Lessons from "Ellie Light"

Just the other week, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) discovered an interesting pattern with letters to the editor. Numerous newspapers from around the country were posting letters with nearly identical language all signed by "Ellie Light." The only real difference was that the author claimed a local address (in West Virgina, Ohio, Maine, California, etc.) each time. The letters were in support of Obama and asked America to be patient while he tries to solve tough issues. Here is The Plain Dealer's original story. After a week of rumors, theories, and some excellent investigation work done by Sabrina Eaton at The Plain Dealer it was discovered that Ellie Light was actually a man named Winston Steward from California. Here is the updated story.

There are still plenty of rumors flying around about Steward. Some think he is actually an operative for the Obama administration trying to plant grassroots support around the country. After all, Steward has gone through several lies to cover his tracks (at one point he claimed his name was Barbara Brooks) so there may yet be more to this story. However, I want to focus on the role technology played in this story and provide a lesson for campaigns.

Some are questioning the newspapers that published the letters for not insuring that the letters to the editors were authentic. Even the paper that broke the story, The Plain Dealer is guilty of this failing. The only reason the reporter at The Plain Dealer investigated Ellie Light's identity was because she happened to have had an old co-worker by the same name and wanted to see if it was the same person. The point I want to focus on is that whether this letter writing campaign is part of a larger conspiracy or not, it was going to be discovered no matter what.

The pattern of Ellie Light's letters was easy to discover. All it took was a quick search on Lexis-Nexis (online database of newspapers) to show the same letter by the same author in different papers across the country. In a matter of a few seconds Ellie Light was busted. Steward came up with all kinds of excuses but at the end of the day credibility was lost and he ended up doing damage to Obama's reputation.

I want to go back to a point I have talked about, especially when it comes to social media: honesty. Letters to the editor are nothing more than a primitive social media tool. Steward chose to send letters to newspapers, but he could have just as easily chose to set up a blog, Twitter, or Facebook account with the name of "Ellie Light." The result would be the same either way. When voters want to engage in a discussion they want to do it openly and honestly. If you are faced with losing your job, struggling with student loans, or just worried about the general welfare of your community and country, the last thing you want is a fictional person telling you what to think. There is a big difference between engaging the community and supporting grass roots organizations, and faking its creation. Technology has opened up opportunities to fake an identity, but it also has created a bunch of tools to catch those schemes. I cannot emphasize this enough: DO NOT TRY IT!

I have no doubt that this type of thing will be tried again. There are probably some cases where the instigator was never uncovered. However, the cost of being caught greatly outweighs any potential benefits. Ellie Light got national attention not because the original letters were well thought out or inspiring, but because the secret plot was discovered. While there is no official connection between Ellie Light and Obama to this date, just think of the real damage that would be done if a connection was confirmed.

The next post will be February 16th.

How Scott Brown Used the Internet to Change the World of Politics

Tomorrow it will be the one year anniversary of Republitech and thus one year since Obama has been sworn in. It is rather fitting that today is the special election in Massachusetts to replace Senator Ted Kennedy. A Republican named Scott Brown looks like he might beat Democrat Martha Coakley in a state that has not sent a Republican to congress in well over a decade. While we won't know until later tonight who will win, it is an excellent lesson on how Republicans have an opportunity to seize the moment and leverage technology.

We have been hearing a lot about Brown's campaign. However, there are some things his campaign has been doing quite well that have not been highly publicized. The first comes from a CNN article that caught my eye - http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/15/first-on-the-ticker-gop-candidate-saturates-google-with-ads/. It was last month that I talked about the power of pay-per-click ads, specifically Google's tools (See post here). There are two things I want to highlight with Brown's Google ads. First, he started early. It got him name recognition, traffic to his website, and most critically donations in the early stage of his campaign. Second, his campaign clearly has spent time developing a pay-per-click strategy. They have a focused keyword strategy going after those searching for "Martha Coakley." Since Coakley is not buying advertising on Google at all, Brown has had free reign on both his name and his opponents. In other words, you are going to get pro-Brown ads no matter if you are searching for Brown or Coakley.

There is one "mistake" I noticed after doing some quick searches on Google. While the campaign is in Massachusetts, the race has become a national sensation. I could not find any ads on Google for either candidate. This is most likely because Brown has limited his ads to the state of Massachusetts (I am in Ohio). People all over the country have been motivated to lend support (money, phone banking from their house, etc). Why not reach out to them through Google ads? The only thing I found was this:

It is an ad with a link to a form to allow you to donate money to support Coakley (albeit somewhat indirectly through the DSCC). There should be Republican ads popping up.

The second facet of Brown's online strategy I want to discuss is that of social media. I read this interesting blog post just the other day written by Professor William A. Jacobson (Cornell Law School) - http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/01/brown-massacres-coakley-online.html. The charts Jacobson provides are quite telling. Brown is a topic that people are finding very interesting and talking about. Some of this is probably due to the recent national attention the race has been given, but there are two candidates in this race. Voters are finding Brown's social media efforts to be engaging, helpful, and motivating. Coakley appears to be uninteresting. Interestingly enough, in the previous CNN article Coakley's campaign's excuse for not running Google ads was to focus on social media. Clearly her campaign has failed. I also want to point out that so many people have taken interest in Brown's social media outlets that he is receiving positive and free grassroots advertising. Take a look at the YouTube videos at the end of the blog post that were created by average citizens mocking Coakley's campaign strategies.

Don't get me wrong, Scott Brown is a great candidate beyond what he has done with technology. He is active, motivated, respected, thoughtful and unlike his opponent, he is gaffe free. Even so, in a state like Massachusetts a Republican is going to have to be way above and beyond their opponent. The lessons from Brown's campaign are clear. Online campaign is not a theory. it is not a fad. It is a communication tool that gets the Republican's message out and it has put Obama in a very awkward spot.

Below are some of Brown's online resources. Please check them out!
Website - http://www.brownforussenate.com/
Twitter - http://twitter.com/scottbrownma
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Scott-Brown/178795233167
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/scottbrownma

The next post will be February 2nd.

Technology Resolutions for the New Year

Keeping with tradition, I would like to set a few resolutions for Republicans in terms of technology. With 2010 being an important election year, these goals become even more critical. Below I have 3 simple resolutions which I hope your campaign will adopt.

1. Master at least one social media platform
I have talked about many different social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Many campaigns have adopted social media, but I feel that a good number of those campaigns need to develop their strategy more. There are often two mistakes campaigns make: one inexcusable, the other slightly more understandable, but should still be remedied. First, the inexcusable mistake. Many feel that "if you build it, they will come." Social media does not work this way. You must engage and build a community. The second mistake is having someone on your staff post content. It is understandable that candidates are extremely busy people and sometimes they will not be able to directly engage everyone who responds to them. However, the most ideal situation is to have the candidate engage social media. Voters will appreciate it more and take more interest in the campaign if they know they are interacting with the candidate (after all, that is the point of social media). Both of these mistakes can be prevented by mastering at least one social media. Know how to use it, follow the changes in that platform, and engage users and build followers.

2. Keep website content fresh
This is a challenge for any organization with a website. Adding content can be time consuming and tedious. However, visitors to your website expect to see up-to-date information. I have even seen sites that advertise the candidate running for the wrong position when they used their old campaign site for a run at a new office. This will only frustrate and annoy voters. On the other hand, voters will revisit your site if they know new information will be there. The site becomes a resource and will get bookmarked. Big campaigns especially need to keep their sites fresh, but it is important for even local candidates. A great example of a local candidate with lots of fresh content is Ohio State Rep. Ron Amstutz, http://www.amstutz.org

3. Develop a comprehensive online strategy
Too many campaigns do not have a comprehensive strategy for the Internet. In my experience, campaigns approach new media in bits and pieces without looking at the big picture. They also do not sit down with their staff and draw up a plan. Technology still is treated like an afterthought. I strongly recommend developing a plan, and then revisiting the plan every now and then. Analyze your options, discuss pros and cons, and decide the best way to execute the plan.

I hope you take these three resolutions into consideration, and above all else...have a happy New Year!

The next post will be January 19th.

Why Wikipedia Matters

First off, I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. We are just a few days away from Christmas and a week later it is New Year's Day.

Now for the exciting part of today's post: why Wikipedia matters. Wikipedia has become the standard for quickly looking up information. Google will most likely refer you to Wikipedia when performing a search. I was able to play around with Wikipedia recently while helping out Jim Renacci's campaign for the U.S. House race in Ohio's 16th Congressional district. His entry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Renacci.

On a personal level, I have it say Wikipedia is a lot of fun. You add an entry with some information and a couple days later you find out other people contributed to the entry. It is literally a collaboration project with everyone in the world. I strongly encourage everyone to participate, even if it is on topics not relating to politics.

Before you jump into Wikipedia, you need to be aware of a few rules. First, Wikipedia is not an "encyclopedia of everything." You must prove your topic's importance. Often this can be done by linking the post to other Wikipedia posts. For example, Jim Renacci's was linked to the Columbus Destroyers Arena Football team because he is an owner of the team. However, this is not necessary. State Rep. Ron Amstutz has an entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Amstutz. His entry has been there for years and oddly enough has been simplified to one sentence. Secondly, Wikipedia is not a place to self advertise. This rule is mainly targeted at businesses, but still applies to politicians. The Wikipedia entry needs to come across as non-partisan with facts not opinions. For example, you can say "Mr. X has worked in the health care industry for many years," but not "Mr. X's experience in the health care industry will help us solve the looming health care crisis." There are people who work with Wikipedia who check all of the entries to ensure they do not violate either of those rules. Do not try to trick them. It will not work!

So if Wikipedia's rules are so strict and non-partisan what is the advantage. The truth is, for a campaign, a Wikipedia page is indispensable. As stated above, Google often likes Wikipedia entries. Most likely it will show up on the first page of results. Since it is non-partisan, you shouldn't have to worry about what it says. Furthermore, while the entry is suppose to be neutral and independent, a link to the campaign site is acceptable. In other words, Wikipedia will give your campaign lots of visibility. Furthermore, since search engines (e.g. Google) like Wikipedia so much, having a link to your website from Wikipedia will boost your site's rankings on search engines (good for search engine optimization). It great for rankings and it is a link that is relatively easy to get.

The next post will be January 4th, 2010.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Using AdWords to Raise Donations

I have recently become hooked on Google AdWords. For those of you who are not familiar with AdWords, it is Google's system for managing online ads. Do a quick search on Google and on the right side you will see ads. Those ads are managed by AdWords.

Before I continue, I want to point out that this is not a free service. AdWords is the main money maker for Google. It is a type of advertising called "pay-per-click" (PPC). Every time someone clicks on your ad you pay a small fee. The fee is determined by numerous factors and can range from a few cents to a few dollars. There are choices of PPC. For example, Yahoo! and Microsoft have their own PPC systems. However, Google is such a dominate player in search (60-70% in the U.S. market) that it is the most efficient place to start.

So why would a political campaign want to run a PPC campaign? The answer is to raise donations of course. There are a few campaigns out there using PPC campaigns to raise funding. For example, take a look at this ad:



Many organizations use PPC to drive traffic to their website. AdWords allows you to target on a very specific level. There are a lot of technical considerations that go into writing and managing a good ad. I apologize if any of the following is rather technical, but I want this post to be helpful while pointing out that AdWords is not something you pick up in a day. The point is there is a lot of customization that can go into developing an ad.

You can target your ads on many levels. Take Rand Paul's ad for an example. He is running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. Individuals in Nevada, Maine, and Canada are probably not that interested in his campaign (at least not enough to justify paying for traffic). However, Kentuckians would be very interested in both his website and would be willing to donate. AdWords lets you pick locations that the ad runs, right down to latitude and longitude coordinates if you wish to be that specific. The reason I see it is because I currently live in the Cincinnati area, whose metropolitan area extends into Kentucky. There are also other targeting options for more advance campaigns (you can even pick what type of computer you want to see the ad).

However, you must be careful. AdWords is not for every campaign. Smaller campaigns probably do not have a large enough constituent base to have a big impact. The ad also should be crafted carefully to ensure a positive return on your investment. I highly recommend finding someone who has run an AdWords campaign before and who understands how to interpret AdWords' reports. Having a professional run your campaign will help you understand trends and discover new information. I have even been able to use data from an AdWords campaign to improve a site's ranking on Google.

When you set up your ad, you can choose the page that the ad is linked to. This is where you can drive traffic to your donation page. You may be able to get an extra donation at the cost of just a few cents. Even though this sounds really great I do want to point out that just because someone clicks on the ad (and you thus pay for it) does not guarantee that you will get the donation. It will take a bit of marketing effort to convince voters to contribute after clicking on the ad and landing on your website.

All aspects of AdWords cannot be described in a single post. However, I hope at the very least you have gained an interest and awareness in the technology. It will take thoughtful consideration on your campaign's part but the pay off could be big. Not only can you increase your donations, but you will also have greater awareness of your campaign.

The next post will be December 22nd.

Impact of Social Media

Today I would like to share with you what is perhaps my favorite video of all time. It was created by the blog Socialnomics which is managed by Erik Qualman. The video is called Social Media Revolution:


The stats which you see are well researched. I have seen similar numbers from multiples sources and Socialnomics does provide a list of citations if you would like to look them up.

While the video focuses on business, many of the same principles apply to campaigns. A campaign's "product" is the candidate and his or her platform. Finding people to volunteer and work for the campaign is not that much different from finding potential employees (although you are looking more for a specific passion rather than a specific skill). All this information should at the very least show the vast opportunities that lay out there in social media.

I could go into detail about each statement the video made, but that would create a ridiculously long post. I have in the past touched on many of the specific issues, but I would like to address an important concluding point of the video. It states "We no longer search for the news, the news finds us..." That, in summary, is the point of social media. Campaigns have the ability to send out information and news through social media and deliver it straight to the voter. And if that does not happen, then someone's friend, family member, or co-worker will forward those news items to them. Part of any social network, even off-line and in person, involve sharing ideas and opinions. The Internet has just enabled this to happen effortlessly on a massive scale.

I do want to end with one word of warning. Consider demographics before buying into social media. Know how your constituency reacts to various social media outlets. Additionally, those voters on Facebook, Twitter, etc are going to have a different demographic make up than your district in general. A couple of years ago I would have said the main difference is age. Today that is a difficult claim to make. Some polls suggest that Twitter is having difficulty being popular with teenagers because too many of their parent's generation are using it (thus of course making Twitter "uncool"). In any case just be aware that the audience on social media may be different.

I encourage you to visit Socialnomics, read some of the posts, and watch the other videos.

The next post will be December 8th.

The Wayne County Young Republican Website

One of the many organizations I am part of is the Wayne County Young Republicans. WCYR was formed early in 2009 in response to the high level of Democratic youth votes in the county. My role is the Marketing Chairman which means my challenge is to find young Republicans in the county and get them to join a new organization. My first task was to put together a website and online strategy for the organization. We recently completed the first phase of the website at http://www.WayneCountyYRs.com and I wanted to share a few key elements of the website.

First, take a look at the home page. We have a large image that shows something the organization has done. Right off the bat, the organization looks active. Then, we have two columns on the top right: Events and the Twitter Feed. Visitors can keep up to date on what the organization is doing and are invited to follow the organization's events and Twitter feed. To further reinforce the concept of staying connected, just below that area is a form to sign up for the email newsletter and a cluster of links to all the WCYR's social media.

On the topic of social media, we can now look at the organizations strategy for social media. We have included a number of social media elements including YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, blogging, and Twitter. These are all possible points of contact with the community which mean possible points of recruitment. They also each serve a different function. Facebook events have been a great way for WCYR to organize and advertise events. Flickr will be the main repository for pictures of events. This will help show how active and involved members are in events. The blog helps focus on the ideals of the organization. I could go into much more detail on each element but the point is we are providing multiple ways for members to find us and interact with the organization.

Another important part of the site is the Committees link. This page has a list of all the current executive committee members and information about each. The idea was to try to break down the "stranger" factor with joining a new organization. If there was a young Republican who wanted to join, they could become familiar with some of the officers. Not only would they know what they look like from the pictures, but also certain information about the person. This makes the officers more relatable and approachable. Just think about how much easier it will be at the first meeting you attend to start up a conversation with Doug Deeken when you know he is the guy who is not only an engineer, but also is a stay at home dad in Doylestown who often calls into the Matt Patrick show to talk about issues Doug brings up on his YouTube channel.

There will be more to this site in the future. More connections to local campaigns, more information on events, both past and up-coming, and new features. The site is to the point where we can advertise it heavily and it provides a good resource to members. Hopefully, some of the ideas and tactics that went into building this site can be easily transferred to other political organizations.

The next post will be Nov. 24th