Candidates Becoming Media Companies: How I Would Run For Office In 2015

I have to be honest, I’m too late on writing this article. It’s already happening and it’s only the beginning.

Traditional brands, celebrities, and YouTube stars have been doing this for years and it’s always the Politicians (more specifically their campaign advisors) that are too late to the party.

Rand Paul is diving head first into it and he’s already seen some success. Candidate and President Obama was the tipping point obviously, but his campaign only touched upon the possibilities this strategy has to offer.

Now consider for a moment your favorite television news network. It doesn’t matter if you watch MSNBC, CNN, or Fox, just consider the media they play in. Sure they’re capitalizing on new media platforms, but they’re still operating heavily on television.

Mass media has its value still, don’t get me wrong, but now consider the playing field new media has created.

My closest friend has amassed a following of over 45,000 YouTube subscribers and over 7 Million video views over the past 8 years. All of his videos have been shot on a flip camera, iPhone, or DSLR camera and edited on his laptop using Adobe Premier Pro.

Think of any social platform these days and you’ll find someone earning a living, producing native content and building a following that rivals any mainstream news network.

Q: So how does a political candidate build his or her media empire you ask?

A: One video, article, meme, gif, or post at a time.

Campaign’s are a battle for eyes, ears, and ideas in a very short period of time.

• The eyes and ears part is easier than ever with targeted ads on many of the social platforms he or she would be using.
• Any good candidate should be able to clearly communicate his or her ideas, beliefs, and campaign promises on multiple different mediums.
• Production of these assets shouldn’t be an issue as, in my experience consulting on a few campaigns here and there, many candidates (especially state and local ones) have more down-time than one would think.

The 100% digital campaign is imminent. Sure there will ALWAYS be a need for in-person interaction but when a candidate is battling for attention, new media offers capabilities no newspaper or television show can dream of.

Take for instance The Ellen Show or The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. They have a great television platform to work from, but it’s the native content they produce and highlight on social networks that have seen more attention than any one episode.

Or consider the standout political example during the 2014 elections. The traditional commercial from the now Senator from Iowa, Joni Ernst, wasn’t successful because it was played on television, it was successful because it’s satirical content played well on social media bringing it more FREE earned media attention than any other Congressional or Senatorial campaign.

If I were to choose to run for office in 2016 (No..this is not me announcing my candidacy), by a very large percentage, more of my time would be spent in front of my own video camera or computer than at a podium or shaking hands with constituents.

The amount of content the campaign would create would rival any mainstream blog or daily newspaper.

Volunteers and I would surely spend time on the phones and knocking on doors, but those tactics would only be used to help build more targeted digital content.

Fundraising would be 100% digital as the percentage of time spent planning and executing fundraising luncheons and dinners (unless planned by volunteers) doesn’t justify the return.

Want evidence regarding online fundraising? Read “Inside the Cave: An In-Depth Look at the Digital, Technology, and Analytics Operations of Obama for America”. Worth the read for any digital marketer in my opinion.

Targeted data would support every campaign decision from who to target, how to drive engagement, what topics resonate with voters, how a GOTV (Get Out The Vote) campaign would function, and more.

Interested in how exactly someone goes about using one piece of data to target someone online? Read this hilarious blog post about targeted Facebook ads. That’s just one platform remember!

I haven’t even touched upon the political side of the campaign either. But that’s not the point of this post. The stylistic role of a candidate is where the majority of these tactics live. Sure, the political role of a candidate must weave into and out of them as well, but I’ll save that for another post.

I know everyone has there own opinions regarding politics, politicians, social, economic, and international issues, but as the 2016 campaign draws closer, take those considerations out of the equation when analyzing the campaign. Watch closely to the candidates tactics, online and off, and I’m confident you’ll see just how close my strategies from above are utilized.

I’ll be writing more about political campaigns and the digital strategies (successful or not) at my new blog launching soon called digitalpoliti.co. Feel free to subscribe early and follow along.