Tag Communications

It’s primary and caucus season, which means candidates have an official “green light” to shout to the rooftops with their platforms, insight and budgetary plans. But, as has become the case with most aspects of marketing and communication, the digital revolution is changing it all.

Social media has reached such a prevalence that it’s not a question of IF a candidate is participating – it’s a question of WHEN and HOW.

Some say that social media brings people closer together – but I’m of the school of thought it can also give us a false sense of community. Are my 701 (yikes, when did it get THAT high?) friends on Facebook actual FRIENDS? Or, how does following Conan O’Brien on Twitter make it more likely that he knows I exist?

While these contemplations might plague our own inner dialogues, they are shaping the new political campaigning landscape. Does having a strong social media following make you appear more personable? And more importantly – will that virtual following pick up and vote for you next November?

On January 30, President Obama (or #potus for all your Twitter geeks) participated in a Google Plus “Hangout.” He answered questions that citizens submitted through YouTube as part of a follow-up to the State of the Union address.

Mitt Romney’s Twitter feed is a varied combination of shots at Obama’s camp, pictures from his campaign trail, and purely personal things such as his Super Bowl well wishes to the Patriots.

These mixed media messages serve as a secondary platform to support strategic communication goals, but also help infuse a greater personality with the candidates than we had prior to its introduction as a message vehicle. We see the candidates on television, but the arm’s length distance that comes with purely paid advertising is removed through social media.

We can be updated multiple times a day on candidates’ thoughts or whereabouts, making them seem more conversational, available and approachable. So for the next nine months, here’s to letting the social media feeds roll!

Heather Venema is the lead TAG-er on PR work and longer-form writing (i.e. websites and publications). To put it simply, if it’s longer than a paragraph, she probably wrote it.