An examination of the advantages for political campaigns through social media

1. #votesocialmedia
"An examination of the
advantages for political
campaigns through
social media"

2. Introduction
● Relatively new phenomenon
● Game changer
● Now, a norm for active politicians
● A space to instigate political growth
-Pulse
-Yowie
● Social media influence in the future: UP

3. A good social media plan includes:
● listening platform
● voter inclusion
● analytics
● voter sentiment

4. Why is SM engagement more important
than traditional methods?
● Inexpensive
● Authentic
● Real time conversation
● Reach

5. Shira Schoenberg
@shiraschoenberg
Boston Globe political correspondent
● "Obama mastered the multifaceted social
media world on a level that even his
counterparts cannot contest"
● "He used Facebook, Twitter and other media
platforms to cultivate grassroots organizations,
fundraise, advertise and rally support"

6. Edward Boches
@edwardboches
Klout Score: 57
Chief Innovation Officer;
Mullen; Marketer; Blogger
● "A collective voice for voters"
● "Real-time qualitative feedback for campaigns"
● "Track sentiment"

7. Background: PULSE

8. Background: YOWIE
● "An open town hall meeting platform"
● Allows hundreds of people to participate
● Speaker and audience are engaged
● No limit on time, space or content
● No spending money on staff or travel

9. Background: FLOOP
● social polling mobile app
● gauges sentiment on various "Floops"
(questions/topics)
● opportunity for engagement of general
public

10. Tour – “How To”
● Social polling tools
○ Floop
○ Pulse
● Interactive video chat
○ Yowie
“The social web is vocal and wants to be heard.”
- D. Archibald Smart, CTO at Targeted Victory

11. ● CTO at Targeted Victory
● Mitt Romney
● Measureable & definitive
● Gauge sentiment
● Encourage action
● Two-way communication

12. Social Polling
● Graphs
● Real-time
● Monitor feedback

13. Floop
● 2008 Presidential
debate
● two-way shared
conversation
● analytics and market
research
● Candidates gain insight
“We need Floop because it puts polling in the hands of the people.”
- Co-founders Richard Schultz and Patrick Shields

16. The Pulse
● Measures buzz
● Analytics
● Charts & graphs
● Sentiment,
influence,
trends
● Instagram

17. Yowie
● interactive video
chat
● live questions
● participation
● bridges the gap
● give and take
format
“Yowie enables me to have a direct digital dialog with the public
and engage in an open Q&A on key issues…no topic is off limits.”
- Gary Johnson, U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate

18. What these tools
mean for candidates…
● Collective voice of voters
● Real-time feedback
● Track sentiment by geography
● Gather insight at little cost

19. CASE STUDY: Barack Obama
Barack Obama's Social Presence
2008 Campaign for Change
2012 Organizing For America

20. Barack Obama's Social
Presence = influential

21. Twitter - @barack0bama
https://twitter.com/#!/BarackObama
2,181 tweets
686,891 following
11,077,937 followers
158,923 listed

22. Tumblr
http://barackobama.tumblr.com/
● supporters can post stories,
photos, or videos
● allows for engagement

23. Facebook
http://www.facebook.
com/barackobama
24,032,731 lik
e this
315,522 talkin
g about this

24. YouTube
http://www.youtube.
com/user/BarackObamadotcom?blend=1&ob=4
165 million views

25. 2008 Campaign for Change

26. 2008 Campaign for Change
● McCain supporters more likely than Obama
supporters to be internet users (83% vs. 76%)
● Obama supporters participated in a wider range
of online political activities
● Use of email and text messaging for political
communications

27. 2008 Campaign for Change

28. 2008 Campaign for Change
Key Aspect to
Campaign =
Engagement,
Interaction, and
Involvement with
supporters via social
media

29. 2008 Campaign for Change
● My.BarackObama.com -
interaction with supporters
● spent more than $26 million on
internet advertising
● 83% of Internet users ages 18-29
use social networking sites
●
● “So much of our support [in 2008]
came from younger, more wired
people.” - David Axelrod, top
strategist for the 2012 campaign

30. 2008 Campaign for Change
Outcome = social media helped
Barack Obama increase
interaction and engage with
voters to spread his campaign
message giving him an
advantage in the 2008
presidential election

31. 2012 Organizing for America

32. 2012 Organizing for America
● maintain connections with supporters and reach out to new
ones
● interact and make supporters/voters involved in the
conversation
● re-election campaign and the Democratic National
Committee at $5 million in online ad related spending alone
●

33. 2012 Organizing for America
"Tweet for Jobs" Tool

34. 2012 Organizing for America
● use social media as a gateway to open a two-
way dialogue, not a vehicle for pushing out
talking points
● partnered with Facebook and LinkedIn to
host interactive events
● "Greater Together"
○ solicit questions and feedback on a live
Twitter feed #greatertogether

35. 2012 Organizing for America
How To Use Social Media To Succeed in
the 2012 Presidential Campaign
● sponsor a debate-watching party
● “Voting For My Future” - video series
"President Obama will need to speak not just to them, but with them." - Jesse
Comart, communications and public affairs consultant at the Glover Park
Group (GPG)

36. WHAT'S NEXT:
The Future of Political Social Media
How social media constantly
evolves and changes in the
political sphere

37. New Trends
● National debt debate erupted on Twitter this summer

38. New Trends
● On Friday July 29, 2011, President Obama asked American
citizens to join the debt debate on Twitter.

39. New Trends
In only 8 hours, the president's message had reached 36 million
Twitter users, according to NM incite

40. New Trends
=
● White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer tweeted
that he believed "e-mails & tweets helped Congress to act."
● The people's Twitter influence forced Congress to raise the
debt ceiling.

41. Mathew Lira
● "It's a sea of change from,
say, two years ago ... If
you're not following it on
Twitter, you're out of the
loop and behind the curve."
● "Social web will heal the
relationship between the
public and their legislative
institutions."
Matt Lira is currently the Director of New Media for House
Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor
http://twitter.com/#!/MattLira

42. futureoffacebook.com
The Future of Facebook is a 6 part video series exploring the
impact social networking technologies are having on our lives

44. New Trends
The Future of Facebook and Politics

45. New Trends
AMERICANS ELECT 2012
● The goal of Americans Elect is to nominate a presidential ticket that
answers directly to voters - not the political system
● Americans Elect is already well on the way to putting the first
directly-nominated nonpartisan ticket on the 2012 ballot in all 50
states.
● Over 2,008,069 signatures and counting!

46. Conclusion
New social media platforms help politicians
boost their political campaigns by:
○ New ways to communicate with voters
■ Ex: Twitter, Facebook
○ Rallying support
■ Ex: 24-hour fundraising bomb websites
○ Promoting interactivity
■ Ex. Interactive video blogs
○ Measuring influence
■ Ex: social polling

47. QUESTIONS?