One Giant Leap for the RNC
This week the RNC rolled out a new website for the nation’s Republicans at www.gop.com. Critics of the rollout have been harsh, attacking the sites design and messaging. Many say the banner looks too much like the flag of communist China. Some say the RNC is trying too hard to reach black voters.
Truth be told, those aren’t the kinds of complaints I expected from the tech community. I expected them to do more than look at the homepage, only to click away 10 seconds later for their own blogs. Unfortunately that’s not what’s happening. Their arguments are flawed, not because they’re wrong, but because they’re superficial.
Listen, the site isn’t perfect, but hardly any site is. Maybe they are trying too hard to reach out to black voters and maybe the header does look just a tad bit like the Chinese flag. Maybe not. My biggest complaint is the Mini-Mike that walks out onto the screen, but that’s something that can be fixed with the push of a button. The largest problems I see are an overall messaging issue that should not fall under the job description of the RNC’s tech team. Those decisions come from higher up and after weeks, or even months, or hardcore research.
As for the design itself, I direct my team to build websites with one motto in mind “attractive and simple.” While some argue on the attractiveness of the RNC site, I think the layout is clean, crisp, and simple. I also really like the introductory video and the facebook widget on the homepage, although I also agree with Todd Ziegler’s point about emphasizing the Our GOP network instead.
But again, these are all superficial issues.
The real power of the site lies behind the homepage, which I expected the Republican tech community to understand. I thought they’d see that the power is in the social networking capabilities and source code.
For the first time, Republicans across the country have a way to connect to each other and even more important for the RNC, they now have a way to target and collect information on those voters. The first step on being successful isn’t recruiting new supporters. It’s connecting the supporters we already have. We have to connect, organize, and activate our current supporters so that we have an outreach machine in place. After we do that, we can then take the next step to start reaching out to those we’ve been unable to grab – i.e. young voters and African Americans. For the first time, the capabilities are now there and I believe the RNC has a team in place that knows how to use them.
Facebook has gone through a few design changes over the past couple years, but has that stopped anyone from using the service? The answer is obviously no. Facebook has continued to grow into one of the world’s largest networks. The design didn’t matter. The power was in the network. The RNC’s new Our GOP won’t be Facebook, but it’s a good equivalent for Republicans looking to connect. And speaking of the two, I love that you can access Our GOP with Facebook Connect. Great move!
But that’s not it folks. From what I’m hearing, the RNC’s source code is going to be pretty open. What exactly does that mean? Two great things.
First, APPLICATIONS. This is huge! I can’t overstate it. President Obama’s team wasn’t successful because their site was pretty. They were successful because they connected supporters and then put them to work using voter outreach applications. Call banks, door-to-door walks, fundraising drives…it was all organized and implement on the web. With an open code, the RNC is telling conservative developers across the nation “here it is, start building.”
Second, more connecting. An open code allows all 50 state parties to tap into the GOP network, increasing the networks power 50-fold. But wait, that’s not right. Every county party in the nation, Young Republican group, College Republican group, Teenage Republican group, and every single other auxiliary will be able to tap into the network directly from their website, increasing the network’s power 5000-fold.
Messaging is everything, but you can’t expect a bunch of techies to tell Chairman Steele what should be said in television ads, mail pieces, and interviews. The same goes for the RNC homepage. Don’t place the Republican Party’s problems on Todd Herman and his team. Place them on the Republicans that dropped that ball over the past 10 years and the one’s who are not working tirelessly to capitalize on President Obama and Nancy Pelosi’s big government policies. The RNC tech team should be praised for putting together a system that works. Leave the messaging to the messengers.
Hit me up on Our GOP at our.gop.com/wesley
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