How Campaigns Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012

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Please see the new ebook, “How to Use the Internet to Win in 2016.”

“How Campaigns Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012” is a comprehensive guide to effective online political campaigning, including detailed overviews of online advertising, volunteer management, digital fundraising, political email campaigning, Twitter, Facebook, Internet-enabled field organizing, online video and more. Its focus is practical, avoiding abstract musings and concentrating instead on using today’s digital tools to elect candidates in tough political fights.

Written by sixteen-year online politics veteran/Epolitics.com editor Colin Delany and including recent lessons learned from the 2010 elections and the 2012 presidential primary process, the guide details how campaigns can use various digital tools in effective ways, including extensive tips on integrating technologies to get the most from each. The guide’s concluding chapter features a sample campaign online communications plan plus links to articles exploring major topics in depth, and the e-book also includes an examination of campaign new media staffing and organization.

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Winning in 2012

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  • […] Hard to believe, but election day is less than a week away, and across the country, campaigns and outside groups are running a full-on GOTV blitz. Let’s give ‘em some help — below is a short list of useful online resources for getting out the vote, from templates for field canvassing plans to mobile apps for voter protection. You can’t use the internet to bus people to the polls, but you CAN use digital tools to get people to the bus on time.BTW, the e.politics email inbox is burdened these days with vendors hawking robocalls, text messages and other last-minute money-sinks; do any of these actually work? I’m also going to be curious to see the results of late-cycle, tightly targeted online ads for persuasion and GOTV, which are running here and there. Hopefully we’ll get some good case studies after the election — I’m happy to run ‘em here.Centralized, state-by-state online polling place location, early voting rules, voting requirements (such as ID), and more from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. A useful hub to point people to.Terrific tactical resources from the New Organizing Institute, including GOTV Resources Templates in their Get Out The Vote Resource Center. Plus, their Daily Tips are great, short articles on particular field organizing tools, tactics and practices. Relevant recent fave? Use online social pressure for GOTV.Mobile Apps to Help You Through the November Election, from election protection to ad tracking. C.f. Kate Kamber’s recent Epolitics.com piece, Cell Phones for GOTV: Voter Mobilization Methods on Election Day.Tutorial: Organizing your GOTV data and outreach with NationBuilder. Some lessons broadly applicable.Nerdcore: Drupal module for ballots, early voting info, polling-place location.Got more? Leave them as comments below and I’ll them to the list.– cpdNew Epolitics.com e-book “How Campaigns Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012″ available optimized for Kindle and as PDF. […]

  • […] “Obama’s grassroots donors tended to send relatively small amounts repeatedly, which in turn shows why a small-donor list is such a valuable resource — it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Unlike traditional big donors who often reach their quota for a given candidate with a single check, small donors can contribute again and again, providing a financial consistency that’s useful in a short campaign and priceless in a long one.”, by e.politics, How Campaigns Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012 […]