Smart Campaigns Elect to Use Online Marketing

Every election year it seems to be suggested that the dirty campaign tactics and nasty attack ads are unprecedented. Many historians would argue that dirty campaigns are nothing new, pointing to the 1828 U.S. presidential election, during which there was no shortage of mud-slinging between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. If we are looking for something truly unprecedented in this year’s election, you could certainly make the case for the use and influence of the internet and social media.

In addition to a never-ending supply of Twitter commentary from candidates and pundits, there have been plenty of memes, sound bites and viral videos being used in an attempt to sway opinion.  While there can be much debate as to whether not most of this “information” is actually useful to voters, it does provide campaigns with perhaps unprecedented access to the thoughts, concerns, and priorities of the electorate. For example, during the debates, campaigns could monitor Google searches, Tweets and Facebook post trends to see, in real time, how viewers were reacting to what was being said by the candidates. According to Google,

“Political search interest spikes 440 percent on average during live televised debates as people turn to the web to learn more about the candidates and their platforms.”

Smart political campaigns will be looking to use the new ways online media allows candidates to directly speak to voters. One such avenue is  Google’s Candidate Cards, an experimental non-paid platform, initially made available only to 2016 presidential candidates. The modules appear on search results pages, and allow candidates to publish text, as well as images or videos in the form of a post. The idea is to allow candidates to communicate more directly with search users.

In a more recent development, select local businesses are also now using Google’s experimental platform, participating in a Local Business Cards test.  While Google has apparently not made anything official, the Cards could be an important new  development for online marketers.

As the election stories continue to dominate the news cycle, smart marketing campaign managers should be taking note of these emerging search and social media trends. They could be the key to unprecedented sales success. Contact us to discuss your campaign!