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Politics aside, there was one good reason why Barack Obama won Tuesday's election: his $8 Million online marketing strategy.
Politics aside, there was one good reason why Barack Obama won Tuesday's election: his $8 Million online marketing strategy.
John McCain admitted himself that he didn't know how to use a computer or send an email. How could he compete with Obama's slick social media campaign? Indeed, Obama's election as President is historic in more ways than one. Advertising Age magazine just named him "Marketer of the Year 2008", with his term in the White House now being dubbed as the "Digital Presidency." The way in which Obama has embraced the Internet has people hoping that this President will keep open the lines of communication between the White House and the nation.
Here are just a few reasons why Obama ran a successful online political campaign:
- He hired Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, to create a social networking site out of www.barackobama.com. Obama's website is a place where supporters can interact with one another, not just read information about Obama's policies and campaign
- Since August, there have been 500 million blog posts referencing Obama
- Obama has a network of 844,927 MySpace friends and 118,107 Twitter followers
- There are nearly 2 million links to www.barackobama.com
- Obama raised $33 Million from his online fundraising operations alone
Barack Obama's traction in the social media space is not just about marketing spend and strategy though. According to Rubicon Consulting, "Democrats are more active online than Republicans. Democrats are more likely to participate in online communities, and say they're more heavily influenced in their voting decisions by information they find online." Part of Obama's victory was correctly identifying his audience and where he could reach them.
Once upon a time, Barack Obama was a long shot for President; everyone thought that Hillary Clinton would be in the White House. It was Obama's online marketing campaign that really brought him out from the sidelines into a front runner and, ultimately, a winner.