11.12.08
Obama did it, how can you?
4 November 2008 will be remembered for many reasons. Not only did the United States choose Barack Obama to be their 44th President, but it was also a great day for internet marketing. With Obama’s victory it was proven that internet marketing can no longer be ignored. With one objective in mind, Obama’s team created the best internet campaign ever employed by a politician – and it worked.
How did he do this? Amongst other things, Obama used Web2.0 techniques to manage his reputation and influence potential voters online. Obama’s team utilised social networks in a way never seen before in a political campaign. On Facebook the team created an application that allowed users to share and spread news items, blog posts and speeches featuring Obama. Taking it one step further, the team created a Barack Obama branded network where people could network and form a sense of community with other Obama supporters. The team blogged on a regular basis on the Barack Obama blog to keep supporters up to date with what was happening “behind the scenes.”
Businesses should look to these campaigns and think about how they can utilise internet marketing to promote their products and services on the World Wide Web. According to eMarketer B2B marketers in the US are planning to increase their internet marketing spend by 18% compared to 6% for traditional marketing spend. Carol Krol at eMarketer says “B2B marketers are increasing their online spending, particularly for customer acquisition, because they can measure it and determine quickly whether it is working. In an age of heightened accountability, the ability to measure is critical.”
Two internet marketing elements Obama exploited are online brand building (also known as online PR or web PR) and online reputation management. In a broad sense, online PR works in a similar way to offline PR by building trusted relationships. These relationships are formed with directories and websites that share an interest or operate in the same industry as your business. Online PR consists of specialist articles being created and optimised with the intention of distribution directly to these websites and directories. These articles create brand awareness and traffic for the client as well as enhance search engine optimisation (SEO).
With online reputation management the web is continuously monitored for mentions of the client on websites, blogs and forums. Online reputation management is of vital importance as it allows the client to respond in a timely manner to either positive or negative press and allows the company to either save or claim its reputation.