Want to be next US President? Get switched on to online marketing

I was fascinated to read an article on just how Barack Obama has utilised the web to promote his Presidential campaign.  

Just how did a junior Senator from Illinois manage to rocket to campaign front runner?  A much needed pledge for change, a fantastically orchestrated political campaign and the ability to connect with voters from all walks of life throughout the country are undoubtedly the main contributors to Obama’s success.

But what’s really interesting from the perspective of an online marketing company is how the Obama campaign has used online marketing methods and online communication channels, such as social media networks, YouTube and blogging to directly reach his potential supporters.  And what’s more, encourage them to donate to his presidential campaign. Back in January, Obama broke all previous campaign records by raising an amazing $32 million in campaign contributions, dwarfing rival democrat candidate Hillary Clinton’s meagre $13.5 million. 

The fact is that the Obama team have embraced the internet like no other political campaign before. I‘ve never seen so many social media widgets in one place – Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flikr, Digg, Twitter, Stumble… You name it, you’ll find Barack there. The Obama blog is also actively contributed to by campaign team members with multiple entries each day, allowing supporters and contributors to follow the Obama campaign trail step by step.

As always, there are things that could be improved from an online marketing perspective. Any SEO person worth their salt would decry the splash page on Barack’s site, and some of the SEO basics, such as the meta titles and tags have not been optimised to maximum effect.  But with a page rank of 8 and a reported 1 million website visitors per month, I’m sure even the most steadfast of SEO’s would be willing to get over such oversight.  

Sure, we’re not all cut out to be world leaders. But the point is, there are lessons all of us can learn from Obama’s utilisation of the web that can be employed across all business sectors.

The Obama campaign has been so successful online as Barack’s team has been proactive and aggressive in their utilisation of online communication with their target audience – the American public – successfully casting their net and broadcasting their campaign messages through as many mediums as possible.  As with every online marketing campaign, you get back what you are prepared to put in. Barack Obama’s website and online marketing efforts are perfect examples of this case in point.