For a blog that's dedicated to teaching Republicans how to use the internet to achieve electoral success, that may seem like a strange title. But it's true. Zack Exley writes about the problems of hiring a Director of Internet Communications in a time when a Director of Communications should know about the Internet.

“No, don’t hire an Internet guy,” I say. “You need to make your senior leaders, campaigners & organizers responsible for the Internet just as they’re responsible for everything else. The Internet is the biggest, greatest opportunity you have—so why would you outsource it to some Internet person you’ll just stick in a closet anyways?”

But it usually feels like I’m wasting my breath. They call back a few weeks later and say, “We’ve taken your advice and decided to hire an Internet person…do you have any recommendations?”

Frustrating, sure. But it's exactly what I face when pitching services to corporate executives. Those of us that live and breathe online are comfortable with mixing our daily work with the internet. When we think of contacting people, we don't think - let's go to the internet - we just use what's available.

Executives aren't like that, and neither are politicians. It seems like work to have to learn something new, and so it's easier to hire an "expert" to do the work for you. The problem with that model is that the experts are expected to do all the work, when the only way to truly reach a constituency online is to model your behavior on what works offline. Social networking is still about connecting with people - I preach that social networking isn't hard - it's doing the same things you do in your normal life, but it's using computers to broadcast your personal message to a wider audience.

A Tech strategy works when it magnifies what the candidate is doing. It fails when it's a separate piece of the puzzle.  Think of the online strategy as your advertising department. Do you want them to make a commercial without talking to your product people.  The purpose of the commercial is to sell more product.  And the purpose of the online strategy is to increase donations and bring in more votes.  What's the point of a brilliant online strategy that doesn't deliver victory?

So take Zack's advice. When someone wants to hire you for your internet skills, take the time to explain that your tech ability is not magic - and that it doesn't work if it isn't integrated into the full campaign.