Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #17: Dr. Alan Keyes (R)

Note: This individual declared his candidacy in November, which is why this analysis is out of sequence.

Social Media Analysis: Dr. Alan Keyes (R)

Dr. Alan Keyes has the following:

• Website: http://www.alankeyes.com/
• MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=103857114
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6575505100
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/keyes2008

Website: This candidate is clearly not a “mainstream” well-funded individual, and yet there is good activity at the website discussion board and the site itself, while a content management system, provides clear information and easy navigation. Each section is a large block that can be moved around by the user to create the page set up they wish. (Certainly not the norm for campaigns). Issues and information from the candidate are accompanied by various video clips from different speeches and events the candidate has attended. There is a big emphasis on the discussion board with highlights on the home page, resources and news information as well. There are no links out to social media sites at all – just an emphasis on the discussion board and the video/audio archives from the candidate. The blog functionality is just from users of the discussion board – not a true candidate blog. Too bad, as this candidate could really use some more visibility and a blog might do that quite nicely.

MySpace: A search of MySpace reveals that the candidate does have a rudimentary profile. There’s even a posting where he apologizes for not reaching out to MySpace inquiries – um…hopefully he can take some time to do some of it, because this one is free and shouldn’t be ignored! Even the profile isn’t fully filled out and even the link hasn’t been set up correctly. Really needs to get on the ball with this one! 341 Friends. (Considering he announced in November, and is just getting rolling, that’s not too bad).

Facebook: Searching Facebook for Alan Keyes provided a quick link to his candidate site. There are 40 friends right now, and from the looks of the wall postings this just went up a few days ago, so that’s not bad. This is the way to do it – but the candidate better start responding – that will gain some momentum.

YouTube: Much like all the rest, but not any recent videos – the most recent was added four months ago. Some commentary but nothing overly exciting.

Search Results: Keyes is not an overly unique name, so the Google results for this very anonymous candidate were surprisingly positive. The campaign site came up fifth in the search using just the last name, and WikiPedia.com was second. The candidate has a grassroots site which also came up at number six. The rest of the listings were un-related. Using a full name search hits pay dirt however, with the candidate site coming up first, WikiPedia.com second, the grassroots site third and a host of news items and information about the candidate following. Searching at Yahoo! on last name only also gains good placement – second for WikiPedia.com and third for the campaign (first is a real estate company in FL). Full name search results in first for campaign site, second for WikiPedia.com, and third for grassroots site. Live has a similar result on the last name: third for the campaign site and sixth for WikiPedia.com. Full name search results in candidate, WikiPedia.com, candidate discussion board, and grassroots site all in that order. No relevant CPC/sponsored listings on ANY of the search engines. Clearly the mainstream candidates don’t see this candidate as a strong competitor, however the campaign also isn’t engaging in CPC/Sponsored listings (although a check of the WashingtonPost.com financials of the candidate reveals why – there’s no cash!).

Blog: There doesn’t seem to be one. Too bad.

Recommendations: So this candidate really could gain from the use of social media ala Ron Paul. He seems to strike a chord with individuals who he should then get to rally for his cause and start posting and creating more ways to spread the word. Use of the social media is there, but the campaign is not doing a good job of connecting and linking them all together – it takes work to find them. They should update their website to show links to MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. No need to do much with any others at this point. Get more people involved in discussions, and then get the candidate to start blogging – both written and video. Post those links on all sites and begin to cultivate some buzz.