The success of Obama’s online campaign has been highlighted as one of the most effective uses of social media and businesses should be prepared to follow suit by engaging social media in their future activity, according to online community experts at business consultancy Abelard Management Services.
Over 1 million Facebook friends and the most followed person on Twitter, no other political campaign in the world has been able to utilise the world of social networking in the way that the Obama camp has been able to and William Buist, director of Abelard Management Services suggests that more businesses and charities could be using the web to engage with their audiences more effectively and increase revenue.
Obama’s superior multi-channel campaign used audio, vide and text across traditional and new media platforms to engage with his supporters and the campaign appeared on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, FriendFeed, YouTube, FlickR, MeetUp and UStreamtv. Even Michelle Obama was in on the action by blogging regularly on BlogHer.org. Obama’s online campaign is reported to have directly resulted in over $250m worth of donations as well as capturing some 1.4 million email addresses and Buist believes this was achieved through engaging with supporters in a way that made them feel like they knew him personally and that their support was recognised.
“By engaging with supporters, he was able to create that all important sense of connection – ‘he’s talking to me, he’s in my network and he’s someone I feel like I know’. He provided a chance to challenge, question and connect and by acknowledging the discussions, and made it feel like everything had been read and taken on board”, explains Buist.
Buist strongly believes that businesses and charities should adopt similar strategies, but he does appreciate that most businesses do not need to reach the kind of mass audiences that Obama needed to, and suggests that they could reach their audiences easily by selecting social networking sites that target their audience most accurately.
“If you are looking to connect with other businesses for example, then sites such as Ecademy, LinkedIn and Xing would be most suitable. Remember it is not just about finding people to contribute to you, but also about finding places where you can contribute to others. The key is understanding the importance of engaging with the customer in a way which encourages them to stay and continue to follow you”, adds Buist.
For more information visit abelard-uk.com
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