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    • How *NOT* To Win An Online Campaign : PT I

    Posted on | January 21, 2010 | 1 Comment

    Since the 2009 Houston mayoral election, it seems everyone has a theory on “why Locke lost.” It would be nice if some (any?) of those theories were informed by what actually happened at Locke headquarters during the period that led to the December run-off. (Before the run-off, everyone seemed astounded that a first-time candidate with little-to-no name recognition or campaign experience was able to beat out sitting City Council Member Peter Brown, who outspent both Parker and Locke throughout the race and achieved the greatest visibility of all the candidates on television.)

    I have my own ideas of why Parker won. If you want to know what they are, send me a tweet and I’ll tell you over coffee some time. But for the benefit of all the political candidates running for office this year – including Bill White for Texas Governor and Gordon Quan for Harris County Judge – I’d like to share what I learned from the campaign trail.

    In 2010, White and Quan will be running against incumbents for their respective offices. In the 2009 mayoral race, while it was open due to term-limited White vacating, Parker and Brown could be considered the “incumbents” Locke faced, as they were both seasoned politicians who had developed strong support bases over years (and even over a decade for Parker) of campaigning. Similarly, it will be an uphill battle for the “new” candidates to build online support that can effectively compete with their opponents’.

    When I joined the Locke campaign as Social Media Strategist in late July of 2009, the number of unique visitors to GeneLocke.com was behind AnniseParker.com and PeterBrownforHouston.com by roughly 700 visits. Within one month, we doubled our visits and were running neck-and-neck with them. In a couple weeks more, we were beating Brown. This trend was echoed on Twitter and Facebook.

    Gene Locke, Annise Parker, Peter Brown Online Campaign Comparison
    (See the statistics comparison at Compete.com.)

    How did a “new” candidate with a brand new online presence and social media profiles catch up to seated, seasoned officials so quickly? Since most people seem to focus on the “why he lost” more than the “why she won,” I’ll adopt the same perspective here. So, if you’re running for office and want to win the hearts and minds of online audiences, here’s what *not* to do:

    1. Do NOT Start Late.

    Online outreach is more like a slow-growth investment than a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes time to establish a presence, grow an audience, build advocates and convert them into volunteers and fundraisers. To develop strong online support that spreads virally and converts into loyal offline support, you must start your online campaign as early as possible so you can invest the time it takes to let your audience get to know you and build strong relationships with them. Locke’s trajectory bears this out: while we were able to immediately boost Locke’s visibility before the general election, the few months of voter engagement couldn’t compete with Parker’s years-long voter relationships during the onslaught of negative campaigning in the run-off. Bottom line: Get online as early as possible. The sooner, the better.

    2. Do NOT Confuse a Presence with a Strategy.

    What do a website, a blog, an email newsletter, a Twitter account, and a Facebook Fan Page have in common? None of them are a strategy. They, along with all other social media, are simply tools to establish an online presence…which is not a strategy either. An online strategy involves knowing who your stakeholders and audience are, deciding what you want to achieve with and through them, and crafting how to best leverage the resources you have to get the results you want. (For a good start, see my workshop for NAMP/HAA on Online Marketing and Fundraising at AYN Brand.)

    Would you slap together a tv ad or a radio spot and air it without considering its message and audience? Would you print thousands of push cards and hand them out without identifying which neighborhoods and events to distribute them to? You wouldn’t run a traditional political campaign without a strategy, so why try to run your online campaign without one? Make time to plot out your online presence and outreach. A little “strategery” can go a long way.

    3. Do NOT Play Dr. Frankenstein.

    Don’t re-create Frankenstein’s monster: Integrate your online and offline activities seamlessly. When crafting your campaign strategy, make sure that every offline activity – from events to forums to fundraisers to block walking to phone banking – is supported by online outreach and engagement, and vice versa. If stellar supporters emerge online, develop ways to involve and reward them offline. Make sure all your online tools connect and play well together, too.

    It’s the “Brand You” era: Create a look and message that best represents what YOU stand for, then make sure all your materials and communications reflect that cohesively. All your profiles, videos, comments, newsletters, etc., should be consistent in design and language, steer people to take further action, and direct people back to your website. Plaster your website, SMS code, Twitter handle and Facebook page on materials just as freely as you do your phone number or ad disclaimer.

    … If you want to develop a successful online campaign – whether you’re running for office, running a business, or running a nonprofit organization – these are the first three things you should consider *not* doing from the start. The next post will deal with what not to do with specific online tools, including Facebook and Twitter. “How *NOT* to Win an Online Campaign : PT II” to be continued …

    Category: politics, social media
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    One Response to “How *NOT* To Win An Online Campaign : PT I”

    1. Tweets that mention How *not* to win an online campaign : Pt I : grace -- Topsy.com
      January 21st, 2010 @ 7:33 am

      [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dan Joyce, Abby Whitmire. Abby Whitmire said: from @gracerodriguez – how *not* to win an online campaign, part 1 http://bit.ly/5agpUS [...]

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