Mandate Media

Poynter: Bitly data shows the best times to post links to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:09:56 +0000

Bitly, the URL shortener of choice for most people, has analyzed its click-tracking data to find the optimal days and times for posting links to social media. The results show interesting, distinct patterns among Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

NPR: Is The Internet Closing Our Minds Politically?

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:08:34 +0000

On the Internet, it's easy to find like-minded people and to frequent sites whose content you already agree with. And the online world is increasingly tailored to individual preferences and interests — including search engines serving up more personalized results for your queries. But are we running the risk of ...

Tech President: Campaigns & Elections Magazine Announces "CampaignTech Innovators"

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Campaigns & Elections magazine has announced its 2012 CampaignTech Innovators in the areas of campaigns, advocacy, Capitol Hill and nonpartisan innovation. Candidates are nominated by their peers. The winners "all demonstrate a visionary approach to the future of digital politics and advocacy," according to Campaigns and Elections. The recipients will ...

e.politics: How Campaigns Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:00:31 +0000

Hell of a political year, eh? The president, 33 Senators, all 435 House members, scores of statewide officeholders and thousands of state legislators, mayors, city councilmembers, etc, all up for election. The presidential race will dominate the year, of course, and many congressional, state and local races will turn on ...

What's the best time to send broadcast emails?

Fri, 04 May 2012 17:00:00 +0000

When we do trainings, we're often asked a simple but critical question - when's the best time to send emails? And what if your list is national in scope? Does mobile make a difference? What about asking for money?

When we do trainings, we're often asked a simple but critical question - when's the best time to send emails?

In general, the idea is to send people emails when their inboxes are empty. You don't want to get caught in the rush of people processing their inbox - delete, delete, spam, delete, skim, save for later (never!), delete, delete. You want your email to arrive in a virgin inbox when your email is more likely to get some attention.

So, overnight and early a.m. are a bad idea. You want people to have dealt with their overnight email first.

We used to argue strongly that 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. was the core zone. And of course, if your audience is national in scope, then 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. pacific gets you in that core zone in all four time zones. Outside of that zone, open rates will tend to drop.

We continue to stick to that guideline. However, there's been a flattening out of open rates in the last year or so. We're seeing open rates descend softly into the early evening, rather than falling off a cliff at 5 p.m. That's likely the impact of better mobile email devices - iPhone, Android, tablets - that make it more likely that folks are checking email on the couch.

So, that core zone is a bit less critical than before. That said, in most cases, if you're trying to get someone to do more than read an email - make a donation, fill out a form - you probably want to hit them while they're at a desk, rather on a mobile device on the couch.

Of course, remember that speed kills. If you've got breaking news at 10 p.m., send it. You want to be first to frame the story and to demonstrate that yours is a team that reacts quickly. Much of your audience may not see it immediately, but even those folks will appreciate that you moved fast when they see it first thing in the morning.

One last thought: This advice applies to email. Social media is whole different thing, but we'll save those thoughts for another day.

Tech President: Let's All Talk About Congressional Email

Wed, 02 May 2012 22:00:00 +0000

What is the flood of emails pouring into Congress doing to national politics? Matt Glassman, an adjunct professor of political science at Catholic University, thinks it might be creating reasons for individual members to focus less on local politics and more on attention-getting national issues.

Social Media Today: How to Compose a Retweet

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

It may not seem like much, but a Twitter retweet can send a powerful message – especially if you’re using Twitter to network, increase brand awareness and be a part of an ongoing conversation within your niche. The retweets that succeed the best are written with great care. Here are ...

Tech President: How YouTube Wants To Make Itself More Nonprofit and Activist Friendly

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:00:27 +0000

When The New York Times began its coverage of the revolution in Egypt last year, YouTube videos led its blog posts. One of the most interesting experiments in online education, Khan Academy, began as a series of YouTube videos. Google's video-sharing site continues to power Khan Academy's tutorials. And YouTube ...

ClickZ: Obama Camp On Pace to Spend $35 Million on Web Ads

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:25:25 +0000

As the GOP presidential contenders slog their way through a prolonged primary season, President Barack Obama's reelection campaign continues to spend big on digital ads. Obama for America spent an additional $3 million on digital ads, including text messages, in February. Since the launch of the 2012 campaign about a ...

TIME: The Obama Campaign Tries Out a New Cellular Weapon

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:00:00 +0000

The Obama campaign fundraising machine has debuted a new text message tool with encouraging results for the President’s bean counters. On Wednesday, the Obama campaign sent out an SMS message to cell phones and smart phones of tens of thousands of previous donors asking them to give more money. “Support ...

ClickZ: Online Political Spending to Hit $159 Million in 2012

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:29:34 +0000

With all eyes on the presidential campaigns, a new Borrell Associates report reminds observers that 2012 political ad spending encompasses thousands of local and state campaigns, too. The local media research firm forecasts that $159.2 million will be spent on digital ads and email this election cycle. That's a mere ...

Twitter Tips for Political Campaigns

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:10:36 +0000

We often get asked by clients, “What’s the best strategy for using Twitter in a political campaign?”

Twitter can be part of an effective online strategy for campaigns because it is the place to talk to the world. Reporters and bloggers use Twitter to track breaking news and gossip. Remember, an effective organization nurtures their networks and seizes the advantage. Twitter is a unique social network and lots of fun.

Here’s some things to keep in mind as you tweet, retweet, follow, mention, hashtag…

We often get asked by clients, “What’s the best strategy for using Twitter in a political campaign?”

Here’s some things to keep in mind as you tweet, retweet, follow, mention, hashtag…

Claim your username on Twitter before someone else does. Don’t add a date or campaign position (@johnsmith2012) or once the election is over your account will be dated.
Have a current photo and bio.
You can auto feed your Facebook posts to Twitter, but don’t forget Twitter’s 140 character limit. (But don't auto feed Twitter to Facebook!)
It’s better to join an existing #hashtag conversation then trying to start a new one. But stay on topic and don't spam the conversation.
Twitter is a great tool for real-time reaction at events. It's ok to have a big surge of tweets focused on an event. When it's over, use Storify to assemble all those tweets into a coherent story - with reaction tweets from others, interspersed commentary, videos and photos, and more.
Follow people who you want to follow you.
Your followers are potential voters of all ages. Interact with them, retweet and encourage them to retweet your posts. Tweet a thank you to followers who donate to your campaign.
Use Twitter search to track mentions of your name, the issues, and anything else relevant to your campaign.
Don’t forget you have a Twitter account. Use it! It’s great for small bites of info.
Keep tweeting, even after the campaign is over.

Remember Twitter is not a replacement for traditional communication tools. So keep on sending emails, mailings, shake hands and make phone calls!

Check out recent data on the Twitter habits of U.S. House members and Senators here.

Understanding Facebook Timeline for Political Campaigns

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In less than 48 hours, Facebook will once again make a major change to how Pages are displayed. Here's a brief outline of the changes, along with specific recommendations about campaigns can best take advantage of the new features.

What's happening and when?

On March 30, your Facebook page will change to the new “Timeline” model. Timeline has been optionally available for personal Profiles for several months. For Pages, however, the change will be automatic and mandatory on March 30.

What is Timeline?

Timeline is a new way of presenting the content on your Page. Since most of your audience will continue to interact with you primarily through their news feed, rather than on your Page, Timeline is really about changing the way that first-time visitors experience your page.

Previously, first-time visitors would see the most recent post on your Page – which may or may not have been the most compelling item to encourage new fans. Now, Timeline will make it more personally relevant to the visitor – and allow you to present the most important information and news at the top and throughout the Page. It also allows you to more expansively communicate your history and branding.

What if I do nothing?

If you do nothing, your Page will still be attractive and functional. With one partial exception (related to landing pages), all the functionality that existed before will still exist. Timeline simply opens up new opportunities.

Again, remember that the primary way that your audience of fans will interact with your Page will remain unchanged. You will post updates, and those updates will appear in their Facebook news feed. Timeline doesn’t change that in any way.

What’s changing?

Cover Photo: Your Page will now have a very large “cover“ photo at the top of your Page. Facebook hopes you'll use it to set the tone for your brand's presence.

Square Portrait: Previously, your Page profile photo could be any height – and many folks used the space to combine photos and logos in a horizontal arrangement. Now, every view of your portrait is square, on your timeline and in others’ newsfeeds.

Personalization: At the top of your Page, visitors will see a box that includes photos of their friends that are already your fans. These personal endorsements will encourage people to join their friends in the community growing around your Page.

In addition, visitors will see a box that includes a post about your Page written by one of their friends that is a fan, as well as recent comments by your friends that are fans. These are likely to be the most recent (or most recently popular) post, but may not necessarily be positive. (You may, for example, have a fan that’s actually a critic – that person’s friends may see a critical post in this space. These personal posts can be turned off entirely, but we don’t recommend that.)

Historical view: Timeline makes it easier for visitors to surf backwards through time to look at posts from your Page that were days, weeks, months, and even years ago. In order to facilitate that, Facebook now makes it possible to produce back-dated posts – as well as a new type of content, “Milestones”, that are major events in the history of your candidate or organization. Milestones and other important posts can be highlighted with extra visual weight – breaking them out of the two-column layout and extending them across the Page. (You can also choose to hide old posts.)

Pin a post: In order to ensure that the most important content is shown first, you may now choose to “pin” a post to the top of your Timeline. Click on the pencil at the top-right corner of your post and choose “Pin to Top.” Once pinned, an orange flag will appear on the post in the top-right corner. Your Page will display the most recent pinned post at the top of your Timeline, even if you post lots of new stuff below. Once the pinned post is seven days old, however, it will stop being pinned – and will drop down to its spot in the Timeline. (If nothing has been pinned within the last seven days, the most recent post will be displayed at the top.)

No default landing pages: Previously, it was possible to create a custom landing page or welcome tab for first-time visitors. Now, all first-time visitors will be delivered to the Timeline view of your Page. (An exception: landing pages can still be used when advertising on Facebook.)

More visible “tab” navigation: Previously, custom tab pages were linked in the lower right sidebar of your Page with small icons and text labels. Now, the icons are large graphical buttons. Up to four will be immediately visible under your cover photo – and up to eight can be made visible when an arrow beside the tabs is clicked. The order of the tabs can be changed by moving the cursor to the top-right of the tab, click on the pencil icon and choose “Swap position with…” Here you can access all your tab options, such as choosing a photo to replace the default tab image icon. Note that your photos tab is required to be among the top four.

Messages: Previously, fans had no way of contacting the owners of a Page. Now, if you turn on “Messages”, your fans will be able to send you notes – and you’ll be able to respond to them. You still won’t, however, be able to initiate messages to your fans as your Page. (You can, of course, always communicate with someone personally, using your personal profile – unless they have messages from non-friends blocked.)

Admin section: As an administrator, you’ll see an admin panel of helpful stuff – including notifications, new likes, messages, settings, Facebook Insights and tips for your Page – right at the top of your Page.

Recommendations

Backfill important dates: Think of Timeline as a way to tell your story via your Facebook Page. So consider filling in important dates for your candidate or organization. Consider personal milestones (education, family, etc.) as well as political ones (first campaign, important positions or jobs held, legislative accomplishments, etc.)

Showcase important posts: You can also choose to highlight posts on your Timeline. To showcase a specific post, just click on the star icon in the top right hand corner -- this will make your post take up the full width of your timeline, calling more attention to it.

Hide other posts: We don't recommend deleting posts or trying to hide what's been posted, but in rare cases, you may want to hide posts from your Timeline by clicking on the pencil icon in the upper right, then selecting "Hide from Page."

Messaging: Viewers can now send messages directly to your Page. If your Page receives a message, you can view it in the admin section and you will be allowed to send up to two reply messages back. Consider carefully whether you want to open up this communications channel – since it’s another inbox to check. We recommend strong consideration for turning this functionality off entirely and relying instead on email.

Cover photo: Selecting a new cover photo may be challenging. The space is extremely wide and short, and has specific size and resolution requirements. You may want to select a single photo, or combine a photo with your logo, tagline, or even assemble a montage of photos. (Note: Facebook does not allow this space to be used for promotions or to display URLs.)

Profile photo: With the addition of the cover photo, the dimensions of the profile photo have changed to a 125-pixel square. We recommend using a large square photo (we recommend at least 200 pixels square; Facebook will resize it automatically) so that fans can click on the image and see a larger version.

Check your Timeline and update it daily: Since your Timeline will be the first thing your Page visitors see, continue to post updates daily and make sure the best stuff is pinned to the top. (Pro tip: Don’t post more often than every three hours, since each post tends to have a lifespan of about three hours. Also, remember to post in the evenings and weekends – when most Facebook users are hanging out.)

Tabs: In general, we don’t recommend producing lots of custom “tabs” for your page. Most interaction will still happen through your posts. However, if you want to add a page or two of content (or a donate form), that’s certainly reasonable.

Advertising: Facebook advertising remains a cost-effective way to generate new “likes” for your Page. We do a lot of this for our clients.

If you have questions about Timeline or need help around social media strategy, just get in touch.

John Tree: The Story of United Flight 448

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:01:42 +0000

You never know what can happen in a campaign. One of our clients, John Tree (running for Congress in IL-10), was on a flight from Washington to Chicago - returning from serving his reserve duty at the Pentagon, when the flight attendants asked for his help with an unruly passenger.

Ben DuPree joins Mandate Media team

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:47:03 +0000

Here's a hearty welcome to the newest member of Mandate Media's team, Ben DuPree. He'll be working here as a political strategist and communications consultant - using online strategies to help our clients change the world.

Ben DuPree is a veteran of Oregon progressive and Democratic politics. His background is in campaign communications, political public relations, and online advocacy.

Ben has worked with many successful candidates, individuals, and organizations, including U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, Oregon State Representative Brian Clem, Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Oregon's State Senate Democrats, and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.

In his spare time Ben enjoys Portland's many farmers' markets, riding his road bike, working in his garden, and everything else Oregon has to offer. He and his wife Mele Sax-Barnett live in Northeast Portland.

More research: TV ads slipping, online ads surging.

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:53:25 +0000

SAY Media conducted a bipartisan study to best understand how the changing media landscape may impact a campaign’s ability to effectively and efficiently reach voters in the upcoming election. And the results are a no-brainer for those of us working at the intersection of politics and technology. A few highlights…

Almost 40% of all voters have a DVR at home. And when they’re watching TV this way, they aren’t watching commercials. Nearly 90% are skipping ads regularly when watching time-shifted programming.
36% of 18-44 year-olds and 15% of adults 45 and older are watching less live TV than they were a year ago.
2 out of 5 voters will NOT have watched live TV in the past week.

What does this mean for you? While TV advertising is still the most important tool in the campaign toolbox, it’s clear that a move towards online advertising is the way to go.

It’s time to at least start talking about the importance of online advertising and what a few targeted dollars can do to raise the profile of you, your candidate, or your organization.

The variety of ways you can use those advertising dollars online is skyrocketing. You can target specific audiences and show them ads with text-only ads, text and images or video based on keyword targeting or placements.

A recent study by Anzalone Liszt Research found that while internet viewing time is lower in comparison to TV viewing time, online viewing is growing. Video ads are increasingly important with 53% of internet traffic in the last year coming from video uploads and downloads.

During the 2010 election cycle we placed over $330,000 worth of online ads for our clients on Google, Facebook and targeted blogs and media outlets, generating over 345 million ad impressions. Got questions? We’ve got answers.

Governors, Senators, and Members of Congress blocked on .xxx registry

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:00:00 +0000

On Tuesday, we noted the emergence of the new .xxx domain - and tried to allay worries that folks need to jump in and immediately reserve their domains on that new space.

But in poking around a bit more, we discovered a fascinating thing: The names of sitting U.S. Senators, Representatives, and state Governors have been blocked from registration at .xxx. (As has every former president.) In other words, even if you wanted to reserve, say, JoeLieberman.xxx - well, you can't.

The ICM Registry - which controls .xxx - announced last month that they'd taken off the market thousands of domain names that match the first and last name of celebrities, politicians, and international organizations. Quoted in the UK's Guardian newspaper, ICM CEO Stuart Lawley said:

"The reason we banned the celebrities' names was because it's very difficult for them to trademark their names. We didn't want to have the embarrassment of AngelinaJolie.xxx coming up at the launch of the new domain."

But they've refused thus far to release that list. We've been testing a large number of names, and so far, every single one - except that of Congressman Mark Amodei (elected just last month in NV-2) - has been blocked.

You can see for yourself. Just visit the ICM Registry's WHOIS page and enter in a possible domain.

If it responds "Not Found", that domain will be available when general registration opens in November. But if it responds "Reserved by ICM Registry", then it's off the market.

But, wait! What about state legislators, down-ballot state officials, local officials, and candidates? Have no fear, the ICM Registry also has a general rule against swiping names. Again, Lawley:

"There's a prohibition on anyone registering a first or last name that doesn't belong to them," he said.

So, really. Don't panic.

What?! Do you really have to reserve a .xxx domain?

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:59:57 +0000

Yes, you've read that right. We're talking about the porn industry here - never thought we'd need to post on this!

We've gotten some questions about the industry's new domain, .xxx. As you can probably guess, this is a domain created for adult-only content.

But, before it goes live, there is a pre-launch “sunrise” period for federal trademark owners outside the adult entertainment industry to secure .xxx domain names. Then on November 8, the adult industry will have access to buy up domain names. We've gotten questions from a few folks wondering if they should buy a .xxx domain to make sure their domain remains out of the hands of the adult industry.

Don't panic.

Before you run off to to buy .xxx domain names, consider this: Is there any reason why anyone would go to, say, JonesForCongress.xxx by accident? There are hundreds of country codes and custom suffixes, like .md, .tm, .tv, .name, .info, etc? Other than making sure you've got .org and .com, we don't recommend grabbing all these variations.

After all, people aren't randomly guessing at domain names like they used to. Most folks just go to Google, type in a search and let Google figure out it out for them.

So, save yourself some money. Don't sweat the .xxx thing. (And besides, what does it say to your supporters if you did reserve a .xxx? Not sure that's a message you want to send, right?)

Facebook: profiles, pages, and groups, oh my!

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:51:37 +0000

Yes, Facebook is important to your campaign. But should you use your personal profile? How about creating a page or a group? So let's explain...

There are three kinds of entities on Facebook: Profiles, Pages, and Groups.

Profiles

Profiles are for humans. Every human has one and only one profile. Every Profile represents exactly one human. They require real identities, but have robust privacy options. They can comment anywhere on Facebook and on other sites that use Facebook authentication. All relationships are two-way opt-in. (You're my friend, I'm your friend.)

They're capped at 5000 friends (because no one has more than 5000 friends). And they cannot be advertised or integrated with an outside website.

Here is the personal Profile of our president, Kari Chisholm.

Pages

Pages are for products, organizations, celebrities, and politicians. They are the official and public representation of those entities on Facebook. Multiple people can be authorized to administer them. They have no privacy settings. They can comment on their own Page and on other Pages (but not on Profiles).

All relationships are one-way opt-in. (I'm a fan of Lady Gaga. She doesn't know I exist.) There is no cap on the number of fans or "likes". They can be advertised and integrated with an outside website, and you can't email your fans.

Here is Congressman Peter DeFazio's politician Page and his government official Page.

Groups

Groups are informal groups of people, typically because they share an interest. Groups can be open, closed (invite-only, but visible), or secret (invite-only and hidden). They are opt-out (i.e. you can add all your friends to a group you create, without their consent; though they will be notified and can opt-out.) Groups cannot speak for themselves.

By default, Groups send an email notifying members of every post in the Group. They can be unlimited in size, though some features (like group chat) disappear after 200 members join. They can be advertised.

Here is the group page for a bunch of people who like to talk about Portland beer.

Wanna read more? Here are some additional resources about profiles, pages and groups and how to choose which is best for your organization. Or check out Facebook's blog.

No, don't auto-post your blog or Twitter to your Facebook

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:30:00 +0000

We get asked all the time: How can I automatically post everything from my website/blog to my Facebook page? The answer: It's easy, but don't.

We get asked all the time: How can I automatically post everything from my website/blog to my Facebook page?

The answer: It's easy, but don't.

Why not? Because Facebook's algorithm punishes status updates generated by automated systems. Not only that, but you're almost certainly going to be posting headlines - rather than witty, insightful, thoughts that intrigue people enough to click, like, and comment.

Over at WPMU, one blogger actually tracked this effect when she changed her Facebook posting from automated to manual:

From 20th February to 20th March we received 435 visits from Facebook. From 20th March to 20th April we received 3252 visits from Facebook. That’s an increase of 647.59%!

So what changed? We didn’t see a sudden rise in the people who “Like” us on Facebook. We haven’t changed our regularly posting pattens. What we did, and what you can do too, was turn off autoposting to Facebook.

And, by the way, the same applies to Twitter. Don't feed your Twitter to your Facebook page.

We recommend producing content for Facebook and Twitter that's written for those two very different cultural environments. But if you must automate, feed your Facebook to your Twitter, not the other way around. (But don't forget Twitter's 140 character limit!)