With more non-profits, corporate, government and other organisations making use of the web to mobilise communities we’ve decided to share some of our research presented at the World Wide Web Conference this year. Online campaigning is a quiet new area in marketing and mass media communication research. It is as new as the World Wild Web which itself is still in development, continuously changing and impacting people in astonishing ways. In it so called Web 2.0 version, it has changed the way people were communicating, changing along all activities depending on communication. During the last fifteen years, experts and scientists proposed approaches in order to harness the capabilities of the web.
Common broadcasting and advertising techniques were useless and didn’t work; emphasising how worthless it might be to try any serious promotion online. But some initiatives succeeded, even over expectation, suggesting that there were possibilities to dig into over there. The web had changed from a publication media mastered by institutions, to a social media characterised by an organised chaos controlled by users. People had just come to get their power back. Some authors noted the capacity of the web to empower people, and shared on how incredible their actions could become when they were mobilised. Hence, new approaches based on the understanding of the phenomenon web 2.0 were unveiled or brought online: like “word of mouth”, Business intelligence, direct marketing, or one to one marketing. They were denoting a paradigm shift towards technology driven by users.
Some of the key elements of an online campaign are Mission, Goals & objectives, Targeting, Planning, Organising, Approach of advertising, Platform, Engage and Measure. Today we will lexplore the first three of these campaigning elements as found in the research with some experts in the field:
– Mission, Goals & Objectives: Build a list of actions, Determine your online advertising goals and make sure they are realistic. Also ensure that they are measurable. Remember the 5 Ts: Talkers, topics, tools, taking part, tracking as part of your online campaigning strategy. Know your goals well and it should be clear.
– Targeting: Going where the people are and knowing your niche. Identify group and individual motivations and then craft your campaign to guide both leaders and followers without condescension or marketing spin. Targeting strategies must support your marketing objectives. Find out who your talkers are.
– Planning: Establish online credibility and trust through a stepped approach. Building the online operation to scale Fit Social Networking into Your “Ecosystem” and create mechanisms to motivate offline action. Build Your Own Social Network,
Built social tools around a network of people who were already online and engaged with their organization. Add social features to your existing Web site. Build credibility by enhancing the community.Tell a Story and define multiple ways in which supporters can take action and meet each other. Learn while you are doing and take full advantage of the desire and competencies of Internet users to reach the right people with right message rather than the most people and the same message. Learn which topics are working and join in the conversation starting by listening to your target market.
If you have anything to contribute to the above discussions please leave it under comments and sure there are much to be learned in the online campaigning market.
