John Edwards Campaign Falls Down On My Playground
I’m ALL about influencer outreach programs. I WANT politicians to figure out how to leverage new media in their campaigns. I love seeing them experimenting and I applaud them for that. BUT, the Edwards campaign just totally swung and missed in my general direction. But, just like I tell my son when he strikes out in baseball, I’m hoping they will do better next time.
I got a Twitter yesterday from Edwards camp asking me if I’d be interested in helping with a new online program they were going to do. I was curious and he’s one of the candidates I’m very interested in so I responded and the conversation switched to e-mail where I gave them my number and said I’d love to talk and find out more.
A few minutes ago I got a call from someone on the staff. Not the person that I had chatted with and agreed to talk with (bad move #1, don’t pawn me off onto someone else without telling me). This kid was good, but it felt like he was reading from a script. Worse part was they had not done even a five second search on who I was or what I was about. I had assumed the Twitter was because I had written about the campaign in the past, but now I’m thinking it was just a generic message to followers.
On the call I was actually asked if I had ever used MySpace or Delicious before? Are you kidding me? Come on. Do a little bit of homework and find out who you are talking to. I don’t mean this in a cocky sort of way, but at least find out if the person you are talking to has a blog or a podcast or anything. Know a little bit about them before getting them on the phone.
Then I was actually asked “so do you think you can push out some information and content to all your friends?” No direction, just get the information out there. Huh? You are kidding right? PLEASE tell me you are kidding. I wanted to school this kid on the phone but realized he’s just doing his job and it’s really the people heading up this outreach that I need to talk with.
It pains me that this felt more like a band’s street team approach then truly embracing new media. They are doing it right by going to where the conversations are happening, but they fall down in their outreach and approach. If you are going to just blanket reach out to people it is NOT going to work. Figure out who you are talking to and then talk to them appropriately. Find the people who are already talking about you and then tell them you’d love to give them more information.
I had made an assumption that they were reaching out to me because of my political views and because I’ve talked about how politicians can use new media. In the end it turns out I was another random face to them.
I hope the campaign (and all campaigns) can learn from this. As I’ve said before you can fall down in this space, get back up and be better for it. That is why I call this “the new media playground” because we are all learning how to play with the toys and the only way to get better is to keep trying and take advise from the other kids who might have been playing a bit longer.
I don’t want to share what they are doing behind the scenes, but it is a GREAT first step. Every campaign should be doing what they are doing and a lot more. We’ve got to move beyond baby steps and really get things going.
What will be interesting to see is if they will even notice this post and react? I guess it’s a little test for them. *grin*
Even band street teams do better than that. The real problem for organizations is that they don’t know WHO to talk to because the tools for measuring influence just aren’t there yet. How do you measure reach and engagement? More importantly, how do you map it in an effective way? We have some tools already, especially for the big networks, but they’re still inefficient.
[…] I just wrote about it over here. […]
They may be the new kid on the block, but they’re learning. I hope. Eventually they’ll get the picture, right? RIGHT?
Careful, he’s a trial lawyer, and a damn good one….anyone who owns a playground better have insurance for when people fall down in it…
(holy mixed metaphors, batman)
CC, I would hope they do notice– I think Edwards is the most social media savvy of the bunch. The fact that he/they use Twitter to get in touch with folks like you is a great advance in campaigning. That does not magically transform the fly-by-the-seat nature of fast-moving campaign org’s unfortunately. I hope this turns out ok, whether or not you participate.
On another note, the topic of social media use by the candidates came up in BostonNOW today– ok, I know you know that, but the article links to thoughts on the issue from Scott Monty and Steve Garfield (ok, and me too). I am sure you have thoughts on this as well, beyond this most recent experience.
Your post made me wonder what we’re doing to help them realize what we can do.
I was reading a great post by Jeremiah Owyang about community manager roles, and this resonates with what you’ve come across here. Part of the problem lies in the retooling that has to happen in traditional marketing/PR practices.
It’s no longer “push push push, call to action.” It’s more like “build relationships, understand the ecosystem, gather like minds, and exchange.”
In the end, some of the same stuff gets done, and sure, sometimes there’s a problem with immediacy. But really, is raw marketing/PR force really going to continue to get the job done the same way? Is it now? What’s the level of effort versus return?
They found the right guy to give them a schooling, C.C.
The thing that hit me about this story is that social media has an “emotional multiplier affect” to it. If you had gotten a call out of the blue from an Edwards telemarketer, you would have listened dispassionately or just hung up, because it is assumed that there is a personal connection with the caller. But in this case, you were contacted on twitter, which comes with a bunch of assumptions: that they follow your posts, that they know a little bit about you — all of which conspire to heighten your expectations. So then, when the college kid started reading from his “how much content can you push to your friends” page, you were left disappointed and perhaps a little bit angry for being duped.
It’s like playing with matches on the playground:-)
Well the main reason I wrote the post is that I’m HOPING that they go “well what could we do better next time” and of course I’ll gladly tell them.
We are ALL learning this stuff as we go along. No one is an expert because it changes to fast. Plus, I’ve been a firm believer in giving help to anyone that asks and those that know me know that I’ll give advice to anyone that asks for it.
I don’t care what color your politics are, it’s great to see them using new media and I hope they take it to the next step to learn to use it even better. I have faith they will.
CC, thanks for your kind nudge in the right direction and willingness to leave us some room for improvement. For those of you I have yet to meet, my name is Amy Rubin and I recently joined the Edwards campaign to head up our SocNets strategy.
I wanted to take a moment to respond to this post and ensure you all that we are working hard to fully integrate new media into our overall campaign strategy.
As CC mentioned we are reaching out to our online influencers and working to provide them with the resources and support they need to talk with their communities as effectively as possible. While, as Christopher mentioned, it is often difficult to identify our online leaders and measure engagement we did strategically reach out to people for this program and did not simply blast all of our friends. Clearly, there is a huge difference between super-users of new media and everyday supporters who are enthusiastic and use these new tools. Do we need to do a better job of differentiating between them? Of course. This is a new effort and we’re always finding ways to hone our approach.
I also wanted to clarify, which CC also touched upon, we are not planning to simply say “hey, spread the message!” and then peace out. This is the first step in organizing our team. As we move forward, we’ll be learning too – and finding out from the team what they need and want from us to do what they are, in many cases, already doing – which is engaging with other people about the campaign.
Thanks for this nudge. We are definitely listening and this was some of the best feedback I’ve received since we launched this program three days ago. As Daniel hinted at, I would love to hear from anyone interested sharing ideas, criticisms or suggestions on how we can make the most of this great new world.
Feel free to email me at arubin at johnedwards dot com
Amy, thank you so much for coming out and being transparent and joining in on the conversation. Looks like the campaign picked the right person to bring on board.
I’m also very glad to see that you understood that this was aimed at being constructive criticism and nothing more. I want to see you succeed in leveraging this space and look forward to talking more about how that can be done.
Plus I’d rather point out the problems now before someone on the “other side” *grin* is accidentally called. Somehow I don’t think their response would be as constructive.
[…] II: See this exchange between C.C. Chapman and the Edwards campaign. a combination of social media outreach initiative […]
Careful there, C.C. - the “other side” has feelings too. Even if they aren’t using new media quite so effectively.
Ok, that was impressive turnaround time, I have to say. Kudos for realizing the error and instituting corrective measures.
CC is the consummate connector and influencer in this space. Only a foolish campaigner would ignore his advice.
And, sometimes it works the other way around. I’m a fan of JRE that found your blog through my Google Reader, so you can chalk up one more follower because of this “mistake”.
Whilst it’s great to see someone from the Edwards campaign respond, it’s obvious they don’t listen to Managing the Gray
Of course in the UK I don’t expect any political party to ‘get it’ anytime soon.
- Neil.
Hi CC,
It’s good that you brought these issues out and engaged the Edwards campaign in conversation. These issues, by the way, are not that different than approaching a more traditional media person and knowing who they are in advance, customizing your individual approach to their background and interests. (I write more about that in my PR and Marketing Mentor blog: http://CathrynHrudicka.wordpress.com).
I also applaud the Edwards campaign for responding so quickly. The “kid” who talked with you initially was probably an intern or someone who had the task of fielding contacts in a fast-moving campaign of overworked staff people—but they still need to watch the impressions they’re making, especially in the social media space, where word travels like lightning, which is why it’s great that they’re there in the first place. Thanks for opening up the discussion on political campaigns and social media.
~Cathryn Hrudicka, Chief Imagination Officer (and PR consultant/journalist)
Creative Sage(tm)/Cathryn Hrudicka & Associates
Very happy to see the Edwards campaign reach out. The most concerning first thought about the MySpace blanket message was that we have grown to almost have a sixth-sense about spam and advertising. But as you said CC… it’s all a part of learning to play in the playground. One of the first things you learn as a kid when you are at the playground is that it’s much more fun and a better experience when you play WITH others around you. Community is what drives new media, and it’s these relationships that can be the most benificial to everyone. Community takes time and effort to create, and true community usually lies in smaller cicles than tradional blast-out advertising. BUT these small circles become your biggest sounding boards and airhorns when the call comes. That is the true power of new media.
Best of luck to you and your crew Amy. I’m anxious to hear more from the campaign. CC had a call to have one of the candidates appear on Managing the Gray to explain how they are leveraging new media. I’d love to hear more about the efforts the Edwards campaign is undertaking.
I love the vanity in this post, and how it ends by saying you don’t want to lift the curtain on back door campaign issues. You have already proven yourself worthy through your discretion, while damning with faint praise!
I love how you both damn the campaign with faint praise, while offering your own vanity up as an example of being on the bleeding edge. Maybe you should offer a politician without the resources of, say, Coke, a little more slack before going public.
I’m amazed by the speed!
I’m afraid that bloggers will get bad reputation as lawyers if most people are not able to cope up with the new media.
‘Bullying at the (new media)playground by (enthusiastic) bloggers keeps innocent( kids) away!’
I m big fan of JRE
hey thanks for your exclusive post
When I first read this post, I was a little dismayed…
I have so far been a yellow dog democrat on election day, no matter how uninsipring I find the dog to be. Now that Edwards is investing his energies in new media I fear that it looks like he did not learn from the John Kerry flop. “Check my website” is not a campaign platform in both of the “Two Americas.” One of those two Americas lacks computer literacy, computers, and internet connections. A cell phone is not an adequate platform to consume new media either. The impoverished class in America has grown during the Bush administration–the bigger of the Two Americas is the one to reach out to in a democratic election. As Aristotle wrote, a democracy is a tyranny of the majority.
Yes, new media is another way to spread the word. That is not enough. New media is not going to lure both Americas into voting booths and it will not motivate both Americas to choose you. Instead it excludes half of the “Two Americas” from a process that should be open to all. I sincerely hope that Edwards and the other democrats realize the importance of old media in the 2008 campaign. Otherwise, they will need Micah to stuff the ballot box if they plan to win.
[…] Social Media Part I: John Edwards campaign makes good after missteps in Twitter […]
[…] for something and then the conversation grows out of that. I’m referring to things such as my post about the Edwards campaign and Chris Penn’s post about PodShow. Both have sparked some interesting conversation. […]
[…] Social Media Part I: John Edwards campaign makes good after missteps in Twitter […]
[…] II: See this exchange between C.C. Chapman and the Edwards campaign. a combination of social media outreach initiative […]