From the Web to the Whitehouse

While reading a Los Angeles Times blog recently, I came across a post titled “Obama, the First Social Media President,” which discusses Barack Obama’s campaign and what digital media tactics were used to help secure him the position as the 44^th president of the United States. Regardless of political background, we can all agree that his strategies serve as an excellent example of just what a well-tailored digital media plan can do for anyone.

Obama didn’t do anything that can be considered revolutionary by any means. I use social networking, online video posting and search engine sites on a daily basis – does that make me presidential material?

The key to Obama’s digital media success was his and his social media team’s ability to provide his audience with valuable content via available online tools.

The first and possibly most important tool utilized by Obama was his social networking site that he used to encourage social engagement. Not only did he post blog entries and podcasts for followers to view, but he actively participated in ongoing discussions and interacted personally with his audience. Having this kind of dialogue between him and his audience not only built credibility for himself, but it turned his social media site into a legitimate source for campaign news and certainly increased voter turnout in his favor.

The Obama campaign also skillfully tapped into the power of online video hosting site YouTube as the default conduit for his weekly national addresses. By making these addresses readily available to anybody worldwide and at any time, Obama satiated today’s incurable addiction to instant gratification instead of relying on the “old guard” of television and radio. Also, by allowing for viewers to comment on his messages, it empowered him to immediately gauge the public’s reaction to his messages at a grassroots level. 

Lastly, Obama told his YouTube followers about a third element of his digital approach: “transparency.” How does this relate to Social Media? What Obama is basically aiming to fix is the lack of communication between the government and the public. His plan of making all non-classified government information easily accessible online and search engine friendly will break that communications barrier and involve the public more in creating new policies as well as keep the public informed of current events within the government. From a PR standpoint, transparency is a great way to prove your credibility to an audience. Nobody likes secrets, so why keep them from your audience? Instead inform the public about everything, keep all news unbiased, and if some news is negative, make sure to offer them an explanation on how you plan to fix it;  this builds trust. In Obama’s case, he successfully earned the trust of his audience, and in the end, he won the election.

Barack Obama’s example in utilizing social media sites and YouTube while practicing transparency earned him the presidency of the greatest country in the world – just imagine what it could do for your company.

Being successful in utilizing a digital approach like Barack Obama’s fully depends on the quality of content. Successful content needs to be unbiased, transparent and relevant to your audience – and interesting! Like Obama’s winning team, be sure you can trust your content creators; they hold the key to your success.

Tags: Barack, digital media, digital media PR, Obama, orange county pr, orange county public relations, PR, public relations, search, search engine marketing, SEM, SEO