Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing: How he Used Internet and Social Media to Become President-Elect
| Share | Tweet |
Barack Obama’s election was historic not just politically – his use of the the Internet to promote awareness and create a loyal following will be the template which all future presidential campaigns will draw inspiration from.
History was created when Barack Obama won the race to the White House. Youth vote had a major role to play in the landslide victory, and the role that the internet – the living space of the youth – had to play in his success will be a subject for an endless stream articles such as this!
Barack Obama had a formidable opponent in Hillary Clinton, and during the democratic primaries, where the Obama campaign beat her hollow. A little into the campaign, social media quickly decided to support Obama, and there was no looking back for him. Hillary conceded, and from there it was on to the bigger battle.
Obama has been successful in realizing, releasing and capitalizing the true potential of the Internet. If there is any lesson for Democrats and Republicans after Obama’s huge success in mobilizing first-time voters and campaign funds, it is that no future campign will be able to slack off on a top-class internet marketing strategy.
Obama – or his campaign strategists – realized the fact that besides the public appearances, rallies and stump speeches that were necessary, there was another effective medium for connecting with the people of the USA and that was the Internet. No other presidential candidate has been able to realize this potential of the internet.
Website:
The official website, BarackObama.com is not just designed well, navigating within the site was a pleasure and information was easily accessible.
The presentation has been excellent; updates were continuous through the website. Updates on the website included links to videos, articles and appearances of Barack Obama. The website did not remain just a brochure website; it transformed into a platform from where anyone can make calls in support of Obama, volunteer, make contributions and even register the vote.
The my.barackobama.com section promoted the group of Obama only. One has got the freedom to set up one’s own blog or group within this website. The Flick& Videos has been integrated into this website. This has facilitated Obama’s team to take advantage of the audience that is already on the social sites.
“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,”
said Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.
Social Media:
Social news and social media are essential tools, and living environment, of the youth. And where the youth are, that’s where marketing dollars should go. And in this case, campaign dollars went there too.
The social media network developed by the Barack Obama campaign created more than 3,500,000 friends for Barack Obama. YouTube, the largest online video streaming site, shows more than 134,000 subscriptions, and FaceBook shows more than 3,000,000 supporters.
The Barack Obama campaign presented a tech-savvy, intelligent face to their candidate – and the young audience loved it. Obama volunteers formed Facebook groups, there was the famous ‘Donate your status to Obama’ campaign in Facebook and Obama speeches went viral with the active participation of the geek-crowd.
Social news sites such as Digg and Reddit loved Barack Obama. Supporters tirelessly submitted positive news about Obama, dissed news about John McCain and Sarah Palin, and worked hard to promote positive Obama news on the homepages of Digg ad Reddit. Volunteers and activists started ‘get out the vote’ campaigns, offered advice – and it became a wave that carried a lot of the fence-sitters into the Obama camp.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
When you search for words “Barack” and “Obama” in any of the four search engines you will be stunned to have the presidential campaign website of Barack Obama to be the first in the list. This has been made possible by the team of Barack Obama which has carried out the Search Engine Optimization activities as effectively and efficiently as possible. The Splash page that greets the visitor to the website has details to be filled in. The contents of the website surface after one has filled the data. The data is used to send emails about Obama’s campaign. For each page there is a different title tag. There are descriptive Alt tag descriptions with most of the images. The header tags have also been used effectively. Thus the SEO tactics have paid good returns.
Pay Per Click (PPC) and Sponsored Listings:
Republican Fred Thompson has been the only other candidate to have used the strategy of sponsored listings or PPC. If you want to achieve your objective one has to make the optimum use of the resources that are available. In this case, Barack Obama has been able to use the use the maximum potential of his presidential campaign website. Obama and his team make the best use of the sponsored listings that are available to them. This availability could be through any source, be either bought or donated. Most keywords related to the presidential election campaign were captured by the Obama campaign. The only way any person could be ignorant of Obama is if he is staying on a remote island without any communication with anyone else.
Blogging:
Blogging is yet another tool of internet marketing strategy that has not been given as much attention as is required. Not so in the case of Obama’s election campaign, though.
The official blog is very well integrated with the website. Obama’s team constitutes of active bloggers who continuously post relevant and latest articles every day. Sometimes posts received more than 325 comments within an hour of posting. This reveals to what extent the blog is active and whether the people are watching and reading it or not.
It can be aptly said that Obama turned out to be the choice of America; but we can also say that this choice has been marketed effectively and efficiently through the internet. This presidential election campaign is sure to change the utility of the internet in the future not only to market the products and service but also running the election campaigns successfully.
(17 votes, average: 4.76 out of 5)
Loading ...| Share | Tweet |
30 Responses to “Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing: How he Used Internet and Social Media to Become President-Elect”
-
Vivekanand O Says:
12.41.41 at 12:41 pmIt is true that Barack Obama used the internet as optimally as possible. But this is not the only reason, or even the most important reason, of his victory.
The main reason for his victory is that he presented himself as a “break” from the present, knowing fully well that the present Republican regime and its policies were very unpopular.The economic meltdown (which was the result of the present policies) accentuated Obama’s appeal further.
I dont beleive that if McCain and Palin had too used the internet as effectively as Obama, he could have won.
-
Vivekanand O Says:
12.44.15 at 12:44 pmSorry, The last para should read as:
I dont beleive that if McCain and Palin had too used the internet as effectively as Obama, he (McCain) could have won.
-
JImmy Dean Says:
13.05.00 at 1:05 pmWow, good going! Well done indeed.
-
Mister.de Says:
13.36.45 at 1:36 pmgood post.. i also liked to visit his flickr page
-
Breakdown of Obama's Internet Marketing Success Says:
14.54.34 at 2:54 pm[...] of Obama’s Internet Marketing Success Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing: How he Used Internet and Social Media to Become Pr… Saw this just a few minutes ago, highly [...]
-
Barak Obama use Intenet as an effective tool for his promo « Edutainment & Convergence Today Says:
14.55.04 at 2:55 pm[...] read more | digg story [...]
-
Harry Chittenden Says:
15.13.23 at 3:13 pmHow would you have countered this, Manish? The crowd was definitely for Obama, probably before his Internet appearance.Your article mentions that Fred Thompson bought a few keywords. What else could have been done. If the McCain camp had hired you, what would you have done do counter Obama’s I-offensive.
-
Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing… « The Pure Pundit Says:
16.55.16 at 4:55 pm[...] This is an informative piece on parts of the insanely successful internet strategy that was used by … [...]
-
Sam Says:
17.11.31 at 5:11 pmUm, John Kerry did the same thing in 2004. Only thing was there wasn’t a facebook, digg or myspace back then.
Your younger online audience is generally going to be a liberal group. Young liberals are controlling the web.
John McCain had similar practices for his campaign, it just didn’t have the audience. There’s so little visibility for McCain fans on the web. The JohnMcCain.com URL was posted on every lawn sign just like Obamas.
I wouldn’t link too much of Obama’s success to the web. Yes the web played an integral role and there were some audience engaging items like the donate your status app. Remember Obama’s success is largly in part of the man himself (he marketed himself as someone who knew what twitter,facebook and google were). That audience was receptive to that. The grassroots effort i.e. young liberals talking politics and encouraging their neighbours to make good decisions was a big part of this.
-
Raquel Hirsch Says:
19.14.29 at 7:14 pmHere is how Obama used Conversion Rate Optimization to maximize online donations:
In an amazing bit of sleuthing, Chris Goward blogs on how the Obama campaign successfully used a Conversion Rate Optimization strategy to maximize online donations.
Read all about it here: http://www.widerfunnel.com/case-study/obama-used-conversion-rate-optimization-to-win#more-267 a and here is an update: http://www.widerfunnel.com/case-study/obamas-home-page-image-test#more-284
-
YellowSEO Says:
23.36.34 at 11:36 pmGreat article Manish, and I agree with Arianna Huffington when she says “Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” I think Barack Obama has set the new standard in which will be used in future presidential and other political campaigns to come.. Although the standard he has set is very high it will be interesting to see if future nominees can use the internet as efficiently….
-
Pablo Says:
16.11.14 at 4:11 pmI blogged about this titled, “Obama Web 2.0 Strategy Brought Politics 2.0 to Life. An Online Marketing Presidential Strategy.”
I think its truly ground breaking not only about outcome of the election, but how that outcome came about. Really did start as a grass root online movement. Barack (or his team) are social media experts.
-
Link Love - Wednesday 12/11/2008 Says:
00.46.56 at 12:46 am[...] SEOgadget. A post by Richard Baxter telling about the digg.com given a hidden link to Quantcast. Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing: How he Used Internet and Social Media to Become Presid… on DWSmg. A cool post by Manish Pandey, telling that Obama has been successful in realizing, [...]
-
Kyle James Says:
01.07.59 at 1:07 amIt’s really good to see somebody finally put a good post together describing this campaign and how online marketing through SEO and Social Media along with Email marketing all went together to make an A+ campaign.
I would love to hear from any SEO or Internet Marketer that could vote for McCain after the way Obama’s campaign really showed the value and power of doing what we do properly.
-
Obama 2.0 Marketing Says:
13.26.51 at 1:26 pmObama08 campaign conducted the most successful Internet marketing campaign to date. There are a lot of lessons to be learned!
-
.eduGuru Links of the Week for November 14th, 2008 | .eduGuru Says:
14.36.58 at 2:36 pm[...] Barack Obama’s Ultimate Guide to Marketing: How he Used Internet and Social Media to Become Presid… – Barack Obama ’s election was historic not just politically – his use of the the Internet to promote awareness and create a loyal following will be the template which all future presidential campaigns will draw inspiration from. [...]
-
Barack Obama Writes to 7-Year-Old Political Blogger Stas Says:
18.06.44 at 6:06 pm[...] president’, for his mass communication via the internet, and it is amazing how he used the internet and social Media to become President-Elect. I was touched when Barack Obama followed us on Twitter. Tell a Friend [...]
-
David Says:
17.16.49 at 5:16 pmNice post with an intersting point of view. Please check our French vision on Barack Obama’s Viral Marketing :
http://www.culture-buzz.com/blog/Top-5-Barack-Obama-s-Viral-Marketing-1875.htmlYes, we can !
-
BSWD Says:
22.19.11 at 10:19 pmI think there are a lot of great lessons that can be taken from Obama. He has the CEO of Google on his board for transition, and I can only imagine he had a hand in his marketing for his campaign.
-
SEO in LOS ANGELES Says:
01.34.36 at 1:34 amTHANK YOU FOR YOUR POST IF YOU EVER NEED REAL SEO LOOK US UP
-
Paul Burani Says:
22.16.44 at 10:16 pmThis was a great writeup, though one flaw I need to point out is that Obama and Thompson were not the only candidates using paid search. McCain not only was using it, but the campaign pulled off probably his single biggest marketing feat in PPC, when they beat the Obama team to the punch on bidding for Biden terms shortly after the VP announcement: http://searchengineland.com/marketing-video-via-paid-search-14720.php
-
10 Misleading SEO Company Tactics to Watch Out For | Ingenious Blog Says:
12.42.04 at 12:42 pm[...] If you want your SEO campaign to drive quality, converting traffic to your website then (as the great online marketer Barak Obama says), yes we can! Bookmark This [...]
-
herve leger clothing Says:
09.52.39 at 9:52 amBarack Obama’s election was historic not just politically – his use of the the Internet to promote awareness and create a loyal following will be the template which all future presidential campaigns will draw inspiration from.
-
Dumbbells Says:
02.31.12 at 2:31 amI see so abundant hype about Obama.. is he a perfect president in the opinion? Have the public found any amazing things till now accomplished by means of him ?
-
14 ways to build brands & community | Mohit Pawar . com Says:
22.35.52 at 10:35 pm[...] tools help in effective organization, communication and finding the interest of people. See how Barack Obama used Social Media to become 44th president of the United States and what businesses can learn from [...]
-
Evelynn Villafane Says:
23.54.06 at 11:54 pmAwesome post, This has helped me very much with my seo learning! I continue to learn a lot from your blogs.
-
Successful Says:
08.13.20 at 8:13 amPvp Server,Oyun Tan?t?mlar?,Yeni Film,Genel K?lt?r,Makaleler Tan?t?mlar? Vede Daha Bir Cok ?ey Bu Forumda Hem Gezerken Hemde Bilgi Sahibi Olcaks?n?z
ForumZero
ForumZero
ForumZero Ana Sayfa
ForumZero Kay?t
ForumZero Giri?
http://www.forumzero.org – forumzero.org – forumzero -
Ben Donahower Says:
20.05.37 at 8:05 pmSam mentioned that McCain used some of the same tactics but didn’t have the same audience such as mentioning the campaign’s URL on the yard sign.
This is *somewhat* unrelated to the comment but more to the idea of candidates marketing themselves using the web and technology.
Some candidates have started using QR codes on their yard signs it will be very interesting to see if candidates who have eschewed signs, like President Obama, will start to use them again considering voters will mobile devices could scan the code and be sent to an appropriate landing page on the campaign’s site.
-
Mellisa Kamber Says:
20.43.20 at 8:43 pmI will right away grab your rss as I can’t find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please allow me understand so that I may just subscribe. Thanks.
-
World News Says:
23.51.37 at 11:51 pmsolid law firm web marketing services
Leave a Reply
News and Updates
Sign up to receive breaking news
as well as receive other site updates!
Articles Under Apple Section
Articles Under Design Section
- 10 Superbly Creative Hairstyles For Women For Daily And Special Occasions
- Things to Consider While Developing Successful Android Apps
- 20 Creative Humor Posters
- 42 Creative Modern Ads For Inspiration
- 25 Creative Wedding Invitations Designs
- 30 Fresh And Latest Photo Manipulation Art
- 21 Heart Touching Love Cards
- 35 Creative Imagination Vs Reality Art Work By Ben Heine
- Photoshop vs. Real
- 35 Creative HTML5 Websites
- 40 Creative Photoshop Images in Advertising
- 25 Cool Example of Fog Pictures
- 25 Humorous Business Cards
- How To Become A Professional Photographer
- 20 Creative Wine And Beverage Posters
Articles Under Media Section
- Little Known Facts About Mahatma Gandhi [Infographic]
- On The Phone
- What if Social Media were a Highschool?
- 20 Hot Male Models Using the Perfect Stripping Methods
- 15 Hottest NBA WAGs
- 25 Romantic Valentine Cards Examples
- Couple Kissing Pictures For This Valentine
- 35 Creative Vintage Computer Ads
- 8 Best Gaming Ads Of 2010
- List of Best Political Cartoons of 2010 for Christmas
- 10 Most And Least Brainy Cities In United States
- 25 Hot Male Models Photos
- Do’s And Don’ts on First Date – Funny
- Top Bollywood Actresses Ruling Magzine Covers
- 20 Novels Depicting Life in New York
Articles Under Microsoft Section
Articles Under Marketing Section
- 7 Tips To Get Hasty Payments From Your Client
- 20 Creative Wine And Beverage Posters
- How to Work with Different Breeds of Clients
- 7 Top Strategies to Make Anything Sell
- 10 Valuable Life Lessons Learnt from Bees
- Facebook hits Yahoo! Mail
- How Big Companies Utilize the Power of Social Media?
- 10 Ways to Show the World of Marketing You Care
- Fifteen Marketing Books Every Marketing Professional Should Read
- How can Internet Marketing Help Your Business to Grow
- How to Build an Effective Marketing Strategy
- Ingredients of an Effective Marketing Plan
- What Advice You Can Get From a Marketing Professional
- Difference Between Online And Offline Marketing
- Thirty Marketing Gurus and Their Mantras to Success