Politics & Social Media

Lets learn how they connect together

How politicians are using social networks in election campaigns & beyond

Contents
Introduction Why politicians should use social networks Exemplars: Politicians using social networks How politicians use social networks Creating your own politically based social network Building membership on your network 3 4 5 5 8 9

Introduction
Social Networks have become powerful tools for connecting people with a common interest who would normally have di culty connecting due to distance, time or other barriers. Facebook brought social networking to the masses. But now niche communities are being created speci cally for niche groups with a common interest, allowing online sharing and communication around a particular topic, cause or passion. To be clear, we are saying that communities with a particular interest are now creating dedicated social network websites quickly and easily using online software like SocialGO.com. These social networks are not part of some larger network like Facebook. Instead they are websites that are totally and wholly dedicated to the speci c special interest topic, cause or passion. Politicians and their constituents lend themselves perfectly to niche social networking focused on that politician and his/her cause. Social networks allows politicians to engage large volumes of constituents very e ciently and e ectively on a scale never before economically possible. This whitepaper sets out to explain how politicians can engage constituents and turn them into evangelists to support campaigning and manage relationships while in o ce.

Why politicians should use social networks

At the core of the value proposition to politicians is the e cient and e ective engagement of their constituents on a scale never before possible. From this engagement comes the development and promotion of policy that constituents feel they have ownership in. Social networks also allow the e cient organisation of rallies and events, plus the coordination of volunteers and workers. Additionally, a dedicated social network is the ideal place to raise campaign funds through donations, subscriptions and sales of merchandise. Whilst this is all occurring, politicians are building a rich source of qualitative and quantitative data on their constituents and their needs. Constituent Engagement & Feedback A dedicated social network lets a politician have a focused and controlled online space that facilitates e cient and e ective engagement of constituents on a scale that was previously not economically possible. Develop & Promote Policy The dynamic environment that a dedicated social network provides lets politicians develop policy from live and active consultation with constituents, which creates ownership in the policy by constituents so they become evangelist to the cause. Organise Rallies & Events Dedicated social networks make organising rallies and events very simply and straightforward; each event or rally gets a dedicated webpage within the network that works as an event management system. Coordinate Volunteers & Workers Volunteers and workers are easily coordinated and managed using the grouping functionality, with volunteers and groups e ectively getting their own netw ork within a network. Raising Campaign Funds Campaign donations, subscriptions and sale of merchandise can be easily collected from constituents from within a dedicated social network site. Constituents Database Building & Segmentation A dedicated social network is a rich source of both qualitative and quantitative data on constituents and their needs.

Exemplars: Politicians using social networks

One of the best examples of a politician using a dedicated social networking site to e ectively and e ciently further his political cause is Dominic Villepin who is currently challenging for the French Presidential election. On his dedicated social network http://www.villepincom.net he and his team have gained almost 10,000 core supporters with whom he has developed and promoted policy, coordinated volunteers and raised funds using blogs, videos, forums and organised events. This site is the primary online presence for Dominic Villepans campaign for President of France and has pioneered a new web presence for politicians that has only become economically possible in the past few years. Visit the Dominic Villepin site http://www.villepincom.net to see it in action. In the next section we will use his network to demonstrate how any politician can do the same quickly and easily.

How politicians use social networks

It is now possible to quickly and easily create dedicated social networks for a speci c topic, passion or cause using software like SocialGO.com. Software like this is very similar to Facebook in its layout, however can be styled to create any desired look or identity and typically requires members to sign up with certain details as required by the network owner. The networks can be private or public, but usually a mixture to protect certain data, but also give them some public visibility. All members get an online pro le, so other members can then interact with them via internal messaging, instant messaging, live video chat, chatrooms, forums, blogs and wall comments. Plus members can watch videos, view photos, and participate in forums, read blogs and news. Given this vast array of functionality, a politician and his/her team have at their disposal a hugely e cient and e ective way to engage large numbers of constituents in ways never previously available. Here are some guidelines.

Constituent Engagement & Feedback Proposed policy can be posted on the network blog and constituent opinion is available via the comment

system below each blog. Policy videos can also be posted on the network to create a more personal touch and constituents opinion

can again be sought via comments below the video. Policy discussions can be extended via the network forum where constituents and politicians can discuss

policy in detail. Policy announcement can be carried out via the network mass mail system which sends out emails to all

networks members. One-to-one live constituent engagement can be conducted using the live video chat functions for real

time discussion. Large group live constituent engagement can also be conducted using the chatroom functionality where

constituents have live group discussions with the politicians and each other.

Develop & Promote Policy Through engaging large volumes of constituents eciently and eectively as above, politicians will be

able to develop policy from the grass roots. By feeling involved in the development of policy, constituents will feel they have ownership in the policy,

campaign and politician.

Organise Rallies & Events Organising Rallies and Events is very straightforward, as the network owner has access to built in event

management software Creating an online event takes minutes. Event details and maps can be added while constituents can be

invited using the network's external & internal messaging systems. Once a member of the event, constituents can con rm their attendance, invite others, upload event photos, videos and add their comments to preserve a record of the event. Each event eectively gets its own dedicated web page that is wholly focused on promoting and

managing that event.

Coordinate Volunteers & Workers Volunteers and workers can be eciently and eectively organised through a dedicated social network by

using the Group functionality to e ectively create networks within a network. Volunteers and workers can be grouped geographically or by skill type and each volunteer or worker group

is given a dedicated web page to customize. This web page will include any required and relevant information while acting as a space for sharing and

communication. Raise Campaign Funds Taking donations, or even mandatory subscriptions of desired, can be easily facilitated by using the member

billing functionality. Campaign fund raising can easily be promoted through the network using the vast array of messaging tools,

such as the 'mass member email' feature.

Constituent Database Building & Segmentation While all the above is happening, the network is becoming an increasingly rich repository of quantitative

and qualitative data on workers, volunteers, constituents and their needs, This data can be downloaded and analysed at any time, anywhere.

Creating your own politically based social network

Thanks to online software like SocialGO.com anyone can create an online social network with relative ease, at a low cost and with no development skills needed. SocialGO specialises in providing fully featured social network website for $25 (17, 20) per month for the Premium DIY plan, or $150 (100, 120) per month for the Concierge plan where SocialGO does all the design, setup & management work for the client. The networks are fully hosted so the client does not have to worry about servers. Plus there is unlimited bandwidth and storage on all paying plans so the client has no surprise or hidden costs. Network design and layout can be fully customised to suit the desired style, brand or look of the client and can be a stand alone website or seamlessly integrated with an existing website. For more information please visit http://www.socialgo.com, or email support@socialgo.com or click here to speak to a SocialGO agent (USA/Europe business hours).

Building membership on your network

Having set up your dedicated political social network, the next and possibly greatest challenge is getting constituents to join. First and foremost the network must have compelling content that they potential members are interest to read, comment on and interact with. If the network is the focal point of the politicians policy debate then this is easily achieved. Critically, the politician should be seen to actively engage their members by posting blogs, having forum discussion, instant messaging chats and comments. With your network seeded with good content you are ready to invite constituents to join. The most e ective and rapid way to accelerate membership is import an existing database of constituents or followers to the network so they have ready made pro les before they join. They can then be emailed and asked to log into the network where they will have a ready made pro le. A slightly softer way is to use the invite functionality of a social network to invite databases of known constituents and ask them to join, create a pro le and then interact. Generally once you achieve active 150 members, subsequent content and members will become self generating. Facebook and Twitter can also play a critical role in building membership. It is recommended that a Facebook page is created so that tra c can be channelled from Facebook to the dedicated social network where the politician will have more control and exibility. Twitter can also be used to tweet the presence and beckon membership of the dedicated political social network. Also, constituents will be able to join the dedicated social network using their Facebook & Twitter Connect log in details, thus fast tracking the signup process.

The SocialGO Concierge Team