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To Tweet or not to Tweet? That is not the question. Not for anyone who hopes to get elected — or reelected — to office.
I was recently invited to talk about social media in front of a group of women participating in a program that trains Democratic women to run for office. (It’s called Emerge. Got a similar group for Republicans? I’ll be happy to do the same for you.) The things I told them would probably be good advice for anyone new to Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other forms of social media.
Image by Fred Cavazza
Before writing up my notes for the presentation I asked my Twitter followers and Facebook friends to tell me what they thought politicians should know about using social media. They were pretty specific: Be yourself, be real, and interact instead of broadcasting.
So that’s pretty much what I told the 20 or so women in the class.
Be yourself and be real. Do it yourself. You cannot outsource this job to anyone else, so write in the first person. Don’t underestimate the power of connection. Bring your followers into your life and make them feel as though they’re having a virtual beer with you. Be funny and humble, but don’t be afraid to brag when you’ve done something that’s earned you recognition.
Interact with your friends, fans and followers. Respond to followers on Twitter and commenters on Facebook just as you would respond to e-mails from those people (assuming they’re civil). Use Google Alerts (and/or RSS feeds) to find out when newspapers and other Web sites publish information about you or about issues of interest to you. Read the comments on those stories. COMMENT BACK. Engage in conversation with the readers.
Avoid a Twitastrophe. Act your age. U R 2 old 2 Tweet like this. Don’t be mean or negative or attack. Be the best version of you.
Use multimedia tools. Post pictures to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, your blog and your Web site. Use YouTube to post videos of things you do or events you hold. And make it easy for users to share that information using Share This or a similar service.
Learn by example. If you’re not sure what to do you can always follow the example of someone who has done it well. As a candidate, Barack Obama made excellent use of social media. And after he got elected, he built on his campaign infrastructure and continued to use it to promote his ideas and policies as president. Want to know more about how he did it? Check out Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit.
Here are some other great resources:
Mashable has how-to guides for many social media sites and strategies.
Mashable also has lists for social media and politics.
And here’s a story called Social Media Meets Politics: Pols Chasing Publicity Find Web Waters Welcoming.
Got other suggestions for politicians and wannabe politicians? Leave your tips in the comments section.
