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Arc 3 Founder Patrick Burns’ Interview with KCAA Radio regarding Political Marketing

December 15, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Our founder, Patrick Burns, recently appeared on KCAA 1050 News Talk Radio to discuss the evolution of Political Marketing. In a wide-ranging discussion with Eric Holtzclaw, the host of the program “Laddering”, Burns discusses how campaigns market to voters is changing rapidly. Once a business that relied on gut instincts and mass media buys, major campaigns are beginning to utilize big data for targeted messages to voters through digital and social media. To listen to the program, please click on the link below:

Patrick Burns Interview with KCAA 1050 News Talk Radio regarding Political Marketing

 

 

Filed Under: Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Government, Public Affairs, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized Tagged With: Barack Obama, Big Data, Content Marketing and Elections, Election 2008, Election 2012, Political Marketing, Social Media and Campaigns, Social Media and Elecitions

Arc 3 Communications’ Monthly Top News Reads in Digital, Social and Public Affairs – November 2013

November 21, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Digital and social media are changing how government institutions, political campaigns and trade associations communicate and achieve their goals. Below is a roundup of the more interesting stories that we have read over the last month:

Digital and Social Media

Business Insider provides an analysis of social media demographics and the surprising identity of each major social network.

Gigaom reports on Google’s new ad policy and how to avoid appearing in Google ads.

Alan Mutter of Reflections of a Newsosaur , asks the question “Are newspapers losing their mass media mojo?”

Gov 2.0 and Public Affairs

Nextgov reports how thwarted users vent about the Obamacare website on Facebook.

The Atlantic Magazine reports how the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee developed its own font “Chatype” through a Kickstarter campaign.

Nextgov reports how Congress.gov replaces Thomas.gov as the source for legislative bills and committee information on Capitol Hill.

Campaigns and Elections

Advertising Age examines how data is redefining political TV ads.

TechPresident analyzes the role of digital and big data in election 2013.

Politico reports how Twitter is a mixed blessing for political flacks.

In a Foxnews.com  opinion piece, John Jordan, a member of the Hoover Institution’s Board of Overseers at Stanford University, offers a donor’s guide to making your money count in politics.

These were some of Arc 3’s most interesting reads in digital and social and public affairs over the last month. What were your favorite stories? Let us know if there is a neat story that we missed! We’d love to hear from you.

 

Filed Under: Business Advocacy, Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Civic Innovation/Gov. 2.0, Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Government, Public Affairs, Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Audits and Listening analyses, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized, Website Development Tagged With: Big Data, Digital Media and Politics, Digital Media and Public Affairs, Election 2013, Facebook, Google Ads, Political Marketing, Social Media and Politics, Social Media and Public Affairs, Twitter

Social Data and the Future of Politics

May 31, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Arc 3 Communications recently participated in Big Data Week in Atlanta. The goal of Big Data Week was to hold community events focusing on the social, political, technological and commercial impacts of Big Data. One of the many discussion items of the week among data scientists, marketers and social media experts was the impact of social data, primarily in the examination of consumer behavior and the ability to predict sales and craft marketing messages.

However, social data is also a powerful tool for understanding the American voter, and like traditional phone surveys can help in the understanding of voters’ opinions on an issue and their intensity.  Social data which consists of the analysis of tweets, posts and discussion items on social media channels, forums and blogs, may also be a future indicator in predicting voting behavior. A recent study by social scientists at Indiana University of 800 competitive Congressional races in 2010 and 2012 revealed that getting more tweet mentions relative to your opponent meant higher vote margins. The social scientists found that the frequency with which a Republican is named correlates with the Republican vote margin in the subsequent election, independently of other factors such as incumbency, media coverage, partisanship and demographics.

While the ability of tweets to predict the vote is a topic of much discussion, the use of social data as a tool in understanding the opinions of  voters and how to develop targeted messaging to them is well established after the last election cycle. The Obama 2012 campaign through its 200 digital and 50 analytics team members was able to utilize social data to develop effective message development and targeting strategies while also identifying advocates for the campaign.

In the area of advocacy, the Obama campaign developed an algorithm to score over 5oK accounts by political id on Twitter. This identification of accounts favorable to the President utilized the text of the tweets and did not look at @mentions. The analysts at the Obama campaign discovered that @mentions referencing the President were largely negative.  However through text analysis of tweets, the Obama campaign was able to identify Twitter users favorable to the President. The Obama campaign also looked at Twitter influence (number of tweets and followers) to score and identify favorable accounts. The Obama campaign then sent a direct message on Twitter from President Obama to the scored accounts asking them to advocate for the campaign, which in turn many of them ended up doing.

Another powerful use of social data for advocacy by the Obama campaign was the development of a Facebook App that enabled supporters to match their Facebook friends with the Obama campaign’s various lists and then send a message to undecided voters in key swing states asking them to take action such as sharing viral content, signing up for the campaign or voting on Election Day. This tactic known as Facebook targeted sharing, was developed by the Obama team to offset the 50% drop in landline usage among 18 to 29 year olds. Despite being difficult to reach by phone, 85% of this same group were friends with an Obama 2012 Facebook App user. Through the Facebook targeted sharing app over 600,000 Obama supporters were able to reach over 5 million people by Election Day. 20% of the 5 million reached took some action, such as registering to vote. Hundred of thousands used the tool in the days leading up to the election. The Obama campaign’s Facebook targeting app represented a significant  advancement in voter contact – overlaying traditional voter file data with social graph information and relationships.

The supplementation of a voter file with social data will become the norm by the 2016 election cycle and innovative campaigns are already taking this task on for 2014. One of those chief innovators on the Republican side is U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky whose campaign is creating a statewide voter file that adds social data so that the campaign can track and target individual voters based on what they’re saying online. According to Senator McConnell’s campaign, it has already matched the voting records of close to 40 percent of Kentuckians – more than 1 million voters – with their online persona. Senator McConnell’s campaign plans to monitor in real time the social and online outputs of voters in Kentucky in order to understand voter perceptions about issues and the candidate. Through this process, the campaign will be able to measure voter sentiment and the level of engagement on various issues.

Social data is the future of campaigns and a powerful new tool that can help a candidate understand voter opinions on key issues and serve as an advocacy tool. In time, social data may be able to accurately predict voting behavior in a race. As campaigns begin to experiment with social data, it will be critical that the proper metrics and algorithms are established. Campaigns will need to ensure that they connect their social media and social data operations to their off-line grassroots and get-out-the-vote operations in a meaningful way that translates into supporters and votes. This will become an increasing challenge for national and statewide campaigns in the immediate future.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Civic Innovation/Gov. 2.0, Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Grassroots Mobilization, Message Development, Public Affairs, Social Media Audits and Listening analyses, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized Tagged With: Big Data, Big Data Week, Big Data Week Atlanta, Campaigns and Elections, Congressional Elections 2010, Congressional Elections 2012, Election 2014, Election 2016, Facebook, Facebook Apps, Facebook Targeted Sharing, Indiana University, Mitch McConnell, Obama 2012, Social Data, social media, Twitter, Voting Behavior

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About Our Founder

Husband, Father of 5, Founder of Arc 3 Communications - a public affairs agency. Over 30 years in politics and public affairs. Follow me on twitter and instagram at @patricklburns. I live, work and play in the community I grew up in. Read More…

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