What we can learn from the Presidential Campaign

Two weeks ago in New Hampshire we had the first presidential primary. As the candidates were campaigning hard in our small stare, and the media was in a tizzy over who will win, I realized how similar politics are to social media marketing. A recent article in Advertising Age about marketing to CMO’s brought home to me the similarities and what marketers can learn from political campaigns.

Think about how politicians go about building a brand (themselves). At least in New Hampshire, political campaigns are ground roots campaigns. Politicians build a community of passionate advocates who share their beliefs. That way the conversation becomes talk among people who believe in the same things, and speak the same language.

As one marketer puts it: “Stop preaching and start conversing”. A dialogue that might seem daunting at first is actually a more positive way to persuade people to become advocates for your products or services. Dialogue offers the opportunity to persuade, something traditional advertising increasingly fails to accomplish.

What is the social marketing equivalent here? It is finding people who are evangelists for your brand or product and start a dialogue with them. Get them excited about your product and they will spread your message. Which is the perfect lead in to my next point.

Peer opinion is the most powerful recommends for the wired generation. A recent Neilson survey shows that 78% of consumers trust the opinions of peers over all other information sources and advertisements. The phone that receives the best reviews is the next one the consumer buys.

By initiating conversations with your evangelists you will be encouraging them to leave those great reviews about your phone or widget. They become the ones that tell people to buy your product. It is the commercial equivalent of supporters standing on street corners with banners supporting a candidate. If voters see a lot of signs for a particular candidate, then they are more likely to vote for that candidate than for someone that has no visible signs of support. Everyone wants to be associated with someone or something that is popular.

When you listen to a politician speak, they do not have one message for everyone. Supporters are drawn to a political candidate for a variety of reasons. It could be their position on the economy, terrorism, jobs, or health care. The point is that they craft different messages for different audiences. Does your marketing message just appeal to one type of user or do you craft different messages and benefits for different sub-sections of your audience?

Social media networks enable marketers to steer the dialogue and offer the opportunity to weave consumer benefits, promotions, line extensions and other marketing efforts into your story. At its most basic level, social media presents marketers with a new opportunity to engage and excite the communities that surround their brands with people who care.

In today’s commoditized world, where apathy and skepticism run wild, social media is a great opportunity to become part of the conversation and keep consumer loyalists talking about you, and link them with others who feel just as passionate about you.

The brand (and politician) that succeeds will be those enabled with a community that feverishly praises them and pummels their competition.

Article Source: http://social-media-optimization.com/2008/01/what-we-can-learn-from-the-presidential-campaign/#comments