5 Ways Twitter Can Help Your Campaign Get Ahead of the Competition By David All (The David All Group, TechPresident.com) 1. Increase awareness:
Communicate directly with supporters, bloggers, thought leaders and reporters without forcing information on them. The incessant, noninvasive updates will increase presence and add relevance to your effort.2. Find your audience:
Regardless of the size of your campaign, there are Twitterers who care about it in your state/location. If you talk to a reporter or blogger, ask if they’re on Twitter and follow them.3. Engage your followers:
Provide information about events and encourage volunteerism while reminding people that even small contributions help. Don’t be afraid to Tweet about something other than politics—Twitter is for real, authentic people.4. Listen to your community:
Twitter can help put constituents at the center of the campaign. Ask questions, whether they be about policy ideas or feedback on a recent speech. Letting constituents know you’re interested and want their input will send an important message.5. Monitor the competition:
Do a weekly search on Twitter to see if your opponents (or their campaign staffs) are Twittering. Monitor what they’re up to and watch for missteps that can be sent to bloggers/reporters.
5 Things to Think Through First By Jerome Armstrong (WebStrongGroup, MyDD.com, SBNation.com) 1. Clarify the expectations ahead of time:
At its basic function, Twitter is a form of communication. What are your specific goals for using Twitter?2. Assign responsibility:
Who is going to be doing the writing? The candidate, press secretary, body person, the Internet team? Everyone?3. Integrate it:
Determine how Twitter fits into the other social media tools that you’re already using. This might include using the embed script on your blog or website. Twitter limits updates to 140 characters, so it’s ideal for mobile devices.4. Do it right:
Are you prepared to be e-mailed with continuous @ replies and follow updates that you are on top of 24/7? You can change the settings, but don’t overextend and twitter out.5. Less is more:
Rather than stretch out staff resources over as many platforms as possible, without doing anything well, choose a couple of platforms and do them right.