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Saturday, October 3, 2009

Online to Offline Voter Engagement

Social media is merely a way to describe new tools in an old and narrow paradigm. However, this term has become obsolete in a world where technology has become a critical tool for connecting people not only to information and ideas, but also to other individuals, entities, both online and offline. This new ability to connect people is leveling the playing field and breaking down previous age, gender, socioeconomic, and circumstantial barriers to who can emerge as a leader, activist, or grassroots agent for change. The power of technology today will be determined not by web traffic and viewership, but by its ability to strengthen and more importantly facilitate human connections and relationships. [HuffingtonPost]

Persuasion comes in many forms. It happens when people are persuaded to click a web ad or text to a SMS short code message to begin a conversation that ultimately builds into a relationship. Through the conversation and relationship people be persuaded to give money, or send their e-mail address and cell phone number for future communication, to follow on Twitter. The ultimate goal is to engage people to become foot soldiers in the campaign through both online and offline activities.

In March 2010, the Dallas Morning News wrote about how Rick Perry was running a new kind of campaign.


May 2010 [52:40 minutes] MP3

Personal Democracy Network: Listen to Paper-free Politics: How the Internet Replaced Traditional Engagement Outreach in Governor Perry's primary election campaign. Ryan Gravatt of Quicksilver Internet Solutions, was a Perry campaign consultant. As part of Gravatt's discussion he explains that web ads were used to drive traffic to Perry's campaign website and events, where engagement was converted to volunteer activism.
Rick Perry's campaign has a radical approach that eschews traditional voter turnout efforts in favor of extensive use of social media networks to win Tuesday's GOP primary.

Haven't seen a Perry yard sign? There aren't any, and Perry has no local office to house them. Dreading yet another phone call from a political candidate?

Don't worry; Perry has no phone banks. And you probably won't see supporters with T-shirts knocking at the door.


Social Media 101, from Texans for Rick Perry


TexasTrib - Perry Campaign: Yard Signs Don't Win Elections
(DMN: Gov. Rick Perry's campaign is more text than talk)
But you may get a Facebook message from a friend in your social circle. You're more likely to find Perry campaign appeals on Twitter, even craigslist.org, than to see his mug on a highway billboard.

The new approaches are largely a response to a changing electorate. Tech-savvy young adults who couldn't or wouldn't vote 10 years ago are more actively involved in the political process, and they're more likely to want to follow a candidate on Twitter than plant a sign in their front yard.

What's more, it's becoming increasing difficult to reach even older voters by phone. With everyone carrying a cellphone, landlines have become a wasteland for solicitations.

Television is a problem as well, with prospective voters using DVRs to speed through commercials. And the cost of advertising on television has never been higher.

"Campaigns are evolving just like people and technology," said Mari Woodlief, president of Dallas-based Allyn Media. "You have to go where the people are, and more and more that's become the Internet."

"We probably don't know what the highest and best use will be, but the Internet and social media has become an effective campaigning and fundraising tool," Woodlief said.

The governor's ground game is mostly devoted to a movement he calls the Perry Home Headquarters program, built on the same framework as social media sites.

That part of the approach is nothing new. In 2004, President George W. Bush developed a grass-roots program that called on a massive voter turnout effort 72 hours before Election Day. The program relied on volunteers to get their friends and neighbors to the polls.

Perry's effort differs in that it's mostly Internet-based. Part-time workers used Facebook and MySpace to sign up potential voters. Others, in it for a buck, used craigslist, the online classified ads site, to gain an advantage.

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It should be obvious from Obama's 2008 Presidential Election that the web would begin to make a difference in political campaigning. But, there is still hesitation to use the Internet extensively in political campaigns. Many campaigns still focus exclusively on direct mail, phone banking, block walking and television while ignoring Internet mass media audiences. Less than 10% of political consultants believe the internet is an effective channel to reach voters.

What accounts for candidates’ and consultants’ delay in embracing digital strategies, including online web advertising? Many political strategists dismiss the Internet because they think it does not reach the “right” people. For them the Internet is seen as a medium for the younger generation who do not vote in the same numbers as, say, older retired voters.

Yet, according to eVoter Institute research the majority of all voters (87%) today expect candidates to have an official rich media web site and 70% expect them to use it to raise money and for posting videos. 67% of voters expect candidates to use on-line ads, webcasts and campaign video on other sites. http://evoterinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/evi-survey-findings-2009.pdf

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project April 2009 research report titled "The Internet's Role in Campaign 2008," revealed that some 74% of internet users--representing 55% of the entire adult population--went online in 2008 to get involved in the political process or to get news and information about the election. http://collindemsorg.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-people-rely-on-internet-than.html

The two most commonly thought of elements of a digital campaign strategy tend to be e-mail and a static bill board Web site. In 2010 that type of limited internet strategy is badly out of date.

The modern digital strategy employs campaign websites with rich media, videos and plenty of interactivity through social media channels with contextual web advertising to drive people to the rich-media campaign website.

Relatively cheap web ad buys are employed to drive people to the official rich media website to watch streaming video and television-style campaign ads and listen to podcasts. (CPM cost per thousand web ad impressions as low as $9)

How Advertising Works on Facebook






http://www.facebook.com/ads

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Google Web Ads

http://www.youtube.com/ContentNetwork



April 2009 [57:24 minutes]
Personal Democracy Network: Listen to the discussion on "Longtail Nanotargeting with Google Ads, or How to Find Your Activists and Voters Online."

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