Remember what life was like before we had cell phones? It’s hard to recall what we did without the constant ability to connect with people and more recently, the persistent ability to connect to information with the increase in smartphones.
Social media is another innovation that’s fast becoming an engrained part of both our personal and professional lives. How long do you go without checking your Facebook account or posting a tweet?
Today, social media is a highly effective way for organizations to share content, build brand awareness and reach target audiences. So why wouldn’t this work for political campaigns? Given many of us (probable voters in particular), are active social media adopters, it makes sense for politicians to leverage social media as a campaign platform to reach constituents. In fact, some might say that social media is a much needed, critical engagement strategy for any election campaign.
Ad Age posted a recent story that poses three interesting points concerning why social media now has the power to make or break election campaigns.
- Audience: It’s no longer just tweens, teens and young Obama voters who use Facebook and Twitter. Social media use by people over 50 is on the rise, and during elections, voters on both sides of the fence are relying on social media to connect to campaigns. According to Ad Age, Facebook has 150 million U.S. users old enough to vote, and the average user has 130 friends. The social media audience is huge, continues to grow, and users are quick to share information that they’re most passionate about.
- Influence: Ad Age also notes that the median age of a TV evening news viewer is approaching 63, so it’s possible that voters aged 18 to 35 won’t even hear a candidate’s message unless it’s coming to them through social media. Social media users rely heavily on their connections for advice on what to eat, wear, watch, and who and what to vote for. Getting messages into the billions of news feeds on Facebook is critical to entering conversations and getting messages across.
- Money: Realizing the size and power of social-media audiences, top brand advertisers (both commercial and political) are funneling serious money into online and mobile advertising. Because of the recent Supreme Court decision to end a ban on political spending by corporations, the amount of money invested in campaign advertising and therefore in social media, will rise significantly. Additionally, because earned media is furthered by viral sharing through social media, social media engagement can be the most cost-effective way to reach targeted audiences at scale.
So, what do you think? Can social media really make or break an election? I believe the proliferation of social media during the 2008 election was a good indication that 2012 election campaigns will be heavily focused on online engagements as a key strategy to gain votes and generate excitement for political candidates.