Obama: Web marketer of the year

Nov/05/2008 05:55

Add another title to Mr Obama and his team and that is best marketers of the year. According to numerous media accounts the use if the Internet, and social media, to get out the vote for Obama was a key strategic and tactical advantage. Maybe one day pharma marketers will learn about this channel that has transformed American consumers into knowledge hungry empowered patients but for now I am sure we will see lots more TV commercials and DTC marketers "adjusting" research to show that in fact TV does work.

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You're probably used to the site that dresses up its logo for a holiday, and Election Day, quite frankly, often receives that very same treatment. A visit to Google, Yahoo!, or AOL's home pages today are testaments of that fact. AOL's is even animated. But more interesting than that logo wearing makeup, or even the 24-hour news and blogging coverage on media sites, is how social media uses, well, social media, to get out the vote. For example, expert blogger Allyson Kapin reported on the Twitter Voter Report, enabling voters to share their experiences via text message, Twitter tweet, calling in, or using an application built for use on the iPhone or Android phone. Here are some examples:

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MySpace - The online community site introduced MySpace Impact, an election home of sorts with entry to live election night blogging, NBC's Decision '08 videos and voter info, and "I Voted" badge to add to your profile, and celebrity videos and blogs about voting. As an extra bonus, there's also an election playlist, put together by The Roots drummer DJ Questlove.

YouTube - The largest online destination for watching and sharing video launched YouTube Video Your Vote, enabling site members to send in a video of their voting experiences. The top rated, in terms of views and discussions surface to the top where even non-members can watch.

Facebook - The social media and networking site greeted its visitors with a reminder to vote today. Upon logging in and visiting your home page, members were welcomed with a "Today is Election Day in America" banner and invited to add themselves to the tally of people who have voted today. The Facebook Election 2008 page offers voter info and Obama or McCain buttons to send to your friends as gifts. Also, by using the Causes application, Facebook members were encouraged to donate their status updates to get out the vote.

"A world was connected by our own science and imagination." With those words, President Obama made plain a major reason why he won the election. His recognition of technology and the Internet is impressive. And his campaign's use of the many facets of the Web only supports this. The days of politicians seeing the Internet as simply "a series of tubes" are over. Unfortunately DTC marketers still see the Web as speciality non-mass media channel.