Voters are increasingly consuming political information as entertainment, which means effective candidates must adjust to becoming celebrities. The internet has made it possible for anyone to build a community around compelling content and voters expect the same from their politicians.
This isn’t to diminish the very serious issues we decide in our elections, but an assessment of how the experience functions. The word “authentic” is overused when we discuss what voters want from political candidates. It’s a reaction to days gone by where successful politicians could talk without saying anything, never had a hair out of place, and avoided mistakes at all costs.
The radical transparency made possible digital content creation and distribution is a valuable asset for marketers. Used properly, campaigners can create compelling and engaging experiencesg for supporters by documenting the campaign journey.
Define Your Objective
Before you begin, it’s essential you have a clearly articulated – and measurable goal. Is your aim to elevate some aspect of your biography? Share expertise about a policy issue? Or reach a key audience.
Content just for content’s sake is a waste of everyone’s time.
This is also the stage where you define the bounds of transparency – is it every moment of the day or just a few aspects of campaign life?
Choose Your Output
Next, determine what your content product will be. Is it a weekly Substack-style newsletter written by the candidate? A weekly livestream Q&A? Or a short, daily vlog? In order to be effective, you’ll need to choose just one and be consistent. That varies for different mediums and platforms.
Commitment
If you’re serious about documenting your journey and creating content consistently, there has to be a commitment from everyone on the team. That will manifest itself in a well-known deadline and clearly defined process for producing the content on time.
Build (And Follow) A Template
Consistency requires an easily repeatable process. That’s where a standard template comes in. Constrain the creativity to a framework such as a minute by minute video format or word count limit for blog posts.
Repackage Your Content
Work smarter not harder by repackaging content you’ve already created, like a press release, and use that as the foundation for your storytelling content. Similarly, repurpose your vlog, newsletter, or livestream into other campaign content.
For new content creators, it can be daunting to get started, but having clearly defined objectives, outputs, and frameworks makes it manageable.
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