The Ambiguous Donation
Filed under: Red Alert Dossier, Social Media
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.
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Social Media
