When it comes to motivating voters online, not plotting out an integrated mobilization strategy is typically mistake number one for campaigns, say top digital strategists. The good news is that more often than not, it’s an easy fix.
Crafting the right mobile strategy and making the most of it was at the top of the agenda again Friday in a handful of panels during day two of C&E’s CampaignTech conference. Aside from waiting too long to launch your campaign’s mobilization efforts, digital strategist Mindy Finn says the lack of an integrated strategy tends to be the most common mistake, even for campaigns with experienced hands.
“You turn off voters quickly when different elements of a campaign are contacting the same people with different messages,” said Finn, one of the GOP’s top online strategists who just joined Twitter to work on the microblogging site’s “strategic partnerships.” Even on large and experienced campaigns, said Finn, it happens more than you might think.
The simple fix, she said, is ensuring the rest of the campaign is consistently on the same page as the digital team and consistently communicating, even when they might not think it’s completely necessary.
Campaigns without a coordinated strategy on that front are all too common, agreed Taryn Rosenkranz, the director of marketing and new media at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“You see campaigns where the field staff isn’t working enough with the social media team, which just doesn’t make sense,” Rosenkranz said.
Revolution Media’s Courtney Sieloff stressed the need for full scale mobile programs in 2012, making the case that a campaign’s mobile program should be an integral part of its branding. If you have a robust text program, said Sieloff, promote it everywhere, from your yard signs to your radio ads.
The only caveat, said Rosenkranz—don’t get so caught up in social media engagement that you forget the point. Once you reach and engage the voter, “you need to make sure you’re bringing people back to your home base to collect that data.”