WHY HAVE POLITICAL PARTIES STILL NOT REALISED THAT ONLINE TOOLS ARE THE KEY TO WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS?

With today’s news comes the fact that ‘Yes’ vote support has marginally slipped. What has also been revealed in the TNS MRBI poll is that a quarter of us have not decided how we will vote on October 2nd. Are we surprised at this revelation? No, of course not. But what surprises (or should I say disappoints me ) is that yet again we are witnessing a lazy , lack lustre and uninventive campaign trail from the political leaders to inspire our nation to have their say in this referendum.

With the ‘Don’t Know’s ‘ representing such a critical mass to rally in the next 3 weeks what are the communications strategists on either side of the voting camp doing to address this? As a communications consultant myself, if I rocked up to a sales pitch and presented the kind of tools of communication that were used last year let alone 10 years ago I would be fired, and rightly so. When will someone, anyone, in the corridors of power realise that the existing approach of running political campaigns is outdated and quite frankly an ineffective model.

Whether it’s motivating a nation to get out and vote on Oct 2nd or, campaigning in a general election sometime next year the new rules of engagement are the same – define and segment your target audiences and communicate with them in a meaningful way. Winning hearts and minds is not about bombarding us from above with demands to VOTE YES or worse still to be patronised by ‘C’ list celebrities as to why I belong. Winning hearts and minds is about tapping into the groundswell, listening and reacting, not talking the talk but walking that talk. Leading by example, action not rhetoric, collaboration, inspiration, in a nutshell - selling hope.

All of this and more is what Barack Obama has achieved. Why? Because he has a team of professionals working for him who fully appreciate the opportunities of tapping in to grassroots support, and the power of the groundswell effect.

Leaving his politics and personality aside, the Obama phenomenon was sustained by the savvy use of online tools to build community and momentum. What his campaign team set out to do and achieved highlights some major opportunities for future political party marketing and campaign management in Ireland. All the pity they didn’t apply some of it to the Lisbon referendum.

What lessons could The Lisbon team learn from the Obama groundswell effect? Well, Sarah Lai Stirland highlighted some of the online tactics that led up to the Potomac primaries in her 2/12/08 blog <http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/obama-and-mccai.html> on Wired (excerpt below).

• The campaign organized volunteers to make thousands of phone calls to get out and vote. The campaign also texted supporters' mobile phones to remind them to go to the polls.
• The campaign in addition held a series of "real-world" events, photos of which it constantly posted on its headquarters' blog in order to emphasize the sheer physical size of its supporter base.
• Hoping to take advantage of an assumed surge of supporter emotion, excitement and momentum, the campaign immediately sent out another text alert around 10 pm Eastern time [during the Potomac primaries]. It let supporters know that CNN had called the primaries for Obama. Campaign organizers included a request to spread the word. "Fired up? Ask friends to join our movement by texting HOPE to 62262," read the victory message.
• Outside groups have also helped Obama. MoveOn, whose members endorsed Obama, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaign. They also created an online Endorse-a-thon widget that enabled its members to engage in a peer-to-peer online endorsement campaign by sending out 500,000 e-mails and Facebook messages to their friends recommending the candidate.
• Obama supporters all over the spectrum engaged in a multi-media viral marketing campaign with online music videos <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk> and humor. Along with the celebrity endorsements, these activities seem to be fueling what can only be called Obama fever or Obamamania. <http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10498970>
• The Obama campaign itself, it seems has gotten into the game. Its 21st-century version of the auto bumper-sticker is ring tone mash-ups of Obama's speeches <http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/mobileinvite?stg_signup_id=21616923> , which are sure to be conversation starters about the candidate and what he stands for between the owner of the phone and whoever's in the vicinity. "
  

So, how can ringtones, text messages and photos really make difference? These tools and tactics aren’t just exciting because they’re cutting edge. They fundamentally change the nature of how a politician or a political party engages with supporters.
Here’s how:

• They foster conversation between supporters. This is game changing. Long gone are the days of talking at supporters. It’s now a conversation, and the people on the other side are more likely to be interested and fired up if you/your party/network cares (and respond to) what they have to say.
• Yes, you respond to what supporters say. Don’t just start a conversation for the sake of starting a conversation. Your party/network should respond, incorporate and use these conversations. How would your organization use 300 photos taken by your supporters illustrating what being a part of Europe means to them? Would it personalize your campaign? Would it surface new sides the debate? Are the photo-takers likely people want to get more involved/volunteer/organise/donate?
• They put power in supporters’ hands. This is critical. Messages are made more popular, more exciting and more diverse by enabling supporters to take the reigns. Give local constituents the basic tools and let them go. Gone are the days a political party can retain complete control over its image or message.
• Keep in mind you can benefit from much of what's already happening. Flickr photos, YouTube, Google Earth satellite images - much of this content is free and easy to use.

Political parties who don't even have these tactics on their radars are increasingly behind the game.

Our advice to any political party getting focused on a general election is this - Know what's out there, know what your opposition is using, and invest in the medium-term visioning and planning necessary to fully engage in this new, dynamic and wired space.