Obama's Social Media Strategy: Lessons Learned from the Campaign Trail

A new report has just been released from Agency Giant Edelman.

Says the report:

By examining the social media success of Obama’s campaign and understanding the ways that advocacy groups are incorporating these lessons into their own engagement programs, businesses can learn what is required to remain relevant in this new environment by retooling their communications efforts to successfully leverage social media.

Aside from a bit of a run on there, the report basically says that remaining relevant in this new environment requries a retooling of communications programs. Leveraging social media is a must -- even if your organization is just starting to figure it out.

Key to understanding the leverage points for Obama's campaign and his subsequent presidency is this guiding principle noted in the report (the bolding is my annotation):

Obama is already converting the President’s bully pulpit into a social pulpit, delivering a message that is designed to be taken up and spread by others, with the tools and techniques learned during his campaign. Instead of relying on the traditional one-way, top-down approach to communications, the incoming administration is harnessing the power of public engagement to influence the conversation across various spheres of cross-influence.

What is key here is that the entire communications platform is designed to be used by others. It's not managed, not controlled, but created with the expectation and hope that it will be used in a wide variety of other channels and by a wide variety of other people.

As you think through your own organization's communications programs, are you relying on top-down channels and mediums to deliver your important messages? Is your communications platform designed for public engagement or one-way only delivery?

What organizations do you see as doing a good job at this?

NOTE: I'll be interviewing Lois Kelly, author of Beyond Buzz, and blogger at Foghound, tomorrow (Wednesday, 1/28) at 9 a.m. PST on my weekly radio show Marketing News Radio. You can listen LIVE and even CALL IN with your questions. Go to http://www.wsradio.com. We'll be discussing social media from the perspective of not why you should be using it, but how.

-- David Kinard, PCM