Social Media Analysis: Mike Huckabee (R)
Mike Huckabee has the following:
Website: No splash page (thank goodness!) here either. We get right into the site and while I’m definitely biased towards a clean, neat and focused site, the word that comes to mind on first impression is “Sparse”. The main image on the page today is quite troubling from a PR perspective…you see a group of men talking – if you do not know which one is Huckabee going in, you have no way of knowing if he is the guy who is facing us, or the two facing away (note: Huckabee is the one facing away from the lens, nice back of the head shot!). Some small images on the home page, but nothing that really pops. There is that request sign up box on the right hand corner with the email, call to build the base and the contribute button. Right below that are the icons for the social media: YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Facebook and Eventful. On the issues page they’ve done an interesting thing – very tight with a listing of the issues on the right hand side and as you click on each one, new information comes up – with a “send to a friend” option. No RSS feed that I could tell. There is a media center with information ported to the home page (however some of it is dated info and should be pulled from the home page if it is “news” focused). The site is fairly small. It is extremely easy to navigate. I appreciate the simplicity and ease and yet, it seems almost too simple. There is a fine balance between simple and sophisticated – you can have both, unfortunately this one stays simple and doesn’t quite hit the mark.
There is also a site called “TeamHuckabee” with an intro video from the candidate (why isn’t this on YouTube? Why isn’t this a link from the main site?) $20.08 allows you to join the team. Interesting. More of a grassroots feel – almost like the MySpace site…but not quite. The video is good quality as well.
YouTube: Right from the start I’m dismayed. First, the image utilized is sized incorrectly so it is pixilated and out of whack. Take the extra time to ensure a clean transition and that the graphic fits! The main video running is a “candid” video of a campaign rally. Loud, noisy and no clarity at all. I still think that the best use of this space is for messages from the candidate to the voters – it’s free space folks! Use it! The video is from a month ago. The last log in to the site is two weeks ago. Hmmmm….perhaps not much going on for the campaign right now? Shouldn’t let this site lapse, no matter how busy you are. 1,040 subscribers.
MySpace: Well here’s a candidate MySpace that has the music! God Bless the USA. Thankfully it didn’t start playing. Ok, I know, I lamented when people DIDN’T put music on, but for heaven’s sake. Do something original! If you are going to put music on the MySpace site, consider your brand image, consider the message and consider that this candidate is a member of his own band… “The Capitol Offense” which has a different MySpace page. Why not run one of those? Nothing exciting here though. It’s all banners and things to add to your site – not really social networking. However the blog post does invite people to a MySpace group (
http://groups.myspace.com/mikehuckabeeforpresident)! I believe he is the first candidate so far to push a group on MySpace. Nice! (409 members of the group). 7129 friends.
Facebook: Good mix of information on the Facebook profile – notes that he is campaigning in SC today (only 6 hours old). Hokey picture (smile) and list of different websites. References
http://www.teamhuckabee.com/ which wasn’t referenced on his website. The campaign is also listing all the different groups that are supporting Huckabee – nice! While their may not be an “official” candidate group, the fact that they have the fan groups listed is good. Many different badges as well, and they have the newsvine application and an “I’m registered to vote” application running as well. Not a bad mix of options for the Facebook and it revealed a few surprises! 5,322 supporters
Flickr: Standard. General campaign photos. His profile is a bit more in-depth than other’s I’ve reviewed so far with an interesting surprise – there’s an AIM address listed! Overall though, it’s really just a place to post the photos. Too bad they aren’t porting these into the MySpace or Facebook or even the Website.
Eventful: Not bad overall. Certainly worth doing and it shows 2,815 people who are demanding that the candidate visit their town. There’s an RSS feed for events he is part of, and a place for people to comment. Bio information is the standard bio that’s on the website and Flickr and others. Still writing about the “Exploratory” committee – should really change that. The eventful badge is ported over to MySpace which is good.
Search Results: Searching on Huckabee at Google results in a top organic ranking for the candidate website, although, it is interesting to note the description that is showing up: “The former Arkansas governor recently formed a 2008 presidential exploratory committee because he feels the country needs a reawakening and a leadership to ...” might be time to get that updated! The WikiPedia.com entry comes up next, then news items and then MySpace. There is a sponsored ad from YouTube directing interested eyeballs to the Huckabee videos. At Yahoo! there are similar results with WikiPedia.com coming up first and then the “Exploratory Committee” site coming up second. So…the question is…is he running or not? My sources (The Washington Post) say yes…so what’s with the title tag still being “Exploratory”?? Come on folks…it takes two seconds! Other results include an unofficial blog, an eventful listing and an additional blog – although this one doesn’t clearly state if it is official or unofficial. Lot’s of sponsored ads here in Yahoo! for everything from books to political schwag – but no opponents here! Over at MSN Live WikiPedia.com comes first, then MySpace and then the candidate site. Similar ad results – schwag, an independent website and general sites like eBay. Overall not a bad showing, although the web team should update the description info!
Blog: It’s a basic blog. Tucked nicely into the main website, but because of the structure and content doesn’t fully capitalize on the depth that they should be able to get out of a blog. Another site that is posting interviews and speeches and links to other news items. The content really could be much stronger here (as I’ve been saying for many of the candidates). More daily postings from the campaign trail, notes from the candidate on his observations and conversations he is having with voters – that really provides a better sense of who he is. The email to a friend function is attached to the blog postings as is a social bookmark tool and RSS feed tool.
Recommendations: A fairly average showing from the Huckabee campaign. Simple site showcasing the most popular social media sites along with a blog. The site itself is lackluster and doesn’t really inspire. The fact that there is a second site for “team Huckabee” which isn’t connected to the main site, and you only find through Facebook strikes me as odd. There is not a lot of “connecting” between the different social sites going on, except for a bit with Eventful. Overall, while the SEO is solid, the simplistic site combined with a blog that doesn’t fully engage and a series of social media tools that are haphazardly integrated and connected totals up to a less than stellar online presence. At the same time, the fact that the descriptive text still references the exploratory committee surprises me. It would lead you to believe that he isn’t really running…just exploring the possibility of running. As one of the underdogs in the campaign, this is clearly opportunity missed.
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