BEST PRACTICES FOR DIGITAL POLITICAL CAMPAIGNSRahul Nambiar, 14 February 2009
Table of Contents Overview Obama Campaign- A Perfect digital
Communication Mix Hub and Spoke approach Website – The Hub for all activities Customer Acquisition Customer Engagement Customer Analytics
Overview
To conduct a best practice research of the Obama presidential campaign
To provide with the structure for the ideal digital campaign for polls
Obama Campaign: The perfect digital communication mix
Online Search & Display Ads
Social Media
New media & Widgets
Hub
Twitter, Blackberry/mobile compatible site
Linkedin, Facebook, Ning, You Tube, Slideshare
Email Marketing
Campaign Website is the hub:Multi channel point of view
CampaignWebsite.com
Customer Acquisition
Customer Engagement Customer Analytics
Exceptional Customer Experience
Website is the Hub for all activities Neat and uncluttered User Interface Positioning of “Call to Action” at the right
places Tightly connected up with all social media
websites Exceptional customer experience without use
of jazzy flash videos Search Engine Optimized, Analytics enabled
to track behavior Messaging on the website to bring the
aspiration value in the candidate
BarackObama.com – Some Screenshots
Lead Capture
Call to ActionUncluttered UI
Straight and Clean Messaging to create Aspiration value – Knowing your target audienceIs the key Tightly connected up
with Social Media
Customer Acquisition - Strategy Online Display Ads
Planning where to put your Banners Segmentation based on Age, Sex and
Geography is the key of a great online media/display plan
Intelligent Ad Serving campaigns- Be there where the world is
An Example of intelligent Ad Serving- Obama – 92 Million Impressions a month, McCain – 7 Million Impressions a month
Best practice for online Ad serving- Keep tracking. Measuring and optimizing
Search Location Based targeting and messaging Conversion analysis Using SEO to minimize PPC spends Straight messaging in the PPC Ads
Online Viral Videos Youtube channel for publishing all videos Creation of standalone Music Videos to
spread virally
Customer Acquisition - Strategy
Customer Acquisition Strategy Online Viral Videos
Customer Acquisition Strategy Digital Out of Home
Adcentricity to push Digital Signage Ads Publishing Text Messages in the Digital
Signage Ads In-Game Advertising
Targeted at the youth Xbox- Obama Spent a Whopping $44.5k Appearances in Second Life
Screenshots
In Game Ad’s In Xbox
In Game Ad’s - Obama in Second LifeIn Game Ads
- Obama in Xbox 360
OOH Ad in Times Square
Customer Engagement Email Marketing
Best way to reach out to the marketers Highly segmented campaigns can be run Highlights from Obama Campaign
13 Million People contacted through Emails More than 1 Billion Emails sent 7000 Variations of the mails McCain and Obama sent an average of 2 mails
per day towards the last week of voting
Email Marketing- Obama Campaign Screenshots
Campaigns to Raise Donations and Cross Sell Merchandise
Email Persona, Putting aPersonal touch to the emails
Feedback Mailers
Email Marketing- Adding the personal touch
Customer Engagement SMS/Text/Mobile
Powerful way to reach the Younger Voters Obama Campaign used a text message to
announce Vice-Presidential Candidate Campaign Specific application on iPhone Obama Campaign saw 5- 20 targeted
messages each month
SMS/Text/Mobile - Screenshots
Take the run-up to the elections. Here’s what short code 62262 had to say in a text message at 2:53 p.m. EDT on Oct. 30“Less than a week until Election Day on Nov. 4th! Barack needs your help. REPLY to this msg with your 5 digit ZIP CODE for local Obama news and voting info.”
Four days later, this writer received another text message at 3:15 p.m. EST on Nov. 3 from short code 46708:“Put your country first and vote on Tuesday! To find your polling location visit Gop.com/ElectionDay. Forward to your friends.”
That message didn’t even mention the Republican presidential candidate John McCain by name. Where was the emotional appeal? Why wasn’t there a stronger call-to-action?
Exactly 24 hours later, another text message pops into the box, this time from short code 62262 on Nov. 4 at 3:28 p.m. EST:“People who love their country can change it! Make sure everyone you know votes for Barack today. For voting info call 877-874-6226 or VoteForChange.com.”Obama Mobile
Customer Engagement Blogs/Micro Blogging
Creation of Obama widget to drive traffic to the website
Tracking Blogs Following Conversation on Twitter
Social Media Profiles in leading Social Media Websites
LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace
Blogs/Social Media - Screenshots
Obama on Facebook
Obama on LinkedinObama LinkedIn Group-Support Campaign through the Badge
Twitter- Screenshots
Obama Profile
Following conversationsOn Twitter.
Obama Blogroll Washington Post's Barack Ob
ama Page Visit my MySpace Site Vermonters for Obama The Great Zaganza The Dog The Baracktivator -- Netroots
Tool for Obama Supporters The Barack Obama Report Students for Barack Obama Reflecting Obama Red Hog Diary Peruse my new book at amaz
on.com! Official Barack Obama Presid
ential Campaign Website Obama's Leadership PAC
Barack Oblogger Barack Obama's Official Senate Website Barack Obama's MySpace Page Barack Obama's Flickr Page Barack Obama Wiki Barack Obama on YouTube Barack Obama on Wikipedia Barack Obama on the Issues Barack Obama on LinkedIn Barack Obama on Facebook Barack Obama News --
MSNBC.com Barack Obama Events Barack Obama - NY Times blog African Americans for Obama Adele Nicols' Blog: Barack
Obama More..
Customer Analytics Tracking Success of each and every
campaign is the key Usage of Analytic reports Constant segmentation and targeting of the
message based on Age, Sex , Geography Previous behavior
Personalization of messages based on Behavior
Online Monitoring