Originally posted to Blue Campaign Solutions' BluePrint blog.
Note: I realize some of these ideas are frequently discussed and not exactly revolutionary for everyone, but I feel like they bear repeating sometimes.
Unless you've been living under a rock since Sunday night, you've seen the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed. If you're like us, when the announcement happened you were on Twitter, and could see the news spread extremely fast around the world. This is a fascinating look at just how little time it took: http://blog.sysomos.com/...
We thought it would be a good time to discuss some of the advantages social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc) have for political campaigns.
1) Control - the campaign is directly responsible for the message being sent out. Unlike traditional media (newspapers, radio, etc) there is no filter - your campaign knows how the message is going out. Even with television, candidates might record an interview one way and when it's re-cut it will come across differently.
2) Speed - The fast pace of news traveling via social media is an opportunity - when an issue comes up, it doesn't always need a carefully edited press release, or a phone contact with a newspaper. You can respond immediately, and if you've groomed and grown your list, people will see it. Good press releases take time to write - a 140 character tweet generally takes much less. Besides, you can always follow-up with a press release after.
3) Competitive advantage - Not everyone uses social networking tools. So if a story pops up and a reporter has a deadline to meet, they will take whatever they can get. If you're responding quickly and your opponent isn't, whose response will be in the story?
4) Cost - All of the popular social networking stuff is free. You just need to have someone on staff who knows how to use them, or learn yourself - they're not very difficult to use. (Twitter guide - Facebook guide)
5) Perception - Supporters and even undecided voters are more likely to view your social networking activities as a "resource" rather than just a "marketing and fundraising hose". Voters are turned off by frequent campaign commercials and incessant mailings. But with these tools, they can control just how much of your campaign they see. And it's one more channel for you to connect with them.
Social networking should be an essential part of any campaign, regardless of size or budget.
What are some other advantages you see for social media to campaigns?