Ideas for a Smarter, Faster World

• They engage. Maybe it’s because of the events or the door-to-door canvassing or the campaign activists themselves or a culmination of these things, but political campaigns got the engagement aspect of digital and social media straightaway. And they’re not afraid of it. When you go door-to-door, you know each time you go out at least one person if not more will tear into you about the candidate. You might have protesters at your events. You listen, learn and if appropriate alter aspects of the campaign. It’s no surprise then that unenthusiastic comments on a campaign blog, in related forum or on a candidate’s Facebook Wall won’t rattle a campaign. It’s expected and sometimes even welcome. Brand marketers need to engage the consumer and understand it won’t always be pleasant, but it will be productive.
• They manage flux. The landscape of an electoral campaign is constantly changing. A prominent benefactor in a key district pulls her support. The opposition has only agreed to 1 debate instead of 3. New polling shows you dropped 3 points in a week. Political campaigns don’t panic. And they definitely don’t ignore these fluctuations. Rather, they remain calm and set-up action plans that may again need to be adapted in the not too distant future. For brand marketers, the new media terrain undulates in a similar fashion. Organizations need to accept a fast-paced, irregular marketing environment and arrange their teams appropriately.
• They respond rapidly. Campaigns have “War Rooms” to quickly assess information and respond rapidly. What brand marketing organizations have “War Rooms?” With social media listening services like Radian6, Collective Intellect and Sprial16, you know immediately what is being said about your brand. The Motrin case study from last fall illustrates the need for brands to adopt a rapid response mindset and competency.
• They’re staffed appropriately. Properly engaging voters, managing flux and responding rapidly require bodies, lots and lots of bodies. And not just anyone. Competent, talented and passionate professionals. A campaign’s headquarters is often bustling with many, many consultants, paid campaign workers and volunteers. And all of this is expensive. Like political campaigns, digital and social media marketing and real-time measurement and analysis is human resource intensive. And like political campaigns, it’s not cheap. Yet marketers are currently cutting their staffs and squeezing their agencies. If marketers wish to be successful in this new social media age, they must recognize the true investment required.

Tags: Ad Age, Advertising Age, brand management, brand manager, brand managers, Denuo, digital media, digital media marketing, George Potts, Jack Neff, marketing organization, marketing organization paradigm, marketing organizations, marketing staff, marketing staffing, marketing staffs, marketing war room, Motrin, political campaign, political campaigns, Rishad Tobaccowala, Social Media, social media marketing, Tobaccowala

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 5:12 pm and is filed under General, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.