Its far too easy to lose sight of social medias true purpose on a campaign. Ive seen too many candidates and campaigns worry about things that dont matter like follower counts, negative comments, and everything in between. Social media is an important channel for you to get your message out to voters and activate your supporters, but dont let it distract you from the ultimate goals of your campaign.
Here are seven ways to ensure your campaign uses social media effectively.
Be Authentic
Talk like a human. If your Tweets go through an approvals process, are wordsmithed by staff and advisors, and sound like they could come from any other candidate, youre not being authentic. Social media needs to be in your voice and nobody can fake that.
At least one content channel needs to be from you, in your own voice. If thats not Twitter, maybe its a weekly blog post or email newsletter. You could try a podcast or YouTube vlog.
Be Social
If you dont listen to or interact with your audience, its sociopath media. Nobody wants to talk to the person who is always talking about themselves. Social media users expect interaction so dont be afraid to engage.
Highlighting good behavior online with your interactions also attracts better followers, minimizing the ratio of trolls you have to deal with.
Post Consistently
Your followers should be able to see new content from you every time they open up their app. For Twitter, thats several times a day. For Facebook, its a couple of posts every day. You may need to set reminders or alarms for yourself to post, but the key is consistency.
Fit the Content to the Platform
You need to understand what other people are typically posting on your social network of choice. Dont post your press release as a Facebook status, for example. Tailor your content to the channel. The message can be the same, but the appearance matters.
Keep One Foot Out the Door
Always be driving back to owned audiences, like website, email, and SMS. Too many people have learned the hard way that you dont own your social media following. Theres no guarantee that you can reach them consistently.
Focus Your Efforts
Dont stretch yourself too thin. If you can only focus on one platform, make it Facebook, where most voters are. Dont just create social media profiles, drive traffic to them, and then not post anything.
Ignore Vanity Metrics
It doesnt matter how many Facebook or Twitter followers you have. These are vanity metrics. Dont waste your money trying to catch up with your opponent. If you post good content, the followers will come.
Dont let social media become a distraction for your campaign. Its far too easy to lose sight of the main goal. Your challenge is to keep the main thing the main thing.