redhanded Executive Creative Director Paul Hand blogs about his experience at the ‘Voices 4 Indi’ workshop in Oxley.
They’re an innovative, resourceful and inspirational mob in Regional & Rural Australia. And none more so than Cathy McGowan, who tapped Sophie Mirabella on the shoulder following the last Federal election and asked (very politely) for the keys to the electorate office of Indi.
It was a tough, no holds battle in an electorate that sweeps from Wangaratta (or Wang as my dedicated followers will know) across to Mount Hotham and down to Kinglake in Victoria’s mountain country. So, challenged by an electorate that covers over 28,000 square kilometres, how did Cathy’s young, enthusiastic team engage with their community to build a new political brand and defeat a high profile sitting member?
Now, what’s the word that almost rhymes with young? It’s Social Media stupid!
Here were some very savvy communicators that truly understood how to engage audiences both young and old on Facebook and Twitter. As I discovered, there are some senior citizens running around twittering to a huge following like enthusiastic blue heeler pups! One such senior is ex-Liberal leader and former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, who I was stunned to learn has many thousands of followers. He may be dwarfed by a new generation of politicians like Obama with a Twitter army of 35.8 million, but I was about to learn Twitter lesson Numero Uno.
- Look around the Twittersphere and find a key influencer, or thought leader, that is relevant (to your industry) and believes in your values and your Brand story. They will take ownership and retweet your content, giving your brand footprint real traction.
However, keep in mind that according to HubSpot’s “Science of Retweets” research, nearly 80% of retweeted content is about news! So successful were Malcolm’s retweets, that he helped raised over $137,000 in crowd funding for Cathy’s campaign – the most any Australian independent has ever raised! Just one other piece of advice. Keep your hashtag short and sweet – in the case of this campaign it was #Indivotes
Moving on to Facebook, what Cathy McGowan’s team found initially was that most of their “Likes” were coming from outside the electorate. Here was further learning, and Lesson number two emerged.
- Use Facebook to create an identity and conversation that’s relevant to, and engages, your Brand community. It’s critical to let them highlight the issues that concern or interest them. Remember you can monitor the conversation but your community is going to drive the agenda.
Of course, that can make some corporate communicators a tad nervous. But them are the rules!
So what happens when a troll raises their ugly head and tries to take over the conversation? The moderator on the Indi Facebook page actually engaged them in conversation and politely explained the values everyone had to adhere to remain on the page. One of the key values underpinning the campaign was respect. So successful was this values approach, one of the Trolls actually became a passionate Cathy McGowan advocate!
Now that I finally have your interest, may I suggest you talk to [email protected], our head of digital. Young James knows so much more about building brand stories on social media than moi.
Stay learning,
Paul – Executive Creative Director, redhanded