Originally published on Epolitics.com
Update: See also Kate Kaye’s earlier coverage at ClickZ.
Politico’s Morning Tech column has highlighted a clever use of mobile advertising in last week’s Florida primaries:
As the Sunshine State headed to the polls yesterday, down-ballot candidates bought Google online ads on mobile geo-targeted to specific districts, hoping to capture people who are doing last-minute research while waiting in line at the polls. Democratic State Senator and Attorney General hopeful Dan Gelber, who easily won his primary, used mobile Google ads for a 24-hour blitz on primary day. Lisa Small, likely soon to be declared winner of her circuit court judge race, also used the strategy, Google told us.
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America’s fiscal crisis is fueling activism in cities and town across America where Tea Party rallies shine the light on our national debt and out-of-control government spending. But there’s also a revolution happening online, particularly with web videos that tell the story of an economically challenged country.
Debt, spending and taxes don’t exactly translate into blockbusters. Over the course of the past couple weeks, however, web videos on each subject have illustrated just how significant those issues are for engaged citizens.
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A few Thursday evenings ago, NBC aired a rerun of last year’s highly anticipated The Office episode that featured Pam and Jim getting married. When I watched the episode again two weeks ago, I could not help thinking about a crucial lesson to be learned for any organization planning their next advocacy campaign.
If you watched Pam and Jim’s wedding, you will recall that the writers heavily borrowed the memorable wedding routine from the extraordinarily popular YouTube video JK Wedding Dance. It’s the one where the wedding party dances down the aisle to Chris Brown’s song, Forever. The video became so popular (now over 44 million views on YouTube) that the entire group was invited to recreate the routine on The Today Show.
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I just received a mass email from a Web marketing firm (that shall remain nameless) offering their social media services. The subject of the email was “Social Media Do’s and Don’ts.”
Posted by: Alan Rosenblatt
I recently gave a lecture at American University’s Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute on how to use social media and other online strategies for advocacy. You can watch it here.
It took a recession, but resumes finally are receiving renewed scrutiny. The ability to embellish and obscure shrinks when one out of every six workers is under or unemployed. More than ever, recruiters want to see accomplishments, not responsibilities; numbers, not adverbs. (more…)
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Can the law keep up with technology? (CNN Tech)
As technology lurches forward at an astounding speed, legal issues are emerging just as fast. A legal system at least five years behind developing technology is at a loss for how to handle issues such as lawsuits derived from posts on social networking sites.
Census Turns to Kids for Help (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. Census Bureau is running an interesting campaign targeted towards children in immigrant neighborhoods as a way to reach adults who don’t speak English.
Yesterday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Communication Center hosted a panel discussion on calculating your ROI for social media campaigns. I was fortunate to join three terrific panelists presenting at the event including Adam Conner from Facebook, Laura Howe from the American Red Cross, and Paul Argenti, a Professor from Dartmouth. (more…)
Over recent months, more and more advocacy organizations have started capturing testimonial footage from their constituents and producing short feature videos highlighting priority advocacy issues. Videos can be a powerful tool to deliver highly personalized messages to the Hill and can be easily leveraged through YouTube, Facebook and other social media sites to virally generate attention for a cause.
One recent example is from the American Academy of Dermatology who just launched a moving video about their Camp Discovery program for children with severe and chronic skin diseases. Please take 5 minutes to watch the video. Click here. (more…)
What can advocacy and political professionals learn from a travelling Indian food truck? When you are talking about the Fojol Bros “travelling culinary carnival,” it seems quite a lot!
First off, they know how to reach DC audiences, they are masters of getting attention on a limited budget, they are working to build a community of support using social media, and they are proactively engaging their detractors. Sound familiar to any of you advocacy folks! Obviously, part of their appeal is also that they offer delicious Indian food at street vendor prices – but hey, you get where we are going with all this.
For those not familiar with Fojol Bros, they have made a name for themselves traveling around DC in a tricked up 1965 Chevy Step Van blaring festive carnival music. If you go up to order at the window don’t be surprised to see them wearing their signature fake moustaches, one-piece jump suits and Indian wedding turbans. (more…)
