Guests of PRSA NY’s Technology Thursday networking event, sponsored by D S Simon Productions, weigh in on the 2008 Presidential Election and how it has impacted the communications industry.
Here are some of their VlogViews:
Alison Walsh
Senior Account Executive, Evins Communications:
“The click-thru rate online is key for consumers, key for politicians, and key for the entire communications sphere.”
Haywood Batchelor
Project Manger, Accenture
“You can’t just run a static campaign; you have to have an interactive dialogue with your constituency.”
Debra Dixon
CEO, Light of Gold PR and Marketing:
“There’s now such a thing called ‘Barack 2.0′ and I think [Barack] just totally leveraged social media, social networks by creating an ongoing conversation…and he’s still continuing to do that even before he goes into office.”
Evins Communications
Accenture
Light of Gold PR and Marketing
Search Terms: Barack Obama, 2008 Campaign, communications, politics, media
What the Obama campaign showed was how effective social media can be when the tools are used to interact with appropriate audiences. What no one mentioned was that Howard Dean used the Internet very effectively to raise money, mobilize support, etc. and showed the possibilities. Obama, and I hate use this cliche but will anyway, took it to the next level. More important, with the tools of social media, he will be able to continually interact with the American public, and perhaps keep a vast portion of his campaign constituency engaged.
My own take on social media is while they are key tools in our PR tool box: they still are tools (tactics) and need to be used appropriately. But, as we’ve seen with other technologies, the more we use them, the more uses we find for them.