Grab Our Introduction To Social Media
www.wesleydonehue.com/socialmedia
A big thank you to Jason Zacher for writing this with me.
Download Our Introduction to Internet Politics for Republicans
You probably know by now that I head up communications and political strategy for the South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus. My counterpart in the State House is bright communications strategist Jason Zacher. To say we have a large majority of members who are gun shy when it comes to social media is a MASSIVE understatement.
Together Jason and I developed a 10 page white paper to introduce South Carolina’s Republican legislators to social media. This is the first of many, which will dive in deeper to explain each social network, its value to candidates and elected officials, and how to use it effectively and strategically.
Here is one section of our paper titled “You Can No Longer Afford To Ignore Social Media.” We invite you to fill in the form at the bottom of this sample and a link to the whole white paper will be emailed directly to you with with in minute.
The Benefits of Social Media in Politics
Social Media tools are all about connecting and organizing. In the not too recent past, reaching voters centered on newspaper advertising, 30-second radio spots, direct mail, community events and going door-to-door by relying on instantly out-of-date voter files. Actively recruiting volunteers, soliciting donations and securing support went the same way. Social media isn’t going to replace these tactics, which all remain an important part of campaign strategy.
But having Facebook and Twitter profiles, and a Facebook fan site, you reach out and remain in touch with supporters and average voters who are interested in the election or current policy. You and/or a member of staff can list events where the candidate or official will be, organize fundraising drives and keep followers apprised of campaign goings-on, policy stances and current legislation. People who have decided to keep up with you will see the updates in a regular feed.
Twitter Isn’t A Toy
Cross-posted at TechRepublican.com.
This week, the former speechwriter for former Gov. Jim Hodges – and current associate with Qorvis Communications — Wyeth Ruthven, came up with an analysis of Twitter use in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial campaigns, as well as the special election for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.
No matter your political stripe, it’s possible to take some lessons from what he put together. One main takeaway is to look at everything Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds did, and do the opposite.
According to the analysis, the Deeds campaign had three separate Twitter accounts – one for the candidate (@CreighDeeds), one for attacks on Republican nominee Bob McDonnell and connections with rural voters (@DeedsCountry) and one attacking McDonnell’s thesis and controversy surrounding it (@BobsThesis). Needless to say, doing a three-pronged Twitter strategy is not a good idea.
Ruthven makes the point: “Campaigns should resist the temptation to create a new Twitter account for each issue or micro-campaign that they are running. Multiple accounts breed message dilution. Staff should limit their own tweeting on campaign topics. Recurring issues and themes can be highlighted by creating appropriate hashtags on a unified Twitter feed.”
And while it’s great to hear that Deeds is such a big fan of groups like the Drive-By Truckers and The Band, having your candidate for governor tweet about how he’s listening to the bands while on the road, as opposed to thoughts on topical issues, is not a good idea, either. According to the study, over a three-month period, Deeds tweeted about music 39 times, and talked about his transportation plan – a major issue in Virginia — once.
As I’ve said before, the Internet is a tool of a wider effort. Scott Brown’s campaign in Massachusetts seemed to understand this. There was a period between the end of the primaries and when the general election campaign began in earnest. Shortly after the primaries, the Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley, went dark on ads and on Twitter. Brown did not. While continuing his free and paid media blitz, his campaign also kept it up on Twitter. In the first month of the general election campaign, he out-tweeted Coakley by about two-to-one.
It’s worth pointing out here that Brown had 15,827 followers, as opposed to Coakley’s 4,361. He also happened to tweet more unique news, “calls to action,” and “self-promotion.” Again, here’s why Twitter can be an effective tool. A “call to action,” as defined in the analysis, consists of requests for donations, volunteers, voter registration and get-out-the-vote. A campaign isn’t meant to be on Twitter to be your pal, it is supposed to be organizing to win. Brown did that.
If you want your tactics on the Internet to be effective, don’t play around with Twitter like it’s a toy. Sure, it might be fun to think that a few people would like to see the personal side of your candidate, but that isn’t going to convince them to help you stuff envelopes, knock on doors, write letters to the editor or contribute.
The Internet is not a strategy – it is a tool
Some political Internet “experts” think that the Internet is the end-all be-all of campaigns, but it’s only one part. Successful campaigns aren’t built around the Web alone. They are built around strategies that use a wide variety of tools and tactics including television, direct mail and the Internet.
Recently, a study was released by the Pew Research Center. The news, as it was cribbed from the study by the mainstream media and blogs, was that the entire nation was moving over to the Internet to get its news. According to the report, about 61 percent of Americans get at least some of their news from the Internet.
Hearing news like that might make some campaign consultants concentrate on the Web as a strategy on the level of a get-out-the-vote-effort. That would be a mistake.
As Gary Vaynerchuk says in the video, it’s all about extending the story. The Internet is not an end in itself. For every television advertisement, for every radio advertisement, for every direct mail piece, use that medium for exactly what it is supposed to do. But don’t stop there. That doesn’t mean just linking the website. It means extending the story with an extremely strong strong appeal to visit the Web site. Just think about the GoDaddy commercials. Then you can et people to engage with the candidate via Facebook, Twitter and whichever other social media in which the campaign is engaged.
In this way, you can connect the voters on multiple platforms. Something left out of many of the stories about the Pew research is that only two percent of Americans get all of their information from the Internet. Therefore, having an Internet operation running in a vacuum will not help.
Another statistic from the study is that 92 percent of people in this country get their news from multiple platforms. To repeat a modern political cliché, you have to go to where the voters are. They aren’t all on the Internet, or going to the Internet first. But the people who are most likely to vote and most likely to contribute will end up on the Web. That’s why it’s very important that if you want to win, you have to combine traditional and online marketing strategies.
Facebook Is Taking Over The World
Notes:
According to Nielsen, “member communities” (social networking and blogging) are now the fourth most popular Internet activity, even surpassing personal email. Also, time spent on social networking and blogging sites has grown by three times the rate of the rest of the Internet. In terms of time spent, between December 2007 and December 2008, Facebook saw a massive increase of 566 percent.
In 2008-2009 the use of social media by people aged 35 to 54 grew 60 percent. People over the age of 35 are the fastest growing group using Facebook.
Between February 2008 and February 2009, Facebook’s users increased 228 percent, from 20.04 million to 65.7 million.
- Wesley Donehue
Give Up Control
I’m on an airplane.
I hate airplanes. Have I told you that yet? If I haven’t, there you go. I hate airplanes.
I hear the stats about how flying is so much safer than driving. And I have a fear of heights, but it’s not the heights that gets me. What I hate is the lack of control. In a car I have control. Sure some one can hit me, but I still have a good bit of control. It’s my hands on the steering wheel and my foot on the gas pedal. That’s not the case in an airplane. I’m completely in someone else’s hands. My life is dependent upon a machine. God controls the weather that could force me to the ground.
All the while I can’t do anything but sit here and type on my computer.
So now it’s this idea of control that I want to talk about for a few seconds.
I’m flying to DC right now to attend CPAC where I’ll be speaking on a panel about web politics. Specifically, I’ll be talking about my web product Voter Fetch.
Twitter Ain’t All Bizness
Heading back from an awesome John Mayer concert, I had a few thoughts about using Twitter to show off some personality.
- Wesley Donehue
Should You Refollow Your Twitter Followers
I think you should always refollow your twitter followers. What do you think?
Talking With Trey Pennington About Listening
Social media expert Trey Pennington talks with me about the necessity for using the Internet to listen.
Learn more about Trey at www.treypennington.com.
- Wesley Donehue
