The following is a reprint of my Savoy Professional Magazine Sept/Oct 2008 cover story in it's entirety.
How Barack Obama Used the Internet & Technology to Win the Democratic Presidential Nomination By Edward Cates
Senator Barack Obama has energized the nation through his strategic and charismatic Presidential campaign. The demographics of his audience are broad, diverse and inclusive of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disenfranchised Republicans and the technology forward Generations X and Y. Masterfully, Obama has sparked the passions and a conversation with America through the most strategic use of the web in Presidential campaign history.
“The idea of the internet having a role in the campaign hit full stride in 2004 with Howard Dean” adds Siddiq Bello, strategic consultant for Rogue Venture Labs a specialist in online strategy and the evolution of Web 2.0. “From a social media perspective, the Obama campaign uses the medium extremely well. Select your preferred communication tool, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, AIM, FriendFeed and he is there with appropriate messaging for that audience. It also tends to be two way messaging and that’s a real change.”
Obama’s campaign operates two primary websites MyBarackObama.com (a.k.a. MyBo a networking and campaign resource community) and BarackObama.com. BarackObama.com is consistently ranked in the top 2,000 websites on the web by Alexa.com a leading website and information company. JohnMccain.com conversely ranks in the Top 9,000. Ranking alone doesn’t denote the significance of these choreographed accomplishments.
To truly appreciate this feat you have to take a look at the tentacles of the online campaign that contribute to the overall success of the larger campaign. Obama’s online strategy has been designed to maximize today’s Web 2.0 with an extensive presence in social networking sites.
You may have heard the term Web 2.0 and wondered if it was another upgrade for a web browser or software. Wikipedia.com the open source web encyclopedia defines Web 2.0 as “the trend in the use of the World Wide Web, technology and web design that aims to increase creativity, information sharing, and most notably, collaboration among users.” YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and Flickr are all examples of sites that are driven by user generated content and interaction.
“Web 2.0 activates the passion in people to spread the message. The Obama campaign has capitalized on that,” adds Bello. “Barack Obama’s campaign doesn’t need to create the music video Yes We Can, will.i.am is empowered on his own to produce the video and get his celebrity friends to participate. People have access they haven’t had in the past.”
Grammy award winning Hip-Hop artist and producer and Black Eyed Pea will.i.am independently created an Obama campaign anthem and YouTube sensation with his artistic and celebrity riddled “Yes We Can” music video that received over 9 million views. On all fronts YouTube is being disproportionately dominated by the Obama campaign with 52 million views compared to McCain videos receiving 9.8 million. Not only are the types of sites on the web changing, so are user behaviors.
Once viewed as juvenile and for teenagers only, social networking site users are trending older and becoming a foundational part of establishing online identity and connectivity. Obama’s social networking campaign is titled on his home page as Obama Everywhere and boasts an impressive list of real estate on the web. Obama Everywhere Social Networking sites: • Facebook • MySpace • YouTube • Flickr • Digg • Twitter • Eventful • LinkedIn • BlackPlanet • FaithBase • Eons • Glee • MiGente • MyBatanga • AsianAve • DNC PartyBuilder
One of the most compelling components of the campaign has been the integration of the web to facilitate fundraising. Supporters of the campaign are asked to take part in contribution and fundraising drives to hit critical milestones. Initial contributions to the campaign submitted online are often matched by previous donors and create a membership to the MyBarackObama.com community and fostering engagement and connectivity to a broader movement.
Obama’s use of the Internet for fundraising purposes has been effective by connecting the act of giving on a grass roots and accessible level via the web. Obama’s campaign recently announced they have received donations from over 2 million donors. Federal Election Commission campaign donation data reveals that McCain has raised $158 million in contributions compared to Obama’s current total of $389 million. The dynamics of contribution flow are even more telling. Obama has raised $166 million in small donations of $200 and under compared to McCain’s $42 million in the same donation range.
The Obama campaign has fueled campaign donations by welcoming smaller contributors and making the online giving process easy. Not only is Obama pervasively present throughout social networking sites, his supporters are moved to action pulling out credit and debit cards to make a quick donation online en masse. Through his online network Obama is able to convey messages and solicit donations with quick, effective and measurable results.
The Obama campaign capitalized on the popularity of text messaging to launch a promotion that allowed subscribers to be the first to know of his VP selection while creating a data-mining coup for the remaining campaign. Blackberry’s and cell phones around America buzzed in unison on the morning of Saturday, August 24th with a message from the Obama campaign informing them of his selection of Senator Joseph R. Biden.
“The Obama text messaging campaign makes us feel like we are in the room and everyone has access to be the first to know,” adds Navarrow Wright, President and CEO of GlobalGrind.com a site that aggregates content appealing to the urban audience. Backed by the evergreen and diversifying mogul Russell Simmons, GlobalGrind.com users are provided a voting system on multiple stories and a conduit to share content. Obama related stories rank among the highest number of related stories and posted comments aggregated on the site.
“People feel connected to the campaign. They are being communicated with and feel they have a stake in this. It’s a sign of the times and a sign of true democracy,” said Wright.
In the end, Barack Obama’s ability to secure the Presidency will be hinged upon much more than a successful online campaign. Tackling the energy crisis, education, universal healthcare, foreign policy, the mortgage crisis and a suffering economy are more substantive issues that Obama has to continue to address to win voters. If Senator Obama makes history with a win in November, the innovation and breakthrough efforts of his online presence should be credited. Over time, Senator Obama’s online strategy will prove to serve as the standard for effective Presidential campaigns.
“Take away, elements regarding his race and all of the hype around his candidacy and you find that he executed a sound online strategy to get his thoughts out to the people and address their issues,” adds Wright. “This was not a fluke, it was true Internet strategy.”
Edward Cates is the President and CEO of Nuance Marketing a strategic marketing, digital media, communications and public relations agency based in Atlanta, GA (www.nuancemktg.com).
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