The internet was also a great resource for fundraising in the 2008 election.
An article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy stated: “[Obama’s] campaign relies primarily on three approaches to soliciting:
• Traditional e-mail solicitations.
• Online advertising on social networking sites and blogs.
• Social media Web sites like Facebook and the candidate’s own online social network.
Those tools allowed Mr. Obama’s staff to be much more flexible in their communications, to respond more quickly with communications to potential donors at key points in the campaign, and to develop a much larger pool of supporters than more traditional solicitation and recruitment techniques.”
Obama was able to push the envelope further than any previous Presidential candidate. The reach of his message was so broad; people of all ages and race were able to identify with him. This enabled him to raise mass amounts of money, surprisingly in small increments from individuals. That’s another reason his campaign strategy was so different from others. Many candidates, including his competitor John McCain, rely on lobbyists and larger donations to reach their fundraising goals.
Resources:
http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/5298/fund-raising-lessons-from-the-obama-campaign
November 1, 2009
Social Networks Take Center Stage
Social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn took on a huge role in the election. Although the inter net has been used in previous elections, the social networking aspect of advancing candidates really took off during this election. Even President Clinton had attempted a MySpace page during his campaign, but was never able to take full advantage of that opportunity. Obama made sure that his campaign team was on top of their game when coming up with new strategies for online awareness.
Both McCain and Obama attempted to reach people through social networking. Although McCain made a valiant effort, Obama took over the world of social networking during his campaign. His supports set up accounts through virtually every social network site, allowing the reach of his message to disperse through different social groups. His presence was everywhere online!
“While about one-in-five Americans overall (22%) uses an online social networking site such as MySpace or Facebook, these sites may be playing an important political role for some people…” (Internet’s Broader, 2008). I believe Obama’s success with social networking determined the overall outcome of the election. Experts predict that the use of social networking in the 2008 campaigns is just the beginning. They expect many more sites like these to pot up within the next few years, and will continue to play a critical role in elections.
Resources:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/12/technology/candidates_socialnets/index.htm
http://people-press.org/report/384/
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