Social Media in Campaigns: Your Missing Ingredient?

SOCIAL MEDIA IN

CAMPAIGNS: YOUR

MISSING INGREDIENT?

TRULY INTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA INTO YOUR ISSUE

OR ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN…

KEY TAKE-AWAYS Your social media efforts can’t

exist on an island…

Social media strategy has to be integrated into everything you do!

Every part of your campaign should include social media.

WHERE CAN I INTEGRATE? Fundraising Press/Comms Email Marketing Grassroots / Coalitions Other Paid Media (TV, Mail,

etc.) Live Events GET CREATIVE! Polling, EDO,

GOTV, etc.

CASE STUDY: AR-SEN RACE 2014 We had a problem…. Even though we were cruising, the media

coverage wasn’t reflecting this reality… Media portrayed Cotton as a bad candidate;

Pryor as a “master of retail politics.” Could we use social media to boost our PR

strategy & target journalists with social media?

ACTUAL MASTERS OF ARKANSAS RETAIL POLITICS….

“COTTON IS AN OVERRATED CANDIDATE. SETTING ASIDE HIS IMPRESSIVE BIOGRAPHY, HE IS NOT A STRONG RETAIL POLITICIAN IN A STATE THAT VALUES HANDSHAKE-TO-HANDSHAKE COMBAT…”

“Cotton’s mandate is clear: Convince voters he’s likable enough so he can fight the campaign on his own terms. Heightening the challenge is the fact that Pryor and his popular father are both natural, back slapping pols, with a combined half-century of practice at retail politics.” – Manu Raju, Politico (6/16/14)

“Some lament, when it matters most, Cotton is not even showing up. The freshman representative missed the Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival in his own district in June, a celebration attended by an estimated 30,000 that has become a marquee opportunity for political candidates to showcase their grinning, gripping and backslapping. Pryor rode in the parade, posed for pictures with ladies in tomato-cut aprons and spoke at a luncheon. When it came time for the candidates to compete in the fast-paced tomato eating contest, Cotton was nowhere to be found. ” – Dave Catanese 7/8/14

PERCEPTION VS. REALITY

DON’T TELL THEM – SHOW THEM!

WE USED OUR COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO PUSH BACK ON THIS NARRATIVE

125,000 FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS VS. PRYOR’S 16,000. WE STARTED EARLY!

ISSUES

DON’T TELL THEM; SHOW THEM…

ONE-ON-ONE CAMPAIGNING

DID IT WORK? Mostly, Yes.

Reporters quit reporting this bullsh*t because we visually showed them it was garbage.

If nothing else, it led to better communication, which is a win by itself.

What areas are YOU not integrating social media into?

QUESTIONS?