Completing my internship with a firm that specializes in political media communications has taught me a lot about how to get a message out. For years firms like my own have turned to television and radio with their 15 and 30 second messages. The internet was simply a placeholder to store regurgitated information such as brochures or the main message of a television commercial. Then social media was born.
The outbreak of blogging, video sharing, podcasting and social networking challenged the industry’s best. Free video sharing sites such as YouTube allow opinionated high school students to serve as director. With a free blogging account, stay-at-home mothers turn into journalists. Now anyone can speak out and be heard. Social media has changed the way firms disperse their message and listen to their audience.
As a result, my firm must catch up. In the past few years we have begun producing spots specifically for the web. The pieces are in a conversational tone and can be posted throughout a candidate’s website.
Now, we must take it even further. Our client’s opponents are gaining popularity through MySpace, YouTube and Flickr—and our clients look to us to help them catch up.
As a result we are doing our research and testing the water. Although it looks easy and inviting, we still need to be careful. Immersing a candidate in social media is releasing them unprotected. The opponents, bloggers and journalists have greater access to a broader field of information that is often out of our control.
To stay in the game, we must test these waters. Social media is just no longer an option for anyone trying to get there message heard.
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