Obama Social Media

Case Study:How

Obama became presiden

t through social media

From this

to this…

(1) A good message is simple, short,memorable, and even iconic

CHANGE

“Yes we can”

Because someone may want to spread your message for you…

Template for painting Obama’s logo

Examples of Obama fan-grafiti

Websites Obama heldd about 2,000 town meetings in 18 months.

35,000 volunteer groups held 200,000 events (100X)

Videos 2,000 “official” youtube videos

442,000 youtube videos posted by supporters(221X more!)

Supporters harness the power of “we”

“We” can do much more than any leader if given a simple message.

(2) Your supporters must spread (2) Your supporters must spread the message.the message.

some success

greater potential

Your friends will be the first to adopt your message:

my cause = our cause

Who is at the center of the effort?

Obama vs. McCain

2x 4x 5x 10x

365 electoral

votes

(2:1 margin)

66.8 million popular votes

WebTraffic

YouTubeViewers

FacebookFriends

Online Staff 

Source: Edelman “The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit

Obama obliterated McCain on social media, in spite of receiving equal air-time on TV news coverage

• Additional, personalized support to the most active MyBarackObama.com community members

• Tracking and measurement to identify and understand their online activism; content developed to meet those needs

• Super users were given something “more” than the average user

Empower your biggest

supporters and give them the

tools to encourage

others

Source: Edelman “The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit

(3) Make your message a

cause!

(4) Make Time your ally in the race.

Give, Donate, Send money

now.

You

mu

st ta

ke a

ctio

n.

We a

re c

om

petin

g.

(5) Your supporters need different messages and languages.

Whe

re is

this

?

(6) Strategic planning!

Germanyhas no voters,

but Obama will need

future allies

(7) Always seek honest

dialogue.

Take the good with the bad.

If you talk openly about failure, most people will want to

help you.

(8) Build Credibility through listening.

Listening to America:The Democratic Platform for Change

http://feedback.keystoneaccountability.org/view.aspx?viewkey=8b9fc135

We ask for

honest feedback and make it public.

Corporate

= control = democracy++