One year before the date, there seems to be little concern about next year’s national elections. During America’s race, local Facebook, Plurk and Twitter were abuzz. We were more excited with America’s politics than our own. Where did this sense of involvement, affinity and hope come from?
Online, primarily. President Obama has been lauded for effectively leveraging his online presence. He utilized every social networking site, created profiles and became available online. This “daily dose” of Obama sealed his CHANGE brand in voters’ minds and created affinity.
In the local front, a quick look at Google Insights shows that people search for candidates in hope of finding more information about them. This is intelligent voter behavior, which is beneficial if only organized online campaigns are available.
Mar Roxas leads the pack by constantly being in the news, often with regard to his engagement to Korina Sanchez. His website, blog and networking profiles appeared in the search, along with blogs not beneficial to his candidacy. Dick Gordon comes close, with his Bagumbayan advocacy creating buzz online; a number of other personalities with the same name also emerged. Manny Villar’s search showed his website and a few supporter blogs, along with forums discrediting him. A search for Noli de Castro and Loren Legarda will yield their respective official websites, which are probably the most updated and detailed of all. Nevertheless, the search also generated dubious information from questionable sources.
The question is: are the Presidentiables getting their message across? With 12 months left and TV ads airing, our searches found no single-minded, organized online political campaign on offer. An effective online campaign is not just a slew of websites or blogs; it should rally people to positive involvement, reach those soured on local politics and persuade them to take a second look.
As elections near, local hopefuls should learn from Obama’s political marketing strategies. His website BarackObama.com won the 2008 US Presidential Election Best Internet Marketing. Social media marketing is paving new ground in advertising and brand management. Will this migrate to politics?
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