posted
Oct 25, 2011 by News Hunter
To counter his waning popularity, the presidents campaign, Organizing for America (OFA), will need to deploy a social media strategy that combines innovative outreach techniques with a focus on youth turnout. By all accounts, winning a second term will be almost impossible without that demographics continued support. On the other hand, securing the youth vote will be challenging. As a voting bloc they are historically unpredictable, and their approval of the president has dropped 13 points since June.
David Axelrod, top strategist for the 2012 campaign and former senior advisor to the president, acknowledged that so much of our support [in 2008] came from younger, more wired people.. After Obamas 2008 victory, OFA received widespread praise for its social media strategy. This admiration was deserved, mainly because OFA implemented a tool that was foreign to almost everyone else in professional politics.
Most importantly, today almost every politician uses social media in some capacity. Thirteen months out from the next election, the president has more than 23.6 million Likes on his Facebook page, another 10.7 million Twitter followers, and videos from his YouTube page have garnered nearly 165 million views. That means the bar is set higher for creatively integrating social media into a campaign.
Social media has gone from a publishing platform to a really interactive space, said Andrew Foxwell, manager of marketing and new media at iConstituent, in a recent interview with the . Thats the added value of social media.” While the Obama campaign has partnered with Facebook and LinkedIn to host interactive events, its strategy will need to become more fluid and consistent as the president enters campaign mode.. The Obama campaign will need to approach social media as a gateway to open a two-way dialogue, not a vehicle for pushing out traditional campaign talking points. You have to interact.
Consistency is not the only barometer for success. Instead, OFA might try sponsoring a debate-watching party for which participants check in via Foursquare. While watch parties are not a unique concept, younger voters more likely get involved if courted via social media. Connecting with younger voters necessitates more than a typical blast from one of Obamas top deputies.
Since 2004, young voters have been one of the strongest Democratic constituencies, explained CIRCLE director Peter Levine, who told that Democrats need to engage them better than they did in 2010. Interacting with younger voters through social media will have to be a cornerstone of the presidents tactics.
The campaigns social media strategy will need to be strong — one that young, tech-hungry voters view as worthy of their attention, and most importantly, their vote. To draw this segment of voters to the polls, President Obama will need to speak not just them, but them. If younger voters stay home on Election Day, much like they did in 2010, the presidents odds for re-election will be very slim.
My younger two sons will be first-time voters this election and I know they will be touched by some type of political social networking outreach. Obama 2.0. It wasn’t just a subtle use of tweeting, but a full-blown paradigm shift. introduced into to the political process. I like it.Thing is: decades from now (heck--even now) college students will be studying the transformation Obama & co. I’m eager to see what they do this time--and whether the GOP will portray themselves as “out of touch” again.
I dont think any of us are interested in the re-election of anyone at this point. Especially in an environment where most people who aren’t cool aid drinkers for either side are NOT happy with any elected officials we have right now. Lets step it up a bit and stay off political pandering and keep to the tech. But this article reads like a left wing blog brainstorming on how to help a specific political party. Gonna have to give this article a D-. Im all for seeing how tech influences politics if its relevant. Talk about politics in general and the use of social media and its effects, thats fine, but I doubt many people here are interested in what social media strategy a specific politician should use to get reelected. But op-ed opinion articles on politics isnt a good match. I love Mashable. Best TECH blog out there.
Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco. Mashable is the largest independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology. With more than 20 million unique monthly visitors, Mashable has one of the most engaged online news communities.
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