You already know how important it is to your
campaign and political work to have an online
presence. This was clearly demonstrated in the
2008 U.S. Presidential election when Barack
Obama used his online presence to build a vast
informed, engaged and empowered community of
supporters passionately dedicated to seeing him
win the White House. It's not a stretch to say that
without the internet, President Obama would still
just be a junior senator from Illinois. But he won
because he and his campaign staff knew how to
use the internet effectively to achieve their goals.

Now, think about your own campaign. Would you
call your campaignweb-ready? Do you and your
staff know how to use internet tools to effectively
win more votes, raise more money and achieve
your goals? Or are you confused and uncertain
about how to build an online presence that not
only connects you with your constituents but is
better than your competitors’ efforts, as well?

constituents become increasingly savvy in the
online space, they are going to expect a greater
degree of effectiveness from you in order to give
you their vote.

1. Strategy
2. Integration
3. Engagement
4. Measurement
5. Refine & Repeat

Undoubtedly, your campaign is guided by a
master strategy that focuses your efforts in
fundraising, media communications, public
relations and related components. Where does
your online strategy fit within this master strategy?
Do you have an online strategy?

The new reality is without a clear and
compelling online strategy that integrates
into your master campaign strategy, your
online efforts are going to be unfocused and
ineffective. What do you need in order to develop

your campaign's online strategy? Let's start with the basic components you’ll need for your online effectiveness strategic plan:

•What do you want to accomplish online?
•What does success look like?
•What's worth measuring?
•Is your online strategy set up to succeed long

Consider which constituent audiences are most
important to your online success. Define these
critical audiences through these questions:

•Who are your undecideds and swing voters?
Think about which groups have the potential to
swing your next election. You're going to want to
engage them online in a different way than you
might with your bread-and-butter supporters.

•Who are your detractors? This is particularly important if you’re an incumbent seeking re- election.

•Where do these different groups already
congregate online? Once you have your groups
identified, its time to determine where they hang
out online.

Realistic timelines are an often underestimated element of online strategy. Building an effective online presence takes time, focus and energy. Your campaign also needs to think about how your online efforts will complement your offline events and other important dates.

Not all online content is created and consumed
the same way. What might be effective on your
website might not work on your Facebook page.

It’s important to think about your various
online presences and carefully craft site-
specific content that takes advantage of the
strengths of each online site. Don’t forget to

And don’t plan to just broadcast one-way to your
audiences. Ask questions, use polls and respond
to feedback. Be prepared for conversations
coming from people who interact with your
content. It’s this interaction that builds the type of
strong voter relationships that can help you win
elections.

Success in your online efforts isn’t achieved
without strong committed management from
within your campaign organization. You need to
determine the appropriate level of staffing and
resources to effectively manage your online

•Will your online management have a seat at the
decision-making table or be relegated to the
basement of your organization?

Once you have created the sites that comprise
your online presence - website, blog, Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc. - you need to
integrate these channels to take full advantage of
their ability to help your campaign.

First, think about your own branding. Each of your
online sites must project a consistent brand with
the same colors and logo and similar design
elements. The objective is to ensure that your

visitors know that no matter which site
they’re interacting with, they know it’s part of
your whole online presence.

Develop your hub, which will likely be your
campaign website. The goal of your hub is to
make it the central place where all of your online
presences will tie together. Then as you develop
your various social media channels, your task will
be to include them in your central hub.

Also, take advantage of inter-channel connections. Social media channels can easily integrate content from other social media channels. For instance:

communication channel so find ways to integrate
your online presence in each message. In your
newsletter, promote your Facebook fan page
using an online poll, ask for user-generated video
to promote your campaign or important issue, or
simply highlight a recent blog post. And remember
to always include ways for your constituents to
easily donate or advocate for you in each email
message.

The #1 mistake most political leaders make when
building their online presence is continuing to
believe the internet is a broadcast-only medium.
Different than television, radio and direct mail, the
internet offers you the ability to dynamically
engage with your constituents. Failing to

interact is no longer an option - its
increasingly expected that political leaders
are going to engage with their constituents
by addressing issues and answering
questions.

Respond to comments made by readers,
particularly if they ask questions. If it’s the type of
comment that doesn’t require public comment,
send a short personal email thanking them for
their comment and support with a next step they
can take to become an advocate. Remember to

never miss an opportunity to ask your
constituents for greater involvement in your
campaign.

As a medium, Twitter easily allows for interaction
through what is called an ‘@’ reply. Take
advantage of these ‘@’ replies directed to you as
an opportunity to openly interact with your
constituents. If the individual is following you, send
a short personalized direct message. Take the

time to let your constituent know that you’re
listening to their ideas and needs.
Note: Its important that you strategically follow
individuals who choose to follow you. Why?
Because if you’re only monitoring ‘@’ replies to
you, you’ll likely miss out on valuable insights from
your constituents. A strong listening strategy
means figuring out what’s important to your
campaign. One of the benefits of Twitter is the
ability to uncover the latest trends that could
impact your campaign. But be selective in who
you follow. Not everyone out there is genuinely
interested in you as a political leader. There are
thousands of individuals who fall into the group of
what might be called NiTwits: pornbots, linkbaiters
and spammy online marketers.

Your Facebook fan page will generate comments
from your constituents and it’s important to
engage in these interactions. Also, give your fans
the ability to post content to your page through
videos, pictures and links. This community-
building effort will allow your supporters to feel
more connected to you and your campaign.

An important feature of online interaction is being
able to effectively monitor what’s being said about
you, your opposition, important issues. While there
are companies that provide powerful online
monitoring platforms, your campaign can create a
very good monitoring portal using tools available
for free. Services like iGoogle or Netvibes both
provide many of the tools you need to begin
building your own portal. Each one gives you the
ability to integrate various RSS feeds from
prominent news sites, political blogs, Google
Alerts and Twitter Search results.

Measurement should be closely aligned with your
online objectives. Take a minute to return to your
strategy. What did you determine was worth
measuring? At the start, your basic goals might be