my.barackobama.com: The Secrets of Obama's New Media Juggernaut

Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Chief Technology Officer & Founding Partner, Blue State Digital looked at the strategies and tactics that helped put Barack Obama in the White House. Blue State is a five year old company that helps leverage social media for primarily issue or event based clients – from elections to humanitarian disasters to fundraising events.

Some statistics;

• Over 1 billion emails sent to over 13 million email addresses
• Over 1 million SMS subscribers
• Over 200000 offline events planned via the web
• Organised 35000 volunteer groups
• 14.5 million hours of YouTube content viewed
• Raised $770 million

Lessons we can learn from the online Obama campaign

1. Drive Action – be true to medium, think about the use case
2. Be Authentic – don’t do press release to email, send email from a person within the organisation, ensure a consistent voice
3. Create Ownership – turn users into advocates, crucial to turn people into active rather than passive participants, connect people with each other, solicit ideas from the community
4. Be Relevant
5. Create a Strong, Open brand – consistent, professional, polished
6. Measure Everything – emails, online advertising, engagement, fundraising