The Role Social Networking Played in the Success Of The Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign.
Posted by Calvin Cox on Thu, Oct 09, 2008 @ 08:58 AM
Sponsor 10 Steps to Powerful Self Promotion For Designers
Part 2 of the Series - Arguably The Most Effective Branding Campaign Ever
Social networking has become the frontier of internet marketing, a tool used by internet users to connect with friends and family, to budding entrepreneurs just starting their design businesses and to large established companies looking to secure their turf. But what's not so common was the use of social networking when it came to campaigning for the presidency of a country. This type of campaign is unprecedented lending its efforts to raising an astonishing amount of donations ever received by political campaign - The Barack Obama Campaign for the Presidency of the United States was able to raise close to half a billion dollars in campaign contributions largely due to their social media presence. We all know the basics of social media marketing by now, That being said, I'd like to go right into the numbers, comparing John McCain's campaigning efforts to that of Barack Obama's campaign.
|
Social Media Site |

|

|
|
Facebook (Supporters) |
2,001,827 |
556,845 |
|
Twitter (Followers) |
91,497 |
2,160 |
|
MySpace (Friends) |
658,293 |
156,001 |
|
DIGG (Fans or Friends) |
24,512 |
3,338 |
|
LinkedIn (Group Members) |
14,877 |
2,957 |
|
YouTube (Subscribers) |
94,592 / 16,723,349 views |
23,527 / 1,657,884 views |
|
Flickr (Contacts) |
7,168 |
No Account Found |
|
Eventful (People Demanding) |
127,757 |
No Account Found |
|
BlackPlanet (Friends) |
490,854 |
No Account Found |
|
AsianAve (Friends) |
2,762 |
No Account Found |
|
DNC Partybuilder (Friends) |
1,530 |
No Account Found |
|
Faithbase (Friends) |
2,979 |
No Account Found |
|
Eons (Friends) |
379 |
No Account Found |
|
MiGente (Friends) |
53,161 |
No Account Found |
|
MyBatanga (Friends) |
170 |
No Account Found |
So what do these numbers mean? Quite frankly, it means that the Obama Campaign can potentially solicit campaign volunteers and donations from roughly 3. 6 million people compared to less than ¾ million people for the McCain Campaign, ultimately expanding their resources through
their social media efforts. Many factors obviously play a role in the difference in numbers including but not limited to: The Barack Obama Campaign truly reaching out to their targeted demographics, most of which are young voters - young people are all over the social media. The language the campaign uses are phrases like ‘join the movement', ‘change you can believe in' and ‘it's not about me, it's about you'. All phases that motivate and mobilize people. These techniques are not rocket science. What seems to be rocket science is the confusion of critics to the level in which it worked. One thing worth noting, and again there are many, but simply having a list of social media networks you're involved with prominently displayed on your website will prompt your visitors to join [your company's movement].
Here's a thought: Just maybe your site visitors would rather communicate with you on their turf. It's okay to do so. You should go where your demographics are ‘hanging out' and talk their language, that's how you connect, don't force them to visit your website when they would rather meet you on Facebook or LinkedIn. Part 3 of this series will be on Branding and Logo Design - The techniques and strategies used to effectively brand Senator Barack Obama as the "CHANGE" Candidate.
IF YOU LIKE THIS ARTICLE YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO MY RSS FEED