With an unlimited budget you can have a very solid web and social media strategy.  Here is an analysis of one of the many social networks and how it was customized towards the audience on this site.

Facebook Applications

There were many Facebook applications e.g. Barack Obama supporters, Barack Obama for President, Barack Obama fan, Barack Obama – Yes, We Can, Obamagrams,Obamarama …..  Some were developed by his campaign team and the rest by others because they have a lot of time on their hands.

A custom FB application called Obama was created.  This application lets you share the news items, blog posts, speeches, videos that most inspire you to support Barack Obama.

The official facebook page has the Obama application button installed with the call to action button”find out where to vote now”.  It also offered favorite stories and videos targeted at this audience.

Facebook Page

Numerous facebook pages all linked together.  His official page had 3,667,117 supporters.  So every time any information was listed here it was easily accessible to 3 million people!!!

Favorite Pages

His team was very open to various groups taking his logo and adapting it towards their needs.  These special interest groups were linked to his Facebook Page via the Favorite Pages option thus providing one stop shopping.

YouTube Box

This application posted the relevant videos fromYouTube here.  Not all videos where here but targeted videos by his team.

Notes

Updates on where Obama was going to be on various TV shows, venus etc..updates on issues, policies, guest posts, inspirational posts to raise further funds.  Fun items like update your profile pictures.

On voting day a link to the polling application was posted here.

Photos

Numerous photo albums highlighting not only his personal life but his campaign trail starting in Springfield.  This is well done as it shows his policital side as well as his more human side.

Now who’s not gonna love this…  check out the comments….

Posted Items

Before his Election Night speech, Barack sent out a message to his supporters.

“I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing…

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack”

If you are just an ordinary citizen the chances of the President elect sending a personal note are close to none.  With his FB channel he was able to thank everyone for voting for him.

Supporters

Over 3 million supporters on facebook alone!!!!  All these people gave their feedback, posted videos, photos etc…

Events

Select events were posted here, not a whole lot but enough to generate interest.

His online presence  was similar in the other social networking sites with targeted messages going out in these channels.  This form of communication where the barriers are broken down and the average joe can provide their feedback is very powerful.

These various sites are still being used my his team during the transition and it remains to be seen how they will morph as he takes office soon.

I have mixed feelings about this, on the one hand I am thrilled about thise social media channels.  On the flip side I have a bit of concern that they could be used to push his agenda.  So the other politicians and special interest groups should take the time to also participate in this space so that the American people are getting a well rounded picture and not that of a sole individual.

I had explored Barack Obama’s web strategy which was very well implemented and executed.  The success of his campaign was not only due to his website but his social media strategy which made his team connect with people and share information.

Barack Obama had some tough challenges to face as a candidate, he was relatively unknown and inexperienced in the political scene.  So how were voters going to pay attention to him?

He thought grassroots and made sure he appealed to the individual by establishing a connection with them.

The three major goals of the campaign that the social media strategy was build upon were

• Fifty State Strategy
• Targeted the dissaffected center
• Focused on small donations

These goals were tied into the web strategy, new media strategy, traditional media and all three were interlinked very well.

Barack Obama had a presence on many social networks, this way he was able to reach a wide range of individuals that participate in these spaces.

A common look and feel was maintained in these spaces that tied in with the branding of his website.

Each site was updated with the latest on where Barack was going to be, what his platform was and updates from the campaign trail, this went a long way to engage and motivate potential voters.

Videos of off line activities were posted instantly to YouTube, Facebook etc.. and cross linked on all these sites as well as back to the Blog.

This gave potential voters in these spaces the opportunity to communicate their views, issues and their personal campaign stories.

The best part was that communication from the campaign team was maintained consistently and constantly during the election especially on the voting day.

The team was also very open and encouraged people to take the logos and customize them towards their own causes and promoted their causes.  This openmindness was also part of their viral success.

The call to action buttons to link back to the website, raise funds and vote were easily accessible through each of these networks.

Here are some brief stats and facts from some of these social spaces.

Custom MyBarackObama.com social network

2 million profiles, 200000 offline events planned on this site.  4000000 blog posts, 35000 volunteer groups, 70000 people raised $30million on their personal fundraising pages.

The official facebook page had over 3 million supporters hence one update was easily accessible by this group.  These people were also able to comment and give their feedback.

There were more than 500 groups and more than 300 applications.

Barack Obama channel with the latest videos from speeches, meetings, rallys etc.

148304 subscribers, 25024 friends,

1827 official videos, 139,000 related clips.  The Yes We Can music video was viewed more than 14 million times.

Photos from every possible campaign office etc…

7127 contacts, testimonials from around the world

Following 167849 and had about 162425 followers.

Here are some special Barack Obama and Obama or McCain tweets

1088437 friends.

Linked in is a social network for professionals.

He had 500 connections here.

Connect, connect, connect

Having friends, fans, connections etc… with people in these spaces Barack Obama was able to connect with over 5million people online.  Inspire them to raise funds and finally vote.

Through this mesh of social networks there were over 1billion emails sent, 7000 different messages targeted to specific audiences.

The basis of a good social media strategy is to use on line tools to make real-world connections between people. That is exactly what was achieved by Barack Obama’s campaign.

As a social media consultant I am very excited to see the future developments on barackobama.com.  For now Change.gov has been launched and it’s g0al is to get the people of the US to share their stories and goals.

If you want to share in the inauguration ride then check out TripVerde-Obama.

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This post only covered a few of the many social networks that Barack Obama had a presence.  Here are a few more to explore on your own.

Enjoy.