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What charities can learn from Barack Obama
Barack Obama's presidential campaign used social media to its greatest effect and was a triumph in fundraising. Nick Burne looks at what we can learn from him
Whatever you think of social media, it has changed the world - Barack Obama wouldn't be moving into the White House without it. If we as a sector are ever going to leverage the power of social media we have to learn from Obama himself.
Obama's campaign for president really started in 2003 when Joe Trippi took over as campaign manager of the Howard Dean presidential campaign. A self-confessed technology geek, Trippi revolutionised politics in the United States. Instead of it being about a few rich corporate donors, he made it about the people again by using the power of the internet to unleash a political revolution.
When Trippi first joined Dean's campaign, the unknown Dean had $100,000 in the bank, seven staff and fewer than 500 known supporters. Using the power of the social web Dean recruited 600,000 passionate supporters, raised more than $50m and became a serious contender for the presidency.
Fast-forward to June 2008. Obama opted out of a federal programme that would have given his campaign $84m in public funds to spend between the August party convention and November election as the money would have prohibited him from spending more than that sum. Obama gambled on his ability to raise more support and money online from millions of individuals.
He took what Joe Trippi did with the Howard Dean campaign to new levels. He built a movement for change, recruited supporters and raised a whole lot of money.
In September 2008 alone Obama broke fundraising records and raised $150m. His campaign had raised a total of $639m - $289m more than McCain's. And the interesting thing was that most of it was from small individual donations averaging $86. So what were his online fundraising tactics?
He made the campaign about me
A statement on the front and top of Obama's website read: "I'm asking you to believe. Not just about my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours." And it wasn't just a statement. He backed it up by giving me ways to get involved online. I was prompted to sign up on My.BarackObama.com. I could be a hero - part of the change. It was about me, my friends and family, and who I could influence.
He made it personal
I subscribed to Obama's email updates (I had to make up a US zip code) to keep up with the campaign. Almost immediately I was asked to have dinner with the man himself! ‘Dinner with Barack?', ‘Barack on your block', ‘Big event near you', ‘Waiting to hear from you'. Even Mrs Obama was in on the action, giving me personal updates and inviting me to dinner. It certainly felt like the start of a one-to-one relationship.
He recruited fundraisers, not just donors
A friend of mine who went to the States a few weeks before election day was asked on the street: "Will you become a fundraiser for Barack Obama?" not "Will you give a small donation". Will you fundraise? He didn't just ask people to fundraise, he empowered them by asking them to participate. I could sign up, register to attend events, start my own events and email invite my circle of influence, create my own fundraising pages. I could comment and debate important aspects of the campaign.
He connected people
Through his website I could connect with other supporters near me. If there was something going on in my area, I'd know about it and could get involved.
Obama also went to where people were. He had a strong presence on MySpace, more than two million supporters on Facebook and 20 million YouTube channel views. You could follow his photo stream on Flickr and his ‘mood messages' on Twitter. He picked the sites and platforms that have the biggest numbers of users and went for it aggressively. As one of the statements on his website suggested, Obama was everywhere. He even announced his vice presidential candidate by text.He used rich media and video. His website wasn't full of pages and pages I had to read. It was full of interesting and engaging video snippets and TV style content.
He used digital media to control the message
Obama created a micro-site at www.fightthesmears.com to respond directly to allegations made against him and asked his supporters to spread his message across the web.
He liberated his content Obama's team created packaged content that could be shared beyond his website. A one-minute video on his homepage could be shared by millions of his supporters by email, posted on Facebook profiles, and shared on YouTube.
He wasn't afraid to ask
"If you don't ask, you'll never get." We say it a lot in fundraising but Obama showed what it was like to not be afraid to ask for your donations. Better still he wasn't afraid to ask you to ask others. On every web page and email alert there were big buttons asking you to donate. He used every available online resource to get people to sign up, become donors and fundraise. He used splash pages - a web page that sits in front of your homepage - with a specific call to action. He had a call to action on every email and at the bottom of every webpage. He never missed an opportunity.
I used to work at Christian Aid and by the time I left we were one of the few UK-based organisations to have a login facility on the website where supporters could sign up, register their details and the website would welcome you back, pre-fill in campaign actions and let you see your donation and action history. It was basic - the equivalent of trying to build a relationship with someone by studying their bank statements, but it was the start of using the medium in the right way to engage supporters.
We all know we are in the information age, but I can see that most organisations still haven't ‘got it' yet, so there is plenty that we can learn from Obama's story. But what we absolutely must do is ensure that we do no let his example pass us by. We must see it as the kick-start we need to re-examine how social media affects our fundraising strategy.
Nick Burne is senior new media consultant at THINK Consulting Solutions
Publicado no site Professional Fund Raising em janeiro de 2009
Whatever you think of social media, it has changed the world - Barack Obama wouldn't be moving into the White House without it. If we as a sector are ever going to leverage the power of social media we have to learn from Obama himself.
Obama's campaign for president really started in 2003 when Joe Trippi took over as campaign manager of the Howard Dean presidential campaign. A self-confessed technology geek, Trippi revolutionised politics in the United States. Instead of it being about a few rich corporate donors, he made it about the people again by using the power of the internet to unleash a political revolution.
When Trippi first joined Dean's campaign, the unknown Dean had $100,000 in the bank, seven staff and fewer than 500 known supporters. Using the power of the social web Dean recruited 600,000 passionate supporters, raised more than $50m and became a serious contender for the presidency.
Fast-forward to June 2008. Obama opted out of a federal programme that would have given his campaign $84m in public funds to spend between the August party convention and November election as the money would have prohibited him from spending more than that sum. Obama gambled on his ability to raise more support and money online from millions of individuals.
He took what Joe Trippi did with the Howard Dean campaign to new levels. He built a movement for change, recruited supporters and raised a whole lot of money.
In September 2008 alone Obama broke fundraising records and raised $150m. His campaign had raised a total of $639m - $289m more than McCain's. And the interesting thing was that most of it was from small individual donations averaging $86. So what were his online fundraising tactics?
He made the campaign about me
A statement on the front and top of Obama's website read: "I'm asking you to believe. Not just about my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours." And it wasn't just a statement. He backed it up by giving me ways to get involved online. I was prompted to sign up on My.BarackObama.com. I could be a hero - part of the change. It was about me, my friends and family, and who I could influence.
He made it personal
I subscribed to Obama's email updates (I had to make up a US zip code) to keep up with the campaign. Almost immediately I was asked to have dinner with the man himself! ‘Dinner with Barack?', ‘Barack on your block', ‘Big event near you', ‘Waiting to hear from you'. Even Mrs Obama was in on the action, giving me personal updates and inviting me to dinner. It certainly felt like the start of a one-to-one relationship.
He recruited fundraisers, not just donors
A friend of mine who went to the States a few weeks before election day was asked on the street: "Will you become a fundraiser for Barack Obama?" not "Will you give a small donation". Will you fundraise? He didn't just ask people to fundraise, he empowered them by asking them to participate. I could sign up, register to attend events, start my own events and email invite my circle of influence, create my own fundraising pages. I could comment and debate important aspects of the campaign.
He connected people
Through his website I could connect with other supporters near me. If there was something going on in my area, I'd know about it and could get involved.
Obama also went to where people were. He had a strong presence on MySpace, more than two million supporters on Facebook and 20 million YouTube channel views. You could follow his photo stream on Flickr and his ‘mood messages' on Twitter. He picked the sites and platforms that have the biggest numbers of users and went for it aggressively. As one of the statements on his website suggested, Obama was everywhere. He even announced his vice presidential candidate by text.He used rich media and video. His website wasn't full of pages and pages I had to read. It was full of interesting and engaging video snippets and TV style content.
He used digital media to control the message
Obama created a micro-site at www.fightthesmears.com to respond directly to allegations made against him and asked his supporters to spread his message across the web.
He liberated his content Obama's team created packaged content that could be shared beyond his website. A one-minute video on his homepage could be shared by millions of his supporters by email, posted on Facebook profiles, and shared on YouTube.
He wasn't afraid to ask
"If you don't ask, you'll never get." We say it a lot in fundraising but Obama showed what it was like to not be afraid to ask for your donations. Better still he wasn't afraid to ask you to ask others. On every web page and email alert there were big buttons asking you to donate. He used every available online resource to get people to sign up, become donors and fundraise. He used splash pages - a web page that sits in front of your homepage - with a specific call to action. He had a call to action on every email and at the bottom of every webpage. He never missed an opportunity.
I used to work at Christian Aid and by the time I left we were one of the few UK-based organisations to have a login facility on the website where supporters could sign up, register their details and the website would welcome you back, pre-fill in campaign actions and let you see your donation and action history. It was basic - the equivalent of trying to build a relationship with someone by studying their bank statements, but it was the start of using the medium in the right way to engage supporters.
We all know we are in the information age, but I can see that most organisations still haven't ‘got it' yet, so there is plenty that we can learn from Obama's story. But what we absolutely must do is ensure that we do no let his example pass us by. We must see it as the kick-start we need to re-examine how social media affects our fundraising strategy.
Nick Burne is senior new media consultant at THINK Consulting Solutions
Publicado no site Professional Fund Raising em janeiro de 2009
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