Marketing a Presidential Candidate Online

Here at Geary, we like to cap off each week with an Innovation Session – an informal meeting with food, drinks and a presentation from the front lines of interactive marketing.

Last Friday, we chose to explore the various ways that Barack Obama and John McCain are marketing themselves online — with a particular focus on Web 2.0 strategies.

We tried to keep the presentation non-partisan, but it was difficult because Obama has made aggressive social media efforts his trademark. He has an active presence on MySpace, Facebook, and niche social networks such as Faithbase and BlackPlanet; active accounts on Twitter and YouTube; text message updates; an active social network at my.barackobama.com; and much more. McCain also has a social network on his main domain and presences on the big social networking sites, but his presence on Twitter and niche social networks is bare-bones compared to Obama’s, and he does not have a text messaging program.

We hypothesized that Obama’s aggressive efforts are primarily a function of the citizens he’s trying to reach — young people and first-time voters, as well as independent voters who spend time on niche online communities. We’re guessing that Obama has found that online efforts are a cost-effective way to reach new, disaffected and undecided voters — and he has the deep pockets to back up these efforts.

Here are some fun facts about each candidates’ online efforts:

• My.barackobama.com, Obama’s in-house social networking platform, is run by Chris Hughes, one of the co-founders of Facebook.
• Obama’s various websites get about 20 million visitors a month, compared to 4 million a month for McCain-affiliated sites.McCain is much more active in paid search advertising than Obama. At one point, McCain was bidding on 226 keywords, compared to only 174 by Obama.
• Obama ran 17 negative paid search ads, while McCain ran only three – the opposite of their general strategies, where McCain’s advertising ran much more negative than Obama’s.
• At present, Obama’s infomercial has 1.6 million views on YouTube. This is significant reach, but it’s dwarfed by the 33.55 million people who watched the infomercial on TV.

To learn more about this topic, you can view the full PowerPoint presentation.

I also recommend “Obama’s Wide Web” from the Washington Post and this article from MediaPost, which gives details about the candidates’ paid search strategies.

Is Social Media becoming like High School?

We have talked before about how people can be “so much cooler online” and create whatever persona they wish, but is this causing a step back in time?  Is our ability to become bigger and better online making us like high schoolers?

Social portals (especially twitter) are being bombarded with messages such as “@XYZ has a twitter grade of 98/100″ and “I have just received my millionth follower” and “I have 2 billion friends on Facebook” and so on.  Now a little gloating is fine, but what is the need for intimidation (or intwimidation as one Gearyite likes to say)?

Apply this idea to your high school experience.  Were you the popular kid, the captain of the football team, the homecoming queen or were you more of a loner, hung out with less people, had unappreciated talents?  It shouldn’t matter if you fell into that first group or the second - you were a person (lets hope anyway).  Scoring the winning touchdown of the homecoming game shouldn’t be more important than winning the science fair or playing in the band.  So why would having 2 billion online friends be so much better than having 50?

Many people look back on high school with terrible memories of the cliques and how they were treated.  At some point I would like to think we all grow up and learn that everyone has something to offer - be it a beautiful painting, good advice, interesting tweets or some other gift that may yet to be discovered.  It is possible that some of the people who pump themselves up in social spaces were the kids that did not get noticed.  However, if that is the case why attempt to make others feel like they aren’t good enough or don’t belong?

Don’t discredit someone online who has few followers or friends, they may have wanted it that way or they just joined the site.  Social media is about connection.  So make a new friend today and remember to be nice.

Twitter – What is it Good For?

Microblogging platform Twitter breeds skepticism— both inside our agency and among our clients. I can understand this skepticism, because for months I derided Twitter as useless. But I’m now a huge believer in this tool, and I think it holds exciting possibilities for anyone with anything to promote.

It’s important to remember that Twitter is merely a platform; it combines many features of forums, blogs, text messaging, email, social networking sites, and instant messaging. When used with finesse, Twitter encompasses all the best features of all of those tools — and the marketing potential.

So, how can businesses use Twitter? In the simplest terms:

1.    Learn what your biggest fans — and your biggest detractors — are saying. Enter your brand name (including variations and misspellings!) into search.twitter.com and see what people are saying about you on Twitter. Why bother with old-fashioned focus groups when you can get valuable, up-to-date customer opinions so easily?

2.    Spy on your competitors — and your competitors’ customers. Get valuable insight into how your competitors are using Twitter to connect with their customers, and learn what people do and don’t like about your competitors’ products.

3.    Connect with your detractors — before your competitor does. Again, Twitter’s Search feature gives you near-psychic ability to see what your customers are saying about your brand. When someone complains about your brand, why not step in with a helpful tip, a coupon, or simply an acknowledgement that you care about them and value their opinion? It may just win them over.

4.    Be a hero. When a Twitter user pipes up with a problem or question about your product, swoop in to save the day. Help them solve their problem or acknowledge their complaint — and if they have a real beef, take the conversation offline so it can be resolved fully.

5.    Solicit feedback. Twitter’s short format encourages candor, so ask your customers questions. How do they use your product? What features would they like to see? What do they like the most, and the least, about your product? You’ll be amazed what valuable input can be communicated in just 140 characters.

6.    Reward your customers. Use Twitter to promote contests, distribute coupons, invite your fans to try out new products, and distribute fun factoids about your brand, company culture, etc. The key here is to give your fans and customers a compelling reason to follow you on Twitter and stay engaged with your brand. Also, never underestimate the value of an occasional contest or coupon giveaway —Twitter users love freebies.

7.    Attain CRM nirvana. If used wisely, Twitter can help you build and maintain mindshare, build up a loyal customer base, and turn your detractors into diehard fans. It can help you promote new products, get candid feedback, and be a hero when people have a problem or complaint. And it can help you trounce your competition. In short, Twitter is an extremely valuable as a CRM tool.

So, before you dismiss Twitter as trendy or dumbed-down, ask yourself:  “My customers are on Twitter. Don’t I want to hear what they have to say?”

Is Social Networking Common Practice?

Social networking has literally saved lives. Remember the man who was whisked off to prison in a foreign country and had just enough time to send out a message on twitter from his cell phone? That act of microblogging essentially saved him from an open-ended stint in a foreign prison.

This story received press coverage and acclaim on mainstream media and in the blogosphere alike.

Apparently, popular culture was not paying attention. A MediaPost Publication released this morning quotes that 58 percent of the general population does not know what social networking is. How exactly is this possible?

The article goes on to say that over one-third of those who are engaging in social networking say it is losing its luster, and they are subsequently losing interest. Most other studies, reports and predictions hail that social networking is still an up-and-coming forum that holds amazing marketing possibilities. So who should we believe? Marketers or the public?

Is social networking destined for greatness and mass adoption or join the ranks of outdated fads before it?