Obama campaign 2008 use of social media, a case study prepared for the UW Certificate program, Social Media in Business

1. Social Media in Business Instructor: Mala Sarat Chandra Gmail: [email_address] University of Washington March 29 – June 7, 2011 [email_address]

3. [email_address] Source: Edelman 2009 “ Obama (and Howard Dean before him) weren’t successful because they understood computers, they were successful because they understood how to make technology harness the passion of their supporters ” - Republican Strategist Mark McKinnon

5. [email_address] Democratic Party Goal: Get Obama elected President CAMPAIGN 2008 “ All of our goals and metrics were derivative of the larger campaign goals. You could track everything we did back to dollars or more volunteers.” - Joe Rospars OFA Goal: Get people to get other people to Sign-up Volunteers Register Voters Raise funds Get out the vote

6. [email_address] For the duration of the campaign Obama Campaign 2008: S. M. A. R. T. Goals*, Results focused, Data Driven * Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Timely Goal KPI Metric Sign-up Volunteers BarackObama.com Registrations Active Volunteers by State % website visitors Number registered and activity level on MyBo site Register Voters Volunteer-team performance against targets Email-ids gathered Number of events organized Email-ids from events and list conversions Raise Funds Website, email and offline donations Number of 1 st time/repeat website visitor donations Ave Contribution/donor Email campaign yield Get out the Vote Number, frequency, location of offline events User generated content and engagement on Social Media Attendance at events Number of Voter registrations

7. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Iterate: Measure , Analyze, Test, Improve Website Donate Cost Per Click Sign- Up Rate $ Per Recipient $ per pageview Email Signup Define Quantifiable Success Metrics Find and Fix Weak Links Source: Dan Siroker Website Email Signup Donate Cost Per Click Sign- Up Rate $ Per Recipient $ per pageview

8. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Multivariate Testing Using Google Website Optimizer Source: Dan Siroker SIGN UP LEARN MORE JOIN US NOW SIGN UP NOW

9. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Multivariate Test Results Learn More button outperforms baseline by 18% Family Image outperforms baseline by 13% Source: Dan Siroker

10. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Multivariate Test Results Winning combination is the LEARN MORE Button and Family Image Improved conversion rate by 40% Translated to 4 Million (out of 13) email addresses over time Source: Dan Siroker

11. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Additional Testing Source: Dan Siroker Maximum value in the campaign time of the supporter

12. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 “ New Media” Sponsorship from the Top New Media reported directly to David Plouffe Team of 81 paid staff and 89 volunteers Professionals Film-makers Writers Data Analysts Developers Industry Experts Joe Rospars Chris Hughes Michael Slaby Kevin Malover Source: Dan Siroker Barack Obama David Plouffe Communications New Media Paid Media Marketing Field Email Policy Blog Operations Video Correspondence Design Finance Analytics Organizing

13. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Organizational Structure Campaign HQ Staff Regional HQ Staff Regional HQ Staff Volunteer Teams Volunteer Teams Volunteer Teams Volunteer Teams Volunteer Teams

14. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Volunteers and Grass-roots Movement Standard team structure, replicable everywhere Training was mandatory, for team members and neighbourhood volunteers they organized Teams held accountable to meet clearly set goals for vote-getting and voter-contact Teams were well informed about campaign goals, strategy, with plenty of context for their work Motivation, passion and morale were high due to a culture of inclusion in campaign planning and communications Volunteers were trusted to deliver the message accurately to local constituents and the press alike

17. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Conversation Strategy “ Dinner with Barack” Comments enabled on all online channels Be the First to Know: V.P. Announcement via SMS Tremendous buzz from bloggers and mainstream media House Parties and Event Sign-Ups Create authentic experiences with Email Rallying cry “supporters like you” with calls to action Nurture one-on-one relationships with online supporters Videos and Streaming Videos Local Real-World Stories Exclusive “One-on-One” Reports to campaign supporters Blogging Widespread online promotions including Twitter updates

18. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Tiers of Engagement Provide a Menu of Options for Prospective Supporters to choose from Source: Edelman

19. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Communities Strategy Establish presence on popular social networking sites Embrace Facebook Community One Million Strong for Obama I Endorse Barack Obama – and I’m telling my friends! One Click for Barack Obama I have more Foreign Policy Experience than Sarah Palin Design MyBo website with familiar tools from other SN sites Official Barack Obama YouTube Channel In-game advertising on Xbox LIVE to reach 18-34 year-olds

20. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Take Advantage of Special Circumstances “ I guess a small town mayor is like a community organizer, except you have actual responsibilities” From David Plouffe to supporters Raised over $10 Million with 24 hours Sources: Dan Siroker Online Tactics & Success by M+R Services

21. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 By the numbers Source: Edelman 2009 $500,000,000 raised online. $156,000,000 raised offline. 3 million online donors contributed 6.5 million times 365 Electoral Votes. 69,456,97 Popular Votes. 5 million “friends” on 15 social networking sites 3 million on Facebook alone 13 million email list 3 million signed up to receive between 5 to 20 SMS per month 35,000 volunteer groups held 200,000 offline events 8.5 million monthly visitors to MyBarackObama.com at peak 2 million profiles with 400,000 blog posts 70,000 fund-raising hubs raised $30,000,000 2,000 official YouTube videos watched 80,000,000 times 442,000 user-generated videos on YouTube

22. Obama Campaign 2008 Media Spend [email_address] Media Spend $

23. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 “ New Media” Strategy Recap Authentic - Transparent - Inclusive - Trust Goal focused, Results oriented, Data driven Crisp, consistent Messaging, coordinated Offline and Online Offline and Online campaigns equally Important Offline campaign expenses 10 x Online campaign expenses Online campaign organized as a hub (MyBo website) and spokes Email marketing central to campaign Data driven decision making Controlled testing, adapting, retesting before scaling Community building to amplify and scale Tools for independent yet coordinated activities Free and easy access to campaign materials Active encouragement and support for User Generated Content Organization, Training and Guidelines

24. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Business Lessons Learned Find and listen to your audience wherever they are online. Engage with your audience by providing interesting, relevant content. Ensure content is easy to find, follow, act on. Start with clear goals. S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant, T imely. Empower brand advocates with content aligned with their interests, easy to customize and share. 2 1 3 4 5

25. [email_address] OBAMA CAMPAIGN 2008 Business Lessons Learned Channel online enthusiasm into specific, targeted activities to further the campaign’s goals. Get Executive Sponsorship. Hire and empower a professional team; Organize for success. Establish a technological foundation. Make campaign decisions based on KPI and measured metrics. 8 7 9 6

26. [email_address] References Learning from Obama: Lessons for Online Communicators in 2009 and Beyond Colin Delany, www.epolitics.com , August, 2009 Online Tactics & Success: An Examination of the Obama For America New Media Campaign Sarah DiJulio, Executive Vice President and Andrea Wood, M+R Strategic Services Obamanomics: A Study in Social Velocity Jalali Hartman, 2008-2009 http://www.yovia.com/Obamanomics.pdf How We Used Data to Win the Presidential Election Dan Siroker, 8 May 2009. Online video clip. Stanford University http://cobb.stanford.edu/courses/cs547/090508/090508-cs547-300.wmv The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit Monte Lutz, Edelman 2009 http://www.edelman.com/image/insights/content/Social%20Pulpit%20-%20Barack%20Obamas%20Social%20Media%20Toolkit%201.09.pdf Obama and the Power of Social Media and Technology http://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/aaker/pages/documents/ObamaandthePowerofSocialMediaFINAL2009.pdf

27. [email_address] Tour of MyBo website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRY720HE0DE&NR=1 Yes We Can http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY&feature=related