I just wrapped up my first political campaign yesterday and it was a heck of an experience.
Given that I am very new to the political scene, don’t make gobs of money or know lots of wealthy people, I knew I had to take a very different approach to campaigning. I did not win the race (received just over 1,600 votes), but managed to use social media in a way that has never before been seen in a Greensboro, NC political race.
By utilizing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and VoteShell.com I was able to reach a very diverse group of individuals and engage in levels of conversation that were previously unheard of.
Accomplishments
In terms of accomplishments, I was able to raise awareness around a number of issues and got people that could typically care less about local elections to vote. That’s huge.
Here are some quick stats from the campaign Web site (five month time period):
– 22,000 views by primary day
– 180 blog posts
– 285 blog comments
I was already using Facebook and Twitter prior to launching my campaign, but estimate that I made roughly 150 – 200 new connections on each site. In terms of Facebook, I created a Page that garnered more than 210 Fans, a group that had more than 150 members (used for fundraising) and ran ads (highly targeted) that were very effective.
While social media played a large part in my campaign, it is important to note that it was just part of the communication process.
As a coach may say, I “left it all on the field” and am happy with the accomplishments that were made along the way.
