The latest SWS and Manila Standard surveys show that it’s a deadlock between Senator Noynoy Aquino and Senator Manny Villar. It’s also the same for their social media Friend numbers. Right now Noynoy is at 850,000+ while Manny is closing in at 812,000+. However at this point it’s no longer about having the most number of friends on social media. The campaign staff of both teams fail to realize that they can actually use social media to win in the upcoming elections and it just puzzles me why they haven’t figured this one out. In this short post, let me give free unsolicited advice to all campaign teams who want to tap social media on how they can REALLY use it so that it has an impact in May come election day.
This is the question that campaign staff and candidates always ask:
“How many friends/fans do we have on Facebook and Twitter compared to our rivals?”
WRONG. It should be:
“What can we do to get these guys to campaign for us?”
It’s no longer about the numbers. It’s about mobilizing and turning those fans into evangelists! If Noynoy and Villar were in front of me, I’d tell them this. You guys have close to a MILLION fans on just your Facebook accounts. What can you do with that million? What tools can you give them so that they can be active in your campaign? Imagine the impact if the 800,000+ fans would convince just 1 person in their circle to vote for either candidate. That’s a whopping 1.6M votes.
The question now is how do you turn them into campaign volunteers? Here are 2 suggestions that I’d like to put forward.
1. First, manage expectations. Don’t think for a second that all of them will participate. Also, keep activities as SIMPLE and as SHORT as possible. The more complex the activity, the less number of participants. One good example of a really great social media campaign is Noynoy’s car stick-on and yellow fridays. This is probably the reason why there are more cars all over Metro Manila with the Yellow Ribbon sticker.
Another good initiative is to monetize your fan base. If the 800,000 fans give 1 peso each every week, that’s 2.4M worth of campaign funds every month. I think Noynoy already has a text donation campaign working but they have to push that more aggressively to their fans.
2. Get the actual candidate involved. Nothing is more powerful than an appeal from the actual candidate. Have Noynoy or Villar write a note or shoot a video of them talking. The video content should go something like: “I would like to ask for your help. As my Facebook friend, please do the following – blah, blah blah.”. This can be a really powerful statement. Give your volunteers ownership!
A few months into the campaign, you can’t win anymore with ads. It’s how you convince your fans to actually participate in the campaign that matters the most. If Gibo can mobilize his 200,000 fans, that’s a stronger force than 800,000 passive fans from either Villar or Aquino.
Social Media is a gamechanger. It can be a factor that will lead to votes and will cement the victory of a candidate if USED PROPERLY.
Oo Carlo, tama ka! The Same way Obama went to his various headquarters and did telemarketing as well as asking for their commitments and this should be done in the social networking level and it can be done.
Insightful as ever man! I am sure this is a conversation both camps are having in one way or another.