The Squared Root

Government Affairs and Social Media

mchapman — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:31:49 GMT

With the 2008 elections now behind us, even those who are the least enthusiastic about social networking and social media have had to admit its increasing influence. MSNBC ran a story recently about a Dartmouth Student who managed to get elected as County Treasurer in New Hampshire by running Facebook ads worth $50 and riding the coattails of her national party.

I can report to you, with near certainty, that very few candidates will get elected solely on the basis of Facebook ads. All other things being equal, a well run campaign, that uses all of the appropriate marketing channels, is still the most effective strategy. What's forever changed is that you can no longer ignore what many decision makers in government agencies and government affairs shops consider to be "alternative" forms of media and marketing.

With the success of the Obama campaign, it's safe to anticipate the highest form of flattery - imitation - to take place at all levels of campaigning and, even more importantly, in the administration of their duties by federal, state and local governments. Interest groups, agency heads, and future candidates of all stripes, will want to add the same "secret sauce" to their efforts that they witnessed on a grand scale in 2008.

Decision makers trying to figure out how Obama did it will likely spend some of the same effort exploring the wide world of social networking that many of us early adopters did. What they'll find, if they research much, is that a $50 Facebook ad campaign will not meet their needs. Instead, they'll want to keep much of their current communications strategies and then add social media to the mix.

An integrated effort is what the smarter and more aggressive government affairs shop or government agency will settle on. Some are already well on their wa in this regard, and nothing I'm writing here will be new to them. Many are now taking a first or second look, however, and are deciding that they may need to take action after taking a wait-and-see attitude leading up to the election.

It's not a surprise that there would be hesitancy in the corridors of government. Even some avid social media users on Twitter debated with me that an Obama loss would be a repudiation of social media in campaigns. I argued against that line of reasoning because I never saw his campaign as a social media effort per se, but as an integrated marketing and communications campaign that was extremely social media friendly. Social media didn't win the campaign, but it did end up helping.

It's estimated that the Obama campaign now has over 10 million "good" email addresses and a vast array of other contacts in their social graph. Fortunately, state and local efforts won't need those kinds of numbers. Interest groups hoping to affect federal legislation, however, will need something more than a Facebook campaign to have an impact. They'll need a fully integrated effort that includes traditional and social media.

Two key issue areas that are particularly suited to integrated communications efforts are health care reform and clean energy initiatives. Traditional advertising can still enhance awareness of an issue, but consumers will go online to verify what they're being told. They'll consult with their networks, communities, and other trusted online sources to confirm or dispel what traditional media sources are telling them.

If advocates for health care reform or clean energy hope to be effective in their post-2008 election efforts, they will certainly need to employ the same kinds of successful strategies utilized by the Obama campaign. A fully integrated effort, which includes social media and online marketing strategies, will be essential for these kinds of successful efforts going forward.

150 Million Measurable Results of Interactive Marketing and Social Media

mchapman — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:23:36 GMT

By now you've read about, and are maybe wondering, how the Obama campaign managed to raise over $150 million in a single month, shattering all previous single-month fundraising records for a Presidential candidate. Their success is, in large part, due to the effectiveness of their interactive marketing efforts in combination with a very aggressive social media presence.

Campaign manager David Plouffe, in an email to supporters, reported the campaign had added 632,000 new donors in September 2008, for a total of 3.1 million contributors to the campaign to date. According to Plouffe, the average donation was $86.

Small Donors in Large Numbers

By creating a user-friendly experience on their outward facing website, the Obama campaign encouraged its supporters to gather in large numbers online and make small contributions. As an alternative to the traditional large dollar donations, bundled and forwarded, the new model broke all previous records set using web 1.0 style fundraising efforts.

It might be tempting to discount the accomplishments of the Obama campaign and give credit to the current political climate instead. That would be a disservice to the interactive marketing success that characterizes what Plouffe and company have built.

The real story behind the enormous dollar amounts started long before September and well before Obama was given much of a chance of being competitive. It centers around an attitude of "bottom-up" empowerment of volunteers, combined with open-minded use of new technologies, generally associated with interactive marketing and social media.

Start Small and Grow

I was first exposed to My.BarackObama.com, or MyBO as it is affectionately referred to among Obama supporters, in late 2007. What I discovered was a highly interactive website that, in many ways, functioned as an online campaign headquarters accessible to anyone interested in participating.

When I later talked with top campaign officials Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager and a former colleague of mine, and Chris Hughes, a cofounder of Facebook who is currently working on the campaign, they confirmed that their intent was to create as much of a working connection between campaign staff and volunteers as possible by using the website as an interface.

The Obama campaign is a textbook example of the development of that connection between their own staff with volunteers, donors and ultimately voters. This real world case study of using the social capital developed though 2.0 connections is of great interest to us at FG SQUARED.

According to Hildebrand and Hughes, the beginning of the planning process focused on concepts inherent in a well positioned social media effort. Authenticity, transparency and adding value were all considered as crucial during early development of their plans.

Online Efforts Compliment Traditional Organization

With every aspect of the website, a consideration was given to how the "on-the-ground" campaign would be enhanced. Not only does the website serve as a tremendous supplement to the fundraising efforts, it has served as a community organizational tool and and central information desk for a wide range of activities.

More than 150,000 meetups and other events have been coordinated using MyBO. Anyone can start a blog. Those who have a blog are free to post their feelings even if they are in opposition to Barack Obama on a particular issue. You can find groups and people in your area to meet and organize with.You can start one of your own if none of the previously formed affinity groups pique your interest.

During the caucus states, in particular, the website served as a virtual campaign office, with fully equipped phone bank capabilities, block walking lists and communications tools. There is much evidence that MyBO played a direct role in the organizational successes of Iowa and the caucuses in Texas and get out the vote operations (GOTV) throughout the primaries.

While the groups have been allowed to proliferate within MyBO, a wide variety of social media and networking tools are encouraged and intermixed with other popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FlickR and YouTube. In all instances the ease of use and the draw of participation increased the number of times individuals visited and used MyBO.

Personalization Is Standard

Through MyBO you can sign up for text messages on your phone or other handheld device. If you want, you can get regular emails from a variety of campaign officials. You can make calls, from your own home, to battleground states. A team is available to receive comments on improving the site and do so, almost in real time, when it'll make it work better for users.

At every turn, and with every other activity, an opportunity to make a donation is always very professionally presented. Often, a specific and small amount, a micro-donation, is given as a first option. While you can sign up for a regular contribution schedule, there is no pressure to do so.

With a steady contribution from volunteers and a very 2.0 oriented campaign staff, there is always a steady flow of new and interesting content on the site and surrounding it. The campaign neither reached out to the well known bloggers or ignored them. They just did their thing.

Metrics That Are Tangible

With metrics now available, MyBO can be definitely considered a social web 2.0 success story. American politics have been changed by the successful combination of traditional campaigning with the new interactive components.

Metrics in politics are pretty straightforward. First, you need money. Money pays staff, money buys paid media, and money hires lawyers to fight legal battles. Money pays for travel and wardrobes.

Another key metric is media coverage. The new and increasingly important digital and social media coverage of campaigns supplements and influences mainstream media. Money and media coverage have been greatly impacted by MyBO.

Finally, the most important metric is voter participation.

Managing the Message

MyBO, and the other social media tools, have added to the transparency of a the campaign. It's easier for users to know where the campaign currently stands and what it's doing in every state, district and territory. Everyone is an expert. Everyone has access to the materials.

Barack Obama, and his top level advisors, lead the effort. They set the agenda and create the message. But throughout the organization even the most remote volunteer is included, almost instantly, when the agenda and messages are established and communicated to the grassroots and netroots.

Internal communications are utilized by the campaign's high command to coordinate all of the outward facing activities of the campaign. For corporations and large non-profits it's critical to consider whether you can afford to wait before your competition adopts the MyBO model.

When Josh Bernoff, co-author of Groundswell, was in Austin he commented that MyBO incorporates every positve aspect of social media except for listening. Perhaps they will improve even that if the Obama team gets the opportunity to govern. Government 2.0 anyone?

Food Bank Employs Social Capital for Social Good

mchapman — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:25:44 GMT

One month ago, Michelle Greer and I met with Lisa Goddard and her staff at the Capital Area Food Bank. At that meeting we hatched the idea for a tweetup to help with their efforts surrounding Hunger Action Month. We even came up with a clever name for it. We called it a HAM-up. A tweetup is a meet-up in real life for people who have usually met first on Twitter.

Twitter is a growing social network surrounding a microsharing application. "HAM-up" is a play on a word that is completely made up and named after an application that sounds pretty funny to begin with. All of this is fairly typical of the social media and social networking world. Creativity and fun are allowed and encouraged. Along with the fun, however, is the potential for some very serious real world benefit accompanied by valid and measurable results.

Here's what happened: Lisa made the connection with me through colleagues Connie Reece and Sheila Scarborough of Every Dot Connects. They had recently led a workshop on social media which Lisa had attended. Connie, Sheila and I are also co-founders of the Austin Social Media Club which agreed to cosponsor the event. We pulled David Neff of the American Cancer Society into our group because of his active membership in the Social Media Club and 501 Tech Club of Austin, which also agreed to cosponsor.

Following the success of the Blood Drive Tweetup led by Michelle and David, we were confident in the combined social capital of our online networks. So we started twittering away trying to reach anyone who might be willing to help with our efforts to promote Hunger Action Month and the HAM-up.

Next, David remembered that he had met someone at a conference on social media who might have an interest in our project. Ed Nicholson, of Arkansas based Tyson Foods, and David had continued their relationship on Twitter. David figured that Ed might be able to help with our efforts based on their ongoing online conversations. Ed liked the idea and decided to use our efforts to follow through on an idea he had already been considering.

Ed then authored a blog post about the HAM-up on Tyson Food's Hunger Relief blog. In it the company pledged to donate100 pounds of protein products for the HAM-up for every comment they received on the blog post. Ed figured that 360 comments would be needed to fill a truck and that we might be able to generate that much interest over a few weeks of intense online activity.

With the tremendous help of our combined online networks it took less than four hours to reach the goal. In fact, we doubled the number of comments needed in only a few more hours. The truck arrived this past Monday with over 40,000 pounds of desperately needed protein products for the Food Bank. You can visit the Tyson Foods Gift of Protein 2008 flickr page for a good look at the actual delivery.

By utilizing the social capital she is developing online, Lisa Goddard of the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin, was able to locate resources she might not have been able to identify through traditional outreach methods and with only a few weeks of online activity. This very real example should be studied by anyone considering empowering their employees to use their social networks as a resource for their own company or organization.

September is Hunger Action Month and Hurricane Ike is likely to make the need even more urgent. Please do what you can to help. Whole Foods recently hosted a Grill-up to benefit the Food Bank. As FG Squared CEO Steve Golab joked, "it's time to HAM-up or shut up." I agree. If you can help, please do.

Interactive Austin 2008

cynthia — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:09:47 GMT

Social commerce, the use of social media in business, is putting companies on an even playing field; and the companies that aren't getting on board are going to find themselves falling behind the competition.

Think about it - social media is everywhere! Wiki-ing, blogging, podcasting, twittering, FaceBooking, and MySpacing - this is how the world is communicating now. And if your company isn't playing along, your message is less likely to reach your target audience. For this reason, major corporations, like Austin-based Dell, Intel and AMD are integrating social networking and other social media into their marketing plans.

To help companies get to where they need to be, interactive professionals in Austin that understand the power of social media in today's world have converged to create Interactive Austin 2008. This forum which takes place on June 19th, is an event dedicated to educating companies on the advantages of Social Commerce, the importance of it in the rapidly changing corporate environment, and how to harness its power for profitability.

The event will feature two prominent keynote speakers. Brian Magierski, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of nGenera Corporation, will speak on "Social Commerce and It's Impact on Business." While the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for AMD, Pete Hayes, will speak on "Get into the Click Stream: An Alternative to Driving Traffic to Your Site." Aside from the keynote speakers, this will be a day full of educational and informative panel discussions and case study presentations from Austin's social media experts.

If you have a company, it would be a wise decision to attend Interactive Austin 2008. For more information about it, check it out online at http://www.interactiveaustin2008.com.

We will see you there!