Organic content creation is vital to the success of any campaign or organization, but it’s too frequently neglected. Both paid and organic are critical for messaging this year and campaigns ignore the latter at their own peril.
Campaigns and groups need to look at ways for their paid and organic digital programs to complement each other, which is where we start with the five trends to watch in voter outreach this midterm year:
1. Creating content specifically aimed at driving organic sharing/reach
Content is king and you need a lot of it to fuel your social media channels, your newsletters and websites, to keep voters engaged. Get more out of your paid content by finding ways to carry it over to your organic streams. Have a successful telephone town hall? Clip it and send it out to your newsletter list. Sending a video via text message? Go ahead and put it up on your social media channels.
Using your paid voter outreach to drive your organic content will not only allow you to get more for your money, but also help you weave your consistent messaging throughout every aspect of your campaign. Most importantly, put yourself in the shoes of your supporters and create content that’s interesting and inspiring enough they actually want to share it.
2. Use of influencers
The explosion of big mainstream brands using influencers as part of the marketing plans is no longer a fad, it’s a clear and effective strategy. How can this translate to campaigns and voters?
Endorsements are nothing new to campaigns, but you need to be thinking about how you can take those to the next level and actually use them to influence voters in your direction. Maybe it’s delivering the message right from the influencer to the voters through a phone call or video text?
While there are new technologies in the political industry that specifically focus on relational organizing and outreach, this is an easy and effective technique to apply in the analog world, no software required. Have your volunteers call people they know and who trust them when they say who they’re voting for, instead of the soul crushing work of cold calling strangers.
When thinking about endorsements, think bigger and broader than well-known politicians. You don’t need a senator’s endorsement to make an impact. A trusted mom or dad who volunteers at the school has a huge influence in their neighborhood. Leverage the influencers you have, and your audience cares about.
3. New attitudes towards HR/people management
It’s no secret that Gen Z and Millennials have shaken up the workplace. Just like any industry these days, finding qualified talent to add to the team can be tricky. The political arena is catching up here and there are several places to match great resumes and people with the specific political-type jobs that are available. Places like Revered and GOP Jobs are allowing campaigns, political offices and consultants to run professional organizations with their HR and recruiting services. This is a game changer for campaign managers who no longer need to spend time chasing down every lead of someone who knows a person that might be interested in a campaign job.
4. Hybrid is here to stay
Before the pandemic, it was in-person town halls, face-to-face meetings, large rallies and events. Then when the world shut down, every part of our lives shifted to phone calls and Zoom meetings. Just like there are some folks who are still working from home, while some are back in the office, the hybrid way of life and campaigning is here to stay. What does that mean for you this cycle?
Don’t stop having events, keep focusing on crowd building, but don’t turn your back on those who have adapted to the new Zoom way of life. You must keep meeting people where they are if you want to win, and that’s in-person and remote.
5. What’s old is new again
While we’re changing with the times when it comes to managing people, we’re taking it old school in other places. Let’s get back to the basics of voter outreach: what will be most effective this cycle isn’t how many clicks you get on a viral video by people who can’t vote for you. It will be about how you connect on a deeper level with voters. People are craving a back-and-forth discussion and a personal connection. How are you having an effective, two-way conversation with voters? They don’t simply want to be screeched at from a TV screen. They want to engage with you.
Nicole Schlinger is the founder and president of CampaignHQ. Since 1999, CampaignHQ has delivered millions of effective P2P text messages, voter ID, persuasion, advocacy, patch through, and GOTV calls for winning campaigns and conservative organizations.
