Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #13: Rep. Ron Paul (R)

Social Media Analysis: Rep. Ron Paul (R)

Rep. Ron Paul has the following:

• Website: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/RonPaul2008dotcom
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/RonPaul2008
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/p/Ron_Paul/732025404 and Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2229718737
• Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/RonPaul2008
• Digg: http://digg.com/search?s=Ron+Paul&submit=Search&section=news&type=both&area=all&sort=new
• justin.tv: http://www.justin.tv/ronpaul
• Eventful: http://eventful.com/calendars/C0-001-000071019-7/events
• MeetUp: http://ronpaul.meetup.com/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/ronpaul2008
• iPhone Network: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/iphone/
• Blog: http://ronpaul2008.typepad.com/ron_paul_2008

Website: No splash page at the Ron Paul website! You know how happy that makes me. Actually the site is clean, focused and VERY easy to navigate. The big news today is the November 5th Fundraising which is going on, spurred by some “grassroots” activism (see thisnovember5th.com if it still exists). Breaking fundraising goals left and right – and I do mean left and right! By 7:00 p.m. EST they had beaten Romney’s record. So the site right now is all about this. Nice graphic showing the money rolling in, news items reporting on the money…all quite focused.

The navigation is clean and it’s very easy to find out about the candidate and what he stands for. He includes the requisite issues section, which goes deeper – but the teasers give you a good feel without overwhelming the user visually or with too much information. One section on this site that is very interesting is the “Grassroots Guidelines” – it’s all mapped out on how to get involved in helping the campaign by creating websites.

There is NO ACTION CENTER here. And, there is no obvious blog here either (although its there). As I have read and heard more about the “Ron Paul Revolution” I’ve wondered what is really going on and here’s the thing. I’m not sure who gets it…but someone does. This website is the hub for a social media web – one that is not contained within the site itself, but actually embraces and encourages others to take their information and spread it around. No locked-in controlled space here. Nice!

One other note – this is the only campaign that I’ve noticed which is releasing news alerts about website stats, YouTube views and Meet Up Group members. They are doing a good job of trying to generate buzz in the traditional media about this campaign – since they can’t get coverage any way else, so the focus is on all the web traffic they are generating. So that is what the trads are talking about. Hmmm…hope they move to issues coverage pretty soon. The campaign risks not getting the right kind of coverage – this is the kind of thing that is a “blip” but doesn’t really dent the mainstream.

There is a list of social media sites with an emphasis on YouTube – click on that in the top portion of the site and it takes you directly to the “YouTube Video Network” which remains inside the site, however one click and you link right out to the YouTube space. Additional social media sites linked to from the home page are: Justin.tv, Eventful, Meetup, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Flickr, Twitter and the iPhone Network (this is new!). The campaign blog is actually a typepad site that is ported directly into the homepage of the site.

Here’s the thing, if you think about it. Finally here is a campaign that gets it – and is leveraging the power of connections on the web. Pay for the main website. Don’t do any fancy campaign action center and don’t spend any more money then you have to. Invite your constituents to donate not just their money but their resources and tell them to build sites and spread the word. Don’t pay for a fancy blog, use a free one at Typepad (or pay minimally). Use Feedburner (also free) to help connect it. Use YouTube for free and port in media coverage, ads, etc. and encourage your constituents to create their own videos. Use all the free social media sites you can to spread the word. Folks, this isn’t a revolution – this is what social media can do when a brand is willing to manage the process, not control it. Now, here’s the question…does it translate into anything?

Um…at the moment…looks like it at least translates into CASH.

Votes? Hmmm…good question. Get back to you on that one.

YouTube: This campaign has been really working the YouTube – the news release focused on 5 million views. Personally I go with subscribers. Anyway there’s a lot of video going on here – even radio ads. Like most of the candidates so far though, it’s all regenerated ads, pull-ins from TV shows, and news programs. I’d still like to see that personal grassroots type of YouTube – perhaps after today he’ll do one to thank that grassroots group for all their work. 35,259 subscribers.

MySpace: The MySpace site for Ron Paul is interesting on first examination – it, much like Edwards, is a different design and has some nice features – there is a flash animated magazine that is neat. I have to admit that I’m disappointed however. The site blog is from Oct. 28th. Given the action going on in the donation space right now, I’m STUNNED that this MySpace site is not up-to-date. The “friends” are posting, and that is good, but the site itself is static and not focused on something that is so vital to the campaign. Bummer. As I’ve said before, if you are going to do this, be sure to keep the main sites up to date! 78671 friends.

Facebook: Hey! No Facebook Page of Doom! Linked directly to the listing (nice!) so I can easily login and get to where I’m going. What I really like about this Facebook site is the use of the GROUPS functionality. Here’s a campaign that is directing people to the main group so they can harness that information. A lot of activity at the group around the fundraising going on today – there is a discussion thread. Also, they are pushing Facebook group members who are students to add in a student code when they donate so the campaign can track student donations. Nice. Good mix of widgets/applications going on this Facebook from RonPaulTV to the BroadCast Freedom. I would have liked to see something more current today – such as a new video pushing for people to donate. Again, they are close…but they need to do more to really keep these sites tied in and up to date. 35,885 supporters

FlickR: Lot’s of photos – nothing too exciting here although the campaign is capitalizing on the discussion feature in the FlickR groups. Lot’s of buzz about the fundraising. So here’s a question – why not images of the candidate reacting to the fundraising? Why not images of the fundraising meter? Perhaps I ask too much? 491 Members.

Digg: Lot’s of news articles being “dugg” here this evening. I could go off on a long tangent about the media coverage…CNN has a piece by their “internet reporter” during the “Situation Room” (um…ok folks…a reporter covering the internet. So much for convergence! How come the POLITICAL reporter isn’t covering this? Sigh…) and Fox News (remember, they are fair and balanced) doesn’t even have a reference to this at all on their political page. Hmmm…ok. See my note above about what the media will cover. There is enough activity on the CNN piece however, to get this to the home page of Digg at 2165 Diggs.

Justin.TV: Neat site. I’ve seen this one before and it’s the one place where there is a live chat going on – actually feels like some action! Too bad there isn’t a live video happening! And actually, like many of these sites it’s a small population that is actually engaging here. Looks like there are a total of 941 people on throughout the site – it doesn’t seem to be tracking those in the Ron Paul section. Could be a cool place to hang out if a debate is broadcast here.

Eventful: Here’s one of those…um…not so much sites. Given the numbers at meetup, I’d say this one is a waste of time. Only one event…that is linked from the site and only 2508 Demands around the country.

MeetUp: This is the one the campaign touted – 60,000 members as of last week I believe. The link leads to a page where I can input my location to find a meetup in my area. I think this link would be much more interesting: http://ronpaul.meetup.com/about/ the visual is great! A google map that shows all the different meetups around the world – including Iraq (I believe that is a troop base, actually), the UK, Australia as well as the U.S. and Canada. 64,644 members.

Twitter: Last Twitter – 11 days ago. Need I say more?

iPhone Network: Um…what’s the point? Frankly here in Vermont it really is a waste. Put your resources into updating the MySpace and the Facebook where there is actually something useful going on.

Search Results: I’m impressed. No, REALLY IMPRESSED. My search on “Paul” for this candidate revealed only ONE PAUL beat him out and frankly it did my Catholic heart good, especially so soon after All Saints Day, to see that it was St. Paul the Apostle who ranks first at Google through a WikiPedia.com entry on Paul of Tarsus– and Ron Paul the Presidential candidate comes up second in his WikiPedia.com entry, and third for his campaign site. Even that Beatle guy comes up ranking fifth (I think there’s something funny about that…but for the life of me I can’t remember what it is – that’s what I get for not knowing much, nor caring much about the Beatles).

Anyway…a search on “Ron Paul” hits the jackpot in Google with the campaign site at #1, then WikiPedia.com, then news information, the congressional site, a third party pac site, YouTube, MySpace…yep, it’s all Ron Paul on the first page. And…NO sponsored ads from the candidate or rivals. Now I’m stumped. Seriously…given the traffic Ron Paul is generating (see my earlier post on the stats), seems to me that there might be more action from a CPC standpoint here. At Yahoo! St. Paul still wins (grin). Searching on Ron Paul, the results are a bit different, and interesting. Campaign site is #1 followed by the congressional site, WikiPedia.com and then…um…his campaign site from his congressional run in 2004! Wow! Nice algorithm Yahoo! Eventful shows up too among the rest of the candidate specific sites. A lot more action on the CPC here – café press and comedy central being the big ones. At Live, well, I’m glad to see that St. Paul is still the WINNER! (Perhaps Microsoft is not so evil after all), but unfortunately for Rep. Paul, his candidate site doesn’t show. Not even in the suggested searches. Hmmmm…. but a search on the full name reveals all Ron Paul all the time.

Interesting observation on Rep. Paul and his online visibility/mentions…check out the “unofficial” url’s I discovered – some of the content is the same, many of it links together and most link to the candidate website:

• http://www.ronpaul.org/
• http://www.ronpaul.net/
• http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/
• http://www.ronpaulforum.com/
• http://www.ronpaulforums.com/
• http://www.ronpaulstickers.com/
• http://www.voteronpaul.com/
• http://www.ronpaulnation.com/
• http://www.ronpaulrally.com/
• http://www.ronpaulfacts.com/
• http://www.ronpaulquest.com/
• http://www.ronpaulradio.com/
• http://www.ronpaulforpresident2008.com/
• http://www.ronpaulhq.com/
• http://www.voteronpaul.com/
• http://www.ronpaulsongs.com/
• http://www.ronpaulpresshub.com/
• http://www.dailypaul.com/
• http://www.ronpaulpledge.com/
• http://www.ronpaulstamp.com/
• http://www.ronpaulblog.com/
• http://www.ronpaulonline.com/
• http://www.ronpaulradio.us/
• http://www.voteronpaulforpresident.com/
• http://www.ronpaulgraphs.com/
  

On this November 5th, when the Paul Campaign – or, excuse me, the grassroots effort for the Paul Campaign is running their $100 by 10,000 to raise $10 million for Paul (see ThisNovember5th.com) campaign, it’s fascinating to see the media frenzy that is going on. How everyone is talking about the internet use of this particular candidate. As a matter of fact, in the BFP article that was written about this series, one person commented on the website that it was crazy that the article didn’t mention Paul. That’s simple…I hadn’t gotten here yet! Anyway, what this looks like is a social media strategy. A true (red white and blue...sorry, couldn't help it!) all out consumer generated, give-up-control-of-my-brand social media strategy. Gotta LOVE IT!

Blog: So here’s another one that doesn’t have a real blog – no place for comments and no real push to get people engaged. Missed opportunity tonight – There is clearly a lot going on, but the blog isn’t really reflecting it as much as it could be. They have posted updates – but the last one was at 7:00 EST and it is now almost 10:30 EST and nothing new. This is what I mean by keeping a blog moving. In the case of an online event such as the one going on now (Over $3.5 million raised as of last count over at ronpaulgraphs.com), the blog should be cooking – it can add to the frenzy and get even more going. While I love the use of Typepad and the porting in of the blog info, it looks to me that this is how they keep the site fresh each day and they aren’t really capitalizing on it like they should. Again, why no posts from the candidate? Why no comments? You have a grassroots base that is moving things along quickly and doing some very cool stuff, and yet, the blog really isn’t doing what it should…or could…to engage. Too bad.

Recommendations: Here’s a campaign that is so on the verge of getting it I’m beside myself. I had heard a lot about this campaign and am glad I finally got to it. They certainly have utilized the web to capitalize on the grassroots ala Dean-style. Unfortunately they are missing some real opportunities that are illustrated by the lack of action on the main campaign sites and official properties like MySpace and Facebook and YouTube during a record-breaking, grassroots driven donation day. Also, like many of the campaigns jumping on the social networking/media bandwagon they are over extending themselves. Focus on the ones that can be managed so as to keep the base involved and engaged. Don’t jump on every one that comes by – especially when resources need to be carefully managed.

Update your MySpace already!

At the same time, this campaign is running perhaps the biggest risk of all – because they are popular on the web and are focusing a lot of their media efforts on web-based milestones (such as MeetUp numbers and YouTube), they aren’t getting issues coverage. At this point I suppose any coverage is better than no coverage – but it won’t be until primaries are won that there will be more focused coverage then there has been. Even CNN had to write about the fact that Ron Paul is low in the polls. They are going to have to work hard to get some balance – the point is the web alone will NOT do it.