Archive for April, 2010
Hi folks, this just in from ClickZ‘s crack political advertising reporter, Kate Kaye:
As you may know, ClickZ is putting together a free resource for political campaigns set to publish in May called “Digital Political Campaigns 101.” We’re calling it a starter kit for running an online campaign. One of the sections will feature ideas from people like you for getting buy-in for digital. I know all of you have lots of personal experience with this dilemma (yeah, this is a mass email).
My question for you: What is your top advice for convincing the people holding the campaign purse-strings that digital media is worth a serious investment in budget and resources? What’s worked for you in the past?
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April 30th, 2010
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Be sure to check out Charles Cooper’s piece on CBSNews.com about the online fight over Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law, both because it’s good and because it features two big, fat e.politics quotes. Cooper dropped me a note late in the day yesterday, and he was already on to the idea that it’s no longer exceptional for a political fight to end up online. I was happy to back him up on that, and his piece also features a long quote from Frank Sesno. Special bonus: for once, someone spelled my name right!
– cpd
April 30th, 2010
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This question’s come up a couple of times lately, most recently when I was meeting with a group of Maryland political candidates last week — should political campaigns focus their online advertising on Google or Facebook? The answer, of course, is yes.
But first, what’s the difference between the two? Both are pay-per-click, meaning that advertisers only shell out cash when someone actually clicks on a link in an ad, making the secondary branding benefits from having the ad sitting there on the page functionally free. Both are also targetable, allowing a campaign to try to reach particular audiences with the right messages, but there’s where the differences start to come in.
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April 29th, 2010
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[Now Updated -- see below]
In the company’s never-ending quest to monopolize our attention online, Facebook has now unveiled an entirely new feature: “Community Pages” on popular topics. What’s the difference between a Community Page and an (existing) Fan page? Well, therein lies the potential for some fun…
You see, Community Pages look a lot like default Fan pages, but they’re created entirely differently (for now) and have a much different array of content — much of which may not be flattering to the subject. As my NMS colleague Jeff Taylor explained in a briefing this morning, Facebook is currently auto-generating community pages based on the interests that people have listed in their profiles, meaning that the more people who list a topic, the more likely Fb is to create a page for it. And, the default content on the pages comes from Facebook users’ status updates that mention the subject of the community page — i.e., on a page dedicated to Exxon Mobil, you’ll see any public post that mentions Exxon Mobil, and some of them end up being pretty nasty. Plus, since the pages are currently being auto-generated, you can end up with some weird examples (see: stealing cars).
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April 28th, 2010
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CQ’s Daniel Newhauser picked up on a good story late last week — Minnesota Governor and presumed 2012 Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has “crowdsourced” his backing, allowing his supporters to vote to decide which of the congressional candidates he’s endorsed should receive the bulk of his support. At stake are both money and attention, giving the candidates themselves every reason to spread the word and help Pawlenty…build his own list.
That’s the gist of the quote Daniel includes from e.politics right near the beginning of the piece (thanks Daniel!) — Pawlenty’s contest is a classic list-building opportunity and a chance to expose him to Republican voters outside of his own region. Of course it’ll also build connections with the candidates involved and is no doubt good politics all around, but why do I suspect that the exposure to potential new supporters (and donors) that’s really driving this one. Note also the online angle to the winner’s benefits — a Facebook “town hall” with Pawlenty and a chance to hit up the “Freedom First” PAC’s email list for cash.
For more about future Republican candidates’ organizing online, see also this piece that ran in Politico over the weekend: 2012 prelude: GOP hopefuls go online. More shortly on the Dems’ online push to get ready for the 2010 cycle.
– cpd
April 26th, 2010
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Here’s an observation from Joe Trippi and Rod Martin’s lunchtime POLC conversation yesterday — yes, the long American election seasons have some drawbacks, but they do give campaigns a chance to build support incrementally over months and even years. To take advantage of online organizing, campaigns need time to find people, time to convert them and time to turn their support into donations and real-world action. Most online outreach bears more resemblance to seige warfare than to blitzkrieg, with success coming from many individual online encounters with voters and influential voices over time rather than on a sudden surge of attention.
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April 20th, 2010
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One excellent point from today’s Politics Online panel on email advocacy and fundraising: James Wong described email as the hub around which the social media world revolves. What did he mean? Without email, most social tools like Facebook and YouTube would have a hard time engaging users, since they use email for notification and direct messaging.
How do you know when someone leaves a comment on the link you posted on Facebook? An email notification. How do you know when someone sends you a direct message via Twitter or Facebook? An email. How do you know when you have a new follower or friend? Yes, email — in fact, I’d argue that Facebook’s deep integration with email made the site’s rapid growth possible, since it was able to piggy-back off of technology that was already effectively universal. Some people will hit YouTube, Twitter and Facebook daily regardless of whether or not they get a message, but many more won’t, and the constant prodding helps keep the more peripheral members involved. And since social tools need critical mass to be valuable, most MUST grow beyond their core group of true enthusiasts to survive and thrive.
Chris Massicotte followed James’s point with a formulation that’s also shown up many times on Epolitics.com: social channels are a great place to recruit people, but email is usually the key tool to engage them over time. And as we’ve said even more times, the combination of tools is usually more important than any one channel on its own…for online communicators, the rule is generally simple: integrate or die.
– cpd
April 19th, 2010
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On the eve of the Politics Online Conference, and after some time thinking about the broader political and media landscape over the last few days, let’s ask a big question — what’s next? I.e., what’s the next major technological or social change that shakes up the internet political world?
Look at the major pieces of technology that campaigns use today. A website? Not exactly a new concept. Email + online fundraising? Email’s as old as digital dirt, and online credit card transactions have been around as long as online porn. Internet video? Happy Fifth Birthday, YouTube! Social networking? Neither Facebook nor MySpace counts as novel in 2010. Twitter? Relatively new on the scene, but getting old fast….
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April 18th, 2010
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A lot of things have been looking up in the e.politics world lately — interesting day job and fascinating trips abroad, for a start — but there has been one dark cloud in the bunker in recent weeks. You see, the site has lost a family member, one whose work was entirely behind the scenes but whose contribution was constant. Here’s what happened: the cat died, and it was a real bummer.
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April 18th, 2010
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Here’s one Politics Online Conference session you shouldn’t miss (besides my own open-source CMS nerdathon) — Pete Snyder, my boss at New Media Strategies and a veteran of more than ten years in the social media space, will hold the closing keynote conversation with Republican advertising guru Mark McKinnon, moderated by GW prof Dennis Johnson. They’re all three well-known smartguys, so it should be a fascinating discussion. The topic? The architecture of a successful political message, with a particular emphasis on messaging in a digital age.
To start the thinking process off, Dennis and I came up with a few questions for the brave panelists to think about over the weekend. And to help pique your interest, we’re reprinting ‘em below — though you’ll have to swing on by the panel at 4:30 Tuesday to see the magic that results. Of course, these are just starter questions, but they give a sense of the topics Pete, Mark and Dennis should be covering. Looking forward to it!
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April 15th, 2010
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The day job may be needy these days, but that doesn’t mean we can completely ignore old friends and clients. So, while getting ready for last month’s Spain trip I also got to design a small site for an upcoming conference organized by the International Biochar Initiative (stars of the first Drupal site I built, if you recall last summer’s excitement).
The IBI2010 site’s built in WordPress and designed around the excellent logo they’d already had prepared, and the site’s layout and color scheme are intended to pivot off of the original IBI site while still being distinct and unique. Otherwise, the site’s very simple — besides running parallel page structures in English and Portuguese, the only “advanced” feature it has is a submit-a-presentation-abstract form, which we’ll replace with an actual conference registration form when the time comes. But simple as it may be, every site is its own little challenge, at least on the visual front. Plus, it never hurts to have a little something in the freelance column come tax time….
– cpd
April 15th, 2010
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Guest author! Actually, a guest no more: on the heels of his well-received piece on the Martha Coakley campaign, Henri Makembe will be contributing to e.politics regularly starting with the words below. BTW, how’s that next article coming, Henri? We have column-inches to fill here, buddy! Welcome aboard! And who out there in reader-land would like to be the next victim, er, contributor?
Five Talents Campaign Managers Should Look For in a New Media Director
Henri Makembe
As the fall elections approach, many campaigns, large and small, are staffing up. Since I’m on many different online politics-related listservs, I’ve seen a number of postings from campaigns looking for the kind of talent that will lead them victory. As in past cycles, I’ve seen a number of posts for finance directors, field directors, field organizers/canvassers and campaign managers. Unlike in past cycles, one position that seems to garner a lot of attention is that of new media director/manager. The listings usually include some or all of the following tasks:
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April 14th, 2010
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