hire a campaign manager…or you’ve already hired one please take note:

If the first thing your Campaign Manager tells you to do is to get on Facebook and Twitter…show him/her the door.

Sounds odd coming from we tech centric uber geeks who live inside the Matrix eh?  Not really.  Here’s why.  Although Twitter and Facebook are obviously KEY tools in the overall campaign arsenal…they are merely part of a multivariate marketing equation that will drive you to victory.

When a campaign manager is obssessed with Twitter and Facebook first without having an overall content / web strategy…that means there are serious gaps in their approach.  Okay, maybe you don’t have to fire him/her…but absolutely call us and we’ll do a 2 day immersion camp that will blow their minds.   It will be a good save for you campaign manager and the best thing for your candidate.

Iowa Caucus Recap – Technology Dilemma

I attended the Iowa Caucus yesterday and learned quite a bit about the process. See an off year caucus is designed to elect leadership and fill county volunteer positions on committees, to elect delegates, etc. I am now a delegate for my precinct and feel that much more connected to our great process. But here’s something I ran up against in my precinct huddle.

The group was vigorously discussing how we need to get sons and daughters engaged. We have so many voting age college students/high school seniors that are seemingly ignored by most candidates/officials. Ask Chris Hagenow how important even 80 little votes can be to winning a seat? What if those 80…or 200 or 1000 were between 18-24? There were great ideas but it wasn’t until the very end where someone mentioned “That twitter that all the young people are on”.  I don’t expect Citizen USA to know demographic data on these tools…but she was headed in the right direction.

I sat back trying to assess where this group was regarding technology and I chimed in, “Does anyone here NOT have email and is anyone unwilling to provide it as a method of organization?” (silence).  So we had our 100% possible compliance technology.  So I raced home, built a WordPress site, set up an email list on Aweber‘s email marketing platform and bought an easy to remember URL.  After all that, I had a moment of reflection, dropped what I was doing…and created a Facebook Group. The thought was “Keep it simple stupid”.

I’m sure we’ll end up doing what campaigns and candidates should do..and that’s to be where people ARE and communicate in the ways THEY want.  Is that more work? YES.  Does it require more infrastructure? YES.  But can one tie them all together to provide a “web” or network of information that “disperses to all of the content outposts” for a campaign automatically? You bet.

We’ll see how this plays out and I will report on a regular basis….but now that I’m in the trenches of my actual neighborhood, I’m going to learn a lot more about what works, what doesn’t, and what we can pass onto other precincts.

More to come.

eCampaign Support via Facebook Fandom

I read this article earlier that made me chuckle.  Long story short, in Canada, there is apparently a looming Teachers’ Strike.  So students from 11 Ontario Colleges planned a walkout at the same time in protest of this strike.  So what did they do?  They had a Facebook Fan Page, DUH!

So on this Facebook Fan Page they gained 22,000 fans.  Quite a number.  They than had  petition, likely distributed through Facebook, that had 4,000 signatures.  Of all these numbers, only 356 students agreed to the walkout.  So the time arrives to walkout and protest and what happens?  (Do you hear the chirping birds?)  Nothing happened. The National Post’s Kelly McParland reported  that,

“Graeme McNaughton, founder of the antistrike Facebook group, said he had found volunteers at 11 colleges who were willing to lead student walkouts. In the end, however, turnout was meagre, and in no case exceeded 20 people.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I find this incredibly funny.  Here you have “activist” college students trying to fight a cause and get incredible online support.  In reality though, only 18% of their fans were willing to sign a petition, 1.618% agreed to walkout and assuming the maximum quoted above (20 per location)  a whopping 1.09% actually did anything.  The National Post reported that one school had a whole student (yes, singular, it’s not a typo) walk out and deliver the petition to the admin offices.  HA!

Lesson?  Just because you have a lot of fans means nothing.  I was actually reading from The Iowa Republican and the Bleeding Heartland and saw a comment by the same commenter that was bleeding with ignorance.  He/She concluded that because one candidate had quadruple the numbers of anyone else running that he would win.  The funniest thing is that he can’t add because one of the other candidates had twice as many as his beloved candidate.

When you’re running your campaign there are two things: Don’t think you lack support because you only have few fans on Facebook and don’t think you’ve got it in the bag because you have a gazillion fans.  In a lot of cases you’d be better off having 20,000 gremlins become fans than having 20,000 actual fans.  (Because gremlins are sneaky, just don’t put them in the microwave;)

So what’s the point of being a fan?  Engagement.  You need to engage.  If I have 100 fans that I am constantly engaging versus someone with 10,000 fans they never engage, I am better off and have a stronger following.  It’s not about fandom, it’s about engagement.  So as you run your online eCampaig remember that even if you rise to the elite of Facebook Fandom, if it’s only based on quantity, not quality, you’re support is utterly worthless.

The Ambiguous Donation

I was reading some blogs today and came across a great article from Hotair.com about the Massachusetts US Senate race between Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley who is only leading Republican State Senator Scott Brown by a mere 11 points.  Which for Massachusetts, a state where Obama won by 23 points, is pretty darn good considering there are still ten campaigning months left.  In the post the author placed an appeal to donate to Brown’s campaign.  An appeal I’d second as that would be a huge win for us.  But that’s not my point.

Directly below, I was perusing the comments to this post.  Sure enough the second one said,

“I fanned him on Facebook. That’s like a contribution right?”

With the emergence of Social Media (SM) the definition of a donation seems to be skewed.  I’ve noticed this with other campaigns as well.  People are beginning to remove the $$ from the definition of “Campaign Donation” and replacing it with any action from volunteering to “fanning” them on Facebook.  This in fact, is wrong!

Fund raising is key for any campaign, DUH!  Yes, volunteering your time is good, but let’s be honest, I can reach a heck of a lot more people through a TV ad or even a tweet than I will from you knocking on five blocks of homes.  Not only that, but they are less intrusive as well.  Don’t get me wrong.  Volunteering is vital for a successful campaign but it doesn’t mean you don’t have to donate.  That said, you as a candidate should not expect them to not donate because they are volunteering.

It’s simple marketing.  You need to ALWAYS be asking people for donations until they’ve given you the maximum funding the law allows.  Remind them at every turn.  Money may not be the exclusive force that wins campaigns but I promise, it sure does help.

As a campaign you need to be strategizing all the time on how you can generate more funds through your daily actions.  How can you remind people all the time without looking like a loser?  It varies from area to area so figure it out.  Our clients are finding success in different ways and with SM you have many more avenues for generating those funds.

Like I said, don’t let your supporters get away with thinking that fanning your Facebook page is sufficient.  If they want real change than they MUST donate.  Even if it’s just a dollar.  I don’t care how much.  Obviously the more the merrier but anything and everything helps.

Diminished Importance of Mainstream Media

(By John Burnley, Contributing Author to ORS)

Last time I discussed the importance of constituent engagement and how technological tools were beginning to transform the political campaign process. However, I also issued some warnings about utilizing these tools without purpose, strategy or gauging effectiveness. Whether social/new media tools like Facebook or other software, voice or video offerings etc. are implemented, mimicking other campaigns in their use of technology may not produce the desired results. Nevertheless, online campaign initiatives are beginning to take hold. There are more examples surfacing of candidates realizing the importance and relevance of embracing newer approaches to reach constituents, whether to pass information, solicit donations or promote volunteerism.

We are also seeing a shift in the way information is being delivered to the public. I recently ran across another example of social media being used to distribute political technology related content. According to the Facebook page “California governor’s race travels the information superhighway”, the Golden State’s 2010 gubernatorial race may be the most technologically based contest yet to be seen by the state. Candidates have been using Twitter, YouTube videos, Google search advertisements and other social media and online tools. One candidate even made his campaign official via Twitter.

The page also questions if alternate methods of information delivery will diminish the importance of traditional media such as radio and television. YouTube videos, as well as other online or social content delivery mechanisms can be used to respond more quickly to events than traditional media as well as go on the offensive against an opponent. While I’m not intrigued by a new wave of negative candidate bashing YouTube videos, this does allow a candidate the opportunity to respond quickly to comments, inaccurate claims etc. without the possibility of the content being edited or diluted down by traditional media or fighting to have the information delivered to the public at all.

There is no hint about any of the underlying strategies for tool utilization or determining effectiveness, but it does illustrate how campaigns are becoming more innovative in their attempts to reach constituents.

As with most political venues, funding for information and technology for the various candidates is across the board ranging from $17,000 – $900,000. In an economy where many grassroots candidates may struggle for financing, these numbers illustrate the importance that some high profile campaigns are placing on newer methods for constituent engagement. Seriously, Doug, raise your rates for ORS!

Drive Campaign Sales!

Today I joined Doug for the Red Alert Hour and we discussed a few things I really want to extrapolate on.  It really is amazing how few people get it.  Not just in politics but even in business.  People assume that because it’s called social media it is meant to be only ‘social.’  They think that these online communication venues are only meant for interaction.  Why is it that communication within the world of social media is constrained to be defined strictly as ‘friendly interaction?’ Are television ads not communication?  Are radio ads not communication?  Heck, are newspaper ads not communication?

I bring this up for a very good reason.  You see….political AND many social media consultants aren’t saying that selling (fund-raising) through social media is pointless.  Rather, they are saying DON’T DO IT!  They say it’s against all that social media stands for.  They say it’s not authentic.  This REALLY erks me.  Let me share why.

Social media STILL follows all the basic marketing principles.  How does my tweeting back and forth with you about the weather going to make you give me your hard earned cash?  IT DOESN’T! It does make you think I’m a nice guy to chat with, but that’s it.  I’m not just saying this – I’ve experienced this with past clients.  You need a call to action. You need to tell them why you are online.  If you are on Facebook and Twitter just to chat…more power to you.  But don’t complain when your sales aren’t going up or you haven’t hit the level of funds you need for your campaign.

Social media IS selling. It’s selling yourself.  It’s selling products.  It’s selling services.  It’s selling oppportunities.  It’s selling and selling and selling and selling.  Get the point?  The argument they always give me is that you need to brand.  Yeah.  So what?  You tell me what good branding is if you aren’t going to sell what you have to offer.  Wait.  You don’t have to because I already know it’s useless.

So get ready, here’s what it takes.  Branding and selling need to be simultaneous acts through social media. You have mere seconds to position yourself, peak interest, coerce a click and motivate your viewer with a call to action. That’s right.  In a matter of seconds.  It’s shorter than TV and radio.  This is done through content generation.  Provide your viewers with valuable content and ALWAYS remind them to donate funds to your campaign.  There are some strategies we use at OperationRedState and of course you’ll have to sign up to find out what .  But it really does come down to the fact that if you are ONLY conversing with your following don’t expect anything to happen.

People don’t vote for friends.  They vote for leaders.  They vote for people they know will stand up for what their constituents believe in.  They vote for people that communicate with them and ask for their help, both monetary and through actions.

You aren’t online to be their friend and frankly, I don’t want to be your friend.  If you are then that’s all you’ll ever be – the friend that keeps running for office but seldom wins.  You are online to lead.  Show me your a leader.  I dare you!

Social Media in 2010

I read a great article yesterday from the Harvard Business Blog about Social Media Trends for 2010.  The author, David Armano, talked about six key things to look out for in 2010.

1. “Social media begins to look less social”: He talks about two things here.  First, we are all so used to the “something to do for everyone” sites like Twitter and Facebook that as more niche networks emerge  the exclusivity brings out an image of being less social.  Second, and this one we all can relate to, as more and more people join networks, more and more of us are going to block, unfollow and hide those high school classmates we never spoke to for a reason.
2. “Corporations look to scale”: Very few companies are utilizing social media beyond a person or two in their marketing department.  He cites Best Buy’s “Twelpforce” which “leverages hundreds of employees” who provide customer support via social media.  With the coming of 2010 more and more corporations will be entering the social media era for cost saving measures and greater efficiency in providing customer service.  They are realizing they need to communicate with you the way you want to be communicated with.
3. “Social business becomes serious play”: He mentions a newer networking site, Foursquare, which is an interesting shift in “network models” for these social site.  One thing all social networks suffer from is attrition.  They lose people and it’s often hard to keep users active in the long-run.  We’ve all seen the numbers on Twitter and how long they keep their average user.  Foursquare actually incentivizes their users to stay active with prizes, contests and rewards.  I would not be surprised to see more networks taking this approach to maximize their user activity which, inevitably, increases ad revenue.
4. “Your company will have a social media policy (and it might actually be enforced)”: Keep your eyes out. This past year there have been numerous instances of employees getting fired for posting things on Facebook and other networks.  For protection you will see companies defining what type of online conduct is allowed not just while at work but probably even at home.
5. “Mobile becomes a social media lifeline”: Companies are coming down hard on those that are using social media while on the clock at work.  They are blocking sites like YouTube and Facebook and have consequences that compell employees to avoid participating on networks while at work.  That said, that’s why we have phones.  Every major network, and even many of the smaller ones, have mobile apps for any kind of smart phone.  These mobile apps keep people involved in ways that their employers can’t monitor as easily, thus, being their lifeline to the online world.
6. “Sharing no longer means email”: For years now whenever you would click on the share link it would pop up your email or a submission form to send a message via email.  Now when you click the share button you get a list of a million different networks you can share on.  You can tweet about it, link it on Facebook, bookmark it on Diigo and share it in many more locations.  Seldom do I get an email anymore, but rather, a message through a shared network.  While e-mail is still a growing method of communication it is definitely not always the preferred method of sharing online content.

Social networking didn’t stop changing this year and won’t next.  As more and more people find niches, apps and other methods of communication we will see so much happen in 2010 across the board.

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