Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #6: Rudy Giuliani (R)
Social Media Analysis: Rudolph Giuliani (R)
Website: No splash page (thank goodness!) at the Giuliani site, which allows the user to get right to it. When I first tried to review the site over Labor Day weekend, everything was down. The site, the MySpace and the Facebook – I had no luck. The notation on the website was that they were undergoing a site redesign. Well, the site as it currently stands is straightforward and clear. The brand image of Giuliani is quite clear – safety, security. It’s very easy to navigate and they’ve done a great job in keeping the most important items on the home page and keeping the message focused. It’s easy to sign up for the email, obvious where to donate, and there are many ways to “get involved” from telling your friends, reading the blog, and raising money to volunteering and purchasing “Rudy gear”. The media center is up front and there is information on “the issues”. At the bottom right hand corner is the list of social media sites under “Get Connected”. Sites referenced include Flickr, Facebook, Linked In, Digg, YouTube, MySpace, Blip.TV, Eons and Gather. The news section provides links to current news items and news releases, but no RSS feed. Too bad. They are pulling in a lot of video from “Blip.TV” however, which is a nice touch, although I wonder why not more YouTube.
YouTube: Another candidate site with a nice mix of videos, mostly direct from TV News or Radio News Talk and some homegrown campaign HQ interviews with supporters. Nothing exciting here – missing that direct talk, that special something that should come from me being part of the “in crowd” who comes to YouTube to see more about the candidate. As with most, this campaign is underutilizing the potential of YouTube. 2,348 subscribers.
MySpace: The MySpace site for the Campaign does something that I really like. Dan Meyers the host of “Running with Rudy” who you see in some YouTube Videos actually has posted very clearly that he is working on the site and that he’s here to share information with the visitors. This is quite nice because it provides reality to the space and acknowledges that there is someone there who is close to the campaign and someone that can be reached out to. Remember that social media is about connecting, but in the case of a campaign, it’s pretty clear that someone else is doing the social media work, but often you don’t know who. Good to see this clarity. A lot of YouTube video pulled in, and some of the banners from the website are listed as well. Other than that, however, there really isn’t much going on. 3026 friends.
Facebook: Clicking on the Facebook link from the website homepage brings you to the login screen of death which has become OH so popular with the different candidates! Once in though, there is not much going on overall. The campaign has brought in video and posted notes and news of interest. They are doing a lot with the slideshow application and have the world map showing where Giuliani has traveled. The wall is enabled so there are comments listed. They have the presence updated as of Wednesday. No reference to groups on the main profile page, however a search of the groups on “Rudy” reveals America for Rudy Giuliani and group that has 1,121 members. Looks like it could be official…but again, it’s hard to distinguish between a fan site and an official site sometimes. They could be doing a lot more here – especially with the groups, but I keep saying that pretty much about everyone. 2,465 supporters.
Eons: The second candidate to have an EONS profile. Not much here other than photos and a brief write up. 5 friends. (Possibly confirms why Eons has laid off a bunch of their staff today…not much traffic, not much revenue. Guess those Baby Boomers don’t want their own “I’m old social networking site” but would prefer to be on MySpace with the kids!)
Flickr: Not much going on here. Just the run of the mill political photographs. The campaign is clearly not capitalizing on Flickr at all.
Gather: Well, another site that provides opportunities for people to connect and meet – not main stream by any means and only 12 members. Candidate information updated as of August 27th, so it’s clear this one isn’t doing much at all.
Linked In: The first candidate to have a Linked In page. I was able to view the public profile, but alas, Linked In is down for the moment, so was unable to log in to view the site further…I will have to do an update at a later time.
Digg: Here’s also the first obvious use of Social news site Digg by a campaign. Very interesting as I wouldn’t have thought it would really be worth the effort. Why? Well the target audience isn’t there. Digg is mostly tech people and most of the news that is dugg is either entertainment or tech news. Some political news, but mostly around the war, is dugg – but very little on politicians currently running. I think I recall seeing John McCain referenced a time or two and Ron Paul. At the moment, the top political news is referencing the John Stewart show and his discussion of Petraus’ testimony over the past few days. So, what does Rudy have? A total of 127 posts, 121 of which were posted by “Rudy” himself (the campaign of course). Very few diggs, nothing made popular and only 470 profile views. Not sure if this one is worth it, however, they get points for being there.
Blip.TV: Another video sharing site. The same videos that are here are on YouTube and there seems to be very little action. From what I can surmise, the Blip.TV engine is cleaner for import into the main website than YouTube, so that is probably why they are using it.
Blog: The Giuliani Blog is pretty basic – mostly updates on where he is and what news items are being generated. Certainly not a hub of excitement at all, even though there are a current posts, it just doesn’t create the same excitement it could if there were more information there – even if they were posts from several different staffers in different areas around the country and pictures would be nice as well. It’s really just a bit too sterile and again, it’s a shame to not have the candidate talking right to the supporters through the blog.
Search Results: So far, Giuliani has the more difficult name to spell – and when I searched on Guliani (yep, spelled it wrong), in Google, what came up but a top sponsored link for the Giuliani website! Well done! The McCain camp has also purchased a sponsored link though. A search using the correctly spelled name on Google reveals the same sponsored ad, the main site as an organic result right at top, then WikiPedia.com, a NYC gov bio, the draft Rudy site, a link to a Rolling Stone article and then MySpace. Over at Yahoo! the same search shows that they’ve also purchased the top sponsorship for the misspelling. In this one, the actual campaign site doesn’t show up until #8! There are also some sponsored ads purchased by Barak Obama, and other sites ranging from T-shirts, to Amazon, to voting guides. When spelled correctly the same sponsorships show up, but the organics are better with the campaign website, WikiPedia.com, and NYC bio showing up first. The blog shows up at #8. At Microsoft Live, it would seem the campaign decided that it wasn't worth it. No sponsorships for the correct site if the name is spelled wrong, and no campaign site. The campaign site is #3, below Wikipedia and MSNBC when the correct spelling is put in.
Recommendations: Overall the Giuliani campaign seems to have a strong handle on the SEO for their site. While you can’t find all of the social media options without going directly to their website, you can find the website – and that’s with misspelling of his name. They did a good job on that piece (except for MSN Live). The site itself is clean and easy to navigate. This is great everywhere throughout the site except for the blog which, while updated, is just too sterile. I know I noted that the Edwards blog was too confusing, but you certainly got a feeling of activity when there. At the Giuliani blog, that same vibe just doesn’t come across. I think it’s the blog layout – more images and even video integrated into the blog, with a bit more detail that enables the user to see more information might help that perception a bit. Average job on most of the sites – but the kicker is the lack of linking to each one from the other. Unless a person visits the website, they aren’t going to find many of the options. Even from the MySpace, there is a link to the main website, but not much else. Now one could argue that the focus should be to bring people to the website so they can sign up and donate. However that would be missing the social media point, wouldn’t it? Overall recommendation: The campaign needs to liven up the blog and add more zip to the main social networking sites of YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. Keep up the good SEO and CPC work and maintain the clarity on the website. Finally, link to all the properties on all the properties to build more visibility and to ensure supporters can find everything possible about the candidate.
Note: I originally was going to complete this analysis around labor day, but all of the Giuliani sites were down for "retooling". Everything came back online so here is my analysis.
Rudy Giuliani has the following:
- Website: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/
- YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/rudygiuliani
- MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/joinrudy2008
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/person.php?id=13659545012
- FlickR: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rudygiuliani/
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rudygiuliani
- Digg: http://digg.com/users/rudygiuliani/news/dugg
- Blip.tv: http://rudygiuliani.blip.tv/
- Eons: http://community.eons.com/members/profile/RudyGiuliani/
- Gather: http://giuliani08.gather.com/
- Blog: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/blog/
Website: No splash page (thank goodness!) at the Giuliani site, which allows the user to get right to it. When I first tried to review the site over Labor Day weekend, everything was down. The site, the MySpace and the Facebook – I had no luck. The notation on the website was that they were undergoing a site redesign. Well, the site as it currently stands is straightforward and clear. The brand image of Giuliani is quite clear – safety, security. It’s very easy to navigate and they’ve done a great job in keeping the most important items on the home page and keeping the message focused. It’s easy to sign up for the email, obvious where to donate, and there are many ways to “get involved” from telling your friends, reading the blog, and raising money to volunteering and purchasing “Rudy gear”. The media center is up front and there is information on “the issues”. At the bottom right hand corner is the list of social media sites under “Get Connected”. Sites referenced include Flickr, Facebook, Linked In, Digg, YouTube, MySpace, Blip.TV, Eons and Gather. The news section provides links to current news items and news releases, but no RSS feed. Too bad. They are pulling in a lot of video from “Blip.TV” however, which is a nice touch, although I wonder why not more YouTube.
YouTube: Another candidate site with a nice mix of videos, mostly direct from TV News or Radio News Talk and some homegrown campaign HQ interviews with supporters. Nothing exciting here – missing that direct talk, that special something that should come from me being part of the “in crowd” who comes to YouTube to see more about the candidate. As with most, this campaign is underutilizing the potential of YouTube. 2,348 subscribers.
MySpace: The MySpace site for the Campaign does something that I really like. Dan Meyers the host of “Running with Rudy” who you see in some YouTube Videos actually has posted very clearly that he is working on the site and that he’s here to share information with the visitors. This is quite nice because it provides reality to the space and acknowledges that there is someone there who is close to the campaign and someone that can be reached out to. Remember that social media is about connecting, but in the case of a campaign, it’s pretty clear that someone else is doing the social media work, but often you don’t know who. Good to see this clarity. A lot of YouTube video pulled in, and some of the banners from the website are listed as well. Other than that, however, there really isn’t much going on. 3026 friends.
Facebook: Clicking on the Facebook link from the website homepage brings you to the login screen of death which has become OH so popular with the different candidates! Once in though, there is not much going on overall. The campaign has brought in video and posted notes and news of interest. They are doing a lot with the slideshow application and have the world map showing where Giuliani has traveled. The wall is enabled so there are comments listed. They have the presence updated as of Wednesday. No reference to groups on the main profile page, however a search of the groups on “Rudy” reveals America for Rudy Giuliani and group that has 1,121 members. Looks like it could be official…but again, it’s hard to distinguish between a fan site and an official site sometimes. They could be doing a lot more here – especially with the groups, but I keep saying that pretty much about everyone. 2,465 supporters.
Eons: The second candidate to have an EONS profile. Not much here other than photos and a brief write up. 5 friends. (Possibly confirms why Eons has laid off a bunch of their staff today…not much traffic, not much revenue. Guess those Baby Boomers don’t want their own “I’m old social networking site” but would prefer to be on MySpace with the kids!)
Flickr: Not much going on here. Just the run of the mill political photographs. The campaign is clearly not capitalizing on Flickr at all.
Gather: Well, another site that provides opportunities for people to connect and meet – not main stream by any means and only 12 members. Candidate information updated as of August 27th, so it’s clear this one isn’t doing much at all.
Linked In: The first candidate to have a Linked In page. I was able to view the public profile, but alas, Linked In is down for the moment, so was unable to log in to view the site further…I will have to do an update at a later time.
Digg: Here’s also the first obvious use of Social news site Digg by a campaign. Very interesting as I wouldn’t have thought it would really be worth the effort. Why? Well the target audience isn’t there. Digg is mostly tech people and most of the news that is dugg is either entertainment or tech news. Some political news, but mostly around the war, is dugg – but very little on politicians currently running. I think I recall seeing John McCain referenced a time or two and Ron Paul. At the moment, the top political news is referencing the John Stewart show and his discussion of Petraus’ testimony over the past few days. So, what does Rudy have? A total of 127 posts, 121 of which were posted by “Rudy” himself (the campaign of course). Very few diggs, nothing made popular and only 470 profile views. Not sure if this one is worth it, however, they get points for being there.
Blip.TV: Another video sharing site. The same videos that are here are on YouTube and there seems to be very little action. From what I can surmise, the Blip.TV engine is cleaner for import into the main website than YouTube, so that is probably why they are using it.
Blog: The Giuliani Blog is pretty basic – mostly updates on where he is and what news items are being generated. Certainly not a hub of excitement at all, even though there are a current posts, it just doesn’t create the same excitement it could if there were more information there – even if they were posts from several different staffers in different areas around the country and pictures would be nice as well. It’s really just a bit too sterile and again, it’s a shame to not have the candidate talking right to the supporters through the blog.
Search Results: So far, Giuliani has the more difficult name to spell – and when I searched on Guliani (yep, spelled it wrong), in Google, what came up but a top sponsored link for the Giuliani website! Well done! The McCain camp has also purchased a sponsored link though. A search using the correctly spelled name on Google reveals the same sponsored ad, the main site as an organic result right at top, then WikiPedia.com, a NYC gov bio, the draft Rudy site, a link to a Rolling Stone article and then MySpace. Over at Yahoo! the same search shows that they’ve also purchased the top sponsorship for the misspelling. In this one, the actual campaign site doesn’t show up until #8! There are also some sponsored ads purchased by Barak Obama, and other sites ranging from T-shirts, to Amazon, to voting guides. When spelled correctly the same sponsorships show up, but the organics are better with the campaign website, WikiPedia.com, and NYC bio showing up first. The blog shows up at #8. At Microsoft Live, it would seem the campaign decided that it wasn't worth it. No sponsorships for the correct site if the name is spelled wrong, and no campaign site. The campaign site is #3, below Wikipedia and MSNBC when the correct spelling is put in.
Recommendations: Overall the Giuliani campaign seems to have a strong handle on the SEO for their site. While you can’t find all of the social media options without going directly to their website, you can find the website – and that’s with misspelling of his name. They did a good job on that piece (except for MSN Live). The site itself is clean and easy to navigate. This is great everywhere throughout the site except for the blog which, while updated, is just too sterile. I know I noted that the Edwards blog was too confusing, but you certainly got a feeling of activity when there. At the Giuliani blog, that same vibe just doesn’t come across. I think it’s the blog layout – more images and even video integrated into the blog, with a bit more detail that enables the user to see more information might help that perception a bit. Average job on most of the sites – but the kicker is the lack of linking to each one from the other. Unless a person visits the website, they aren’t going to find many of the options. Even from the MySpace, there is a link to the main website, but not much else. Now one could argue that the focus should be to bring people to the website so they can sign up and donate. However that would be missing the social media point, wouldn’t it? Overall recommendation: The campaign needs to liven up the blog and add more zip to the main social networking sites of YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. Keep up the good SEO and CPC work and maintain the clarity on the website. Finally, link to all the properties on all the properties to build more visibility and to ensure supporters can find everything possible about the candidate.
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