Online Marketing Blog from metrocafe311

A quick tip on Tuesday night led to my attending Joe Rospars’ visit to UCD Smurfit in Dublin on Wednesday afternoon, to hear his take on the success of Barack Obama’s social media campaign. As the New Media Director for the campaign, “Obama for America”, if anyone could give us the inside scoop…it would be Mr. Rospars. (It also meant that I was one step closer to meeting Mr. Obama in the flesh…!) My five words to sum up what was learned: Content, Authenticity, Storytelling, Relaxation, and Ethos.

While we’ve all heard about the campaign countless times already, hearing Joe Rospars speak on it shed some new light on the strategies that led to Obama’s online success. The art of persuasion was put into action and with Obama as the front running man, a centralised message and “ethos” is what is claimed to be the reason for the campaign’s success.

Rospars spoke to the audience about how we can learn from the campaign by striving to “build relationships through content.” Funny how “content is king” has been a phrase that has long been used by Search Engine Optimisation experts, but Rospars’ advice adds an additional level to this familiar tip. The strategic use of content was discussed a key component to the overall online strategy. He outlined how there were two different “content streams” – one for the press, encouraging them to put the right spin on the Obama story, and the other for those of the public who were undecided. The Obama for America team hired “storytellers” who were equipped to send the Obama message in a way that appeared authentic. The Editorial Director for the campaign was hired from Nation Magazine, and as the “story” was so important to the campaign, it’s clear his role was crucial.

Here’s an example of Storytelling put into action…before Obama released his healthcare plan, weeks of content had been prepared as Obama met with several citizens to hear their “stories.” One story, about a mother who was struggling to support her family, became the focus of Obama’s healthcare story. Interviews with the “mother” were included in the videos released with his Healthcare plan and brought the authenticity factor to the message that was needed.

While Content and Storytelling were outlined as a key part of the strategy, authenticity was outlined as perhaps the most crucial element. From our experience, it seems that this is true for all of those that are participating in social media. Rospars repeated on Wednesday how we must learn to build relationships through content, and in order to do this we must first reach people in “a real way.” Targeting highly defined groups of people becomes possible through the use of the Internet, but persuasion will never happen if the message appears unauthentic. He says that if the Republican Party’s online messages were a bit more “real” things may have turned out differently.

Following up with our lesson on authenticity brought about an applicable piece of advice for those of us looking to use social media for commercial use. Rospars says that the “converted are the best advocates” for whatever message you are trying to convey. Targeting those who already support you with clearly defined goals that they can work to achieve, will lead to your community “organising themselves.” A lot easier said than done, the evidence exists within Obama’s campaign. This does not mean setting up a social media presence and leaving it work out itself, but it does mean that your strategy should involve reaching the people that already support you.

Members of the Irish audience at UCD Smurfit on Wednesday were certainly applauding the efforts of the Obama campaign, but were speculative about what it meant for social media in Ireland. While it is clear that Obama has a certain “twinkle” in his eye that other politicians, brands, and businesses could only hope to emulate, Rospars and his colleague from Blue State Digital’s London offices reassured us that the structure and framework of the Obama online campaign is something that can be repeated. How? First, engage supporters and second, put them to work for you. We’ll just have to wait and see if this strategy works for Rospars and Blue State Digital in their attempts to help out Fianna Fail…

Lastly, it is important to remember that your social media campaign requires a bit of relaxation on the part of the campaign owners. What people have to remember is that losing control of your message will happen with or without your participation within social media, as the voice of the public has changed. Taking the risks is necessary, but can be managed. Rospars tells us “don’t make it so easy for the bad guys.” Give people something to do, and those who just want to say something bad about you might not put the effort in.

So…Relax, keep it real, tell your story, and centralise the theme of your message.  Hey, it worked for Obama…so surely it’s worth giving a try!

Emer Lawn, Online Marketing Executive, metrocafe311