The Political Social Media Landscape
As you are well aware we are slowly entering into political season, Political SEO and Political Social Media are become more and more of a piece of fundraising, campaigns and ultimately voters.
Social Media has a tendency to spread news, both true and false faster than anything we have seen before. Now a story could be posted on even a personal blog or some social media site and within minutes be front page on Reddit with millions of people viewing it.
By the time you hold a PR conference or a standard press release was sent, read , digested and written and published in the traditional news outlets the original story has already been shared on Facebook millions of times, there is already political commentary on it via Youtube and even twitter. The next day when your version of the story comes out, people already heard it from the opposition 20 times already that day. They already searched it via Google and got the story from other people via their blogs, their Facebook posts, Reddit, Digg, Drudgereport and others.
This is where PR has limitations. You don’t have time to use the normal distribution methods to get your response out. Literally that channel will take way too long. We’re not saying you shouldn’t use traditional PR. Many people still rely on traditional news, but you’ll lose a decent percentage of voters who rely on social media, Google and other non-traditional outlets.
Political SEO and Social Media has been a cornerstone of any valid political campaign since the mid-1990’s, but even more so since 2008 when everyone was getting their news via their iPhones standing in their kitchen.
You need to have an experienced SEO on your team that has experience working with Fortune 500 firms as well as Political SEO with campaigns.
If you are considering an SEO and the election means anything to you, selecting the best is not just suggested, it’s required. Because if you do not, your competitor will.