Social media strategies and tactics in political campaigns

We have seen that there are few things more effective than person-to-person marketing. One of the best ways to harness that power is through social media. We have seen the powerful potential of social media in regards to politics recently in the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. Like many web trend setters, the Obama campaign didn’t really invent anything new. Instead, they built an unexpected force to raise funds, organize locally, combat negative campaigns, and get out the vote, all by making use of social media outlets and organizing them together under the banner of a movement.

There are some integral ways to connect with your voters via social media that can help make a big impact on your campaign.

Integrate and coordinate

Consistency across your different marketing efforts is essential to a successful campaign. Coordinate your efforts across the board to ensure that the voters see the same imagery and similar message in their mailbox, on the roadside, and on their favorite social media application all at the same time.

Localize and alert.

In addition to coordinating your efforts to ensure consistency in imagery, coordinate to promote local events and appearances. Using the geo-targeted posts on platforms such as Facebook can dramatically change turn out at these events.

Listen, respond, and remind

Have team members monitor conversations and sentiments being discussed on your social media pages to know what is important to your supporters and to other voters in your district and then respond accordingly. Be prepared to respond to unconventional questions if possible. Remember, one of the key components of social media is the ability to humanize the candidate; that is, make the candidate appear to be “one of their own”.

Donations

Make it easy for your supporters to donate by adding a “Donate Now” button to your social media pages. While they may not want, or be able to come out to rallies to support you, they can still support you with a few clicks of a mouse. The easier it is for them to support you, the less they have to actually do, the more likely they are to do so.