Reading Log: The Basics

This week, I got a pretty decent handle on the fundamentals of online political strategy. Colin Delany’s, Online Politics 101 provided a framework for the must-knows about running a campaign online. It touched on the basics (things to remember when creating a website and maintaining it as an online campaign HQ; how to treat and respect the blogosphere), and also some more technical suggestions (the different kinds of online ads; a cursory view of fancy software to help manage email lists). Sprinkled with funny anecdotes, Delany gives a humorous but helpful guide to campaigning in the digital world. Before delving into the different pieces in the online campaign toolkit, Delany outlined the five simple rules for online politics. I’ve decided that these rules would serve as a nice mantra, both as a reference for class, but also as a “rulebook” for any future online advocacy. This is my interpretation of Delany’s rules; you can find his (complete with his stellar delivery) here.

1. Don’t forget the end goal. As with any task, it’s easy to get caught in the weeds and forget your main objective. Sometimes I’ll walk to the kitchen with the intention of completing a task, but by the time I get to the kitchen, I’ve forgotten why I was there. The same applies for creating an online campaign – keep the broad strategic goals in mind. Just because a successful online campaign exists, that doesn’t mean that every online campaign has to mirror the one successful example, or that your objective supports an online campaign at all. In terms of the day-to-day, it’s easy to get distracted in all the new friends the campaign has on Facebook, or how many retweets a tweet received. The online campaigning can be critical (and fun!) but make sure that the individual online elements are properly contributing to the overall strategic online goals.
2. Persistence pays. If something doesn’t work, try it again. If it doesn’t work a second time, try something different. Then try something else. Put the pressure on new ideas. Put the pressure on old ideas and keep trying them until they work. Adapt new concepts. Stay fresh.
3. Integrate. The online campaign should complement the offline campaign. They’re supportive partners and work together. Delany emphasized putting the campaign URL on everything that leaves the shop. Even more specifically, each division of the campaign should be working to support and “mesh” with other divisions of the campaign. The strategies should relate and flow with one another.
4. Say something worth saying. Delany constantly stressed how important it was for information that the campaign disseminates to actually say something useful or helpful to those that read it. Factsheets, candidate bios, press releases, anything that is on display or sent out needs to be solid, meat-and-potatoes kind of content. Fluff has its place, but if a campaign makes a habit of it, the unique visitors (and supporters) will start dropping like flies.
5. Market a campaign (or candidate) like you would market any good or service. Delany equated selling an idea (or candidate) to selling a bar of soap because the marketing strategies are the same.

In addition to Delany’s Online Politics 101, Dr. Rosenblatt wrote a 4-part blog series outlining the three dimensions of online campaign tools. These dimensions provide a useful guide to categorizing online campaign tools depending on how they are being used. 1-D is the level of information sharing; 2-D incorporates transactions; 3-D advances to networking and building online communities. As I read my way through these introductions to online campaigning, a few words kept popping up. I started to feel like a subject in Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning. I hear “online campaigning” and I involuntarily salivate the words, CONTENT! ADAPDABILITY! INTEGRATION! I’m sure that as the semester goes on, my understanding of these words will evolve. I’ll probably start salivating a few new words, too.