Political Campaigning and Social Media

Social media played a huge role in the presidential election of 2012. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's campaigns were both extremely viable on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and Google+. They set the new standards of every other political campaign's presence on social media. 

Currently, I am helping run social media for a political campaign. I have run social sites for other companies and products in the past, but I have found a political figure is much different and much more difficult. Through my trials and errors, I have created a list of a few helpful tips for running political social media sites. 

1) You need to have a goal. Wether it is to inform constituents, gain more followers, or gather volunteers, you need to keep your mind on your goal. Having a social presence is useless if you are not going to be working towards a goal. Having a goal will help you create content, and target the correct demographics.  

2) Make it personal. Give your followers an inside look of what the candidate is doing and what they are thinking. This can be hard to generate content when it is you publishing to social sites, not the candidate. You need to get deeply involved in the campaign to do this successfully. Know what the candidates schedule is and what his/her goals are for the week. 

3) Visuals. Post a lot of pictures and videos. If all you are doing is reposting articles that the candidate was mentioned in, you will loose followers because you are boring! People like looking, not reading. Make the people and their eyes happy!