One of the best strategies to building an online audience lies in celebrating and promoting that audience. Instapundit and Google and Daily Kos are big for the same reason - they push traffic out, and thus gain the trust of readers to come back (in the Kos example, those diaries are a primary souce of outgoing links, so the traffic is caught in a loop).
When we look at the example of the left building communities, we marvel at the energy, the traffic stats, and the small donor giving, but getting the endorsements of those communities bears a heavy price - a rabid dog is a great way to scare off intruders, but the dog is just as likely to turn on you. In the netroots case, celebrating the audience involves going into an politically unfeasible world.
An example is a letter from a blogger to Emmanuel Cleaver, a Dem House Rep in Kansas City. The blogger demands action on the funding bill, and threatens a bloodbath in '08 if she doesn't get her way. She's very passionate, but the Dems had to back down or truly face a 2008 electoral setback. How can you engage with a crazy person?
The right hasn't had these problems, mainly because there are less of us, and though we have strong editorial voices represented by the blogroll of Conservative Generals, most Republicans would pay little price for ignoring us, and they know it.
But there is a way that Republican candidates can tap into the energy, the community building aspects, and the strength of the right side of the blogosphere. If you believe as I do, that our strength is in our reasoned approach to issues - mainly that in winning the arguments, we'll win the elections, than the strategy is simple.
Use the blogs, the portals, and the comment sections to debate and convey strong conservative messages.
Most great ideas aren't new - they're just an example of someone saying, why isn't anyone doing that? So here's the question - what conservative politician is using the internet to get out a message that is well thought out, backed up with facts and statistics, and easily linked and shared?
Reagan did a pre-Internet version of this in the years leading up to his election wins. He talked about what he believed, and that gave conservatives a reason to trust him. Candidates today deliver highly packaged speeches to set audiences with the hope of generating enough base support to win the primary, and then tack to the center for the election. That's okay for television and soundbites, but where is the original thought? Eventually, we get stuck with pseudo-conservatives that we hope are conservative, and then are disappointed (Medicare, No Child Left Behind, Immigration, Spending).
Is anyone else insulted by that strategy? Where are our conservative thought leaders, proudly carrying copies of National Review, citing stories in the Wall Street Journal, and working with intellectual heavyweights to draft arguments?
No one expects this to occur in the speeches or debates. There is no time, and it's not the right message. But a well crafted online campaign to win, truly win, the war of ideas would energize the base, alleviate misgivings about how conservative a candidate is, and actually focus on the issues, instead of on the campaign. And what better time to do it then now, when the actual voting is still eight months out?
The reasoned argument on the left is outweighed by emotion. On the right, reasoned argument is actually our strength. If a candidate really wants the backing of the online community, it begins with actively working with that community to lay out the arguments.
Are there any politicians linking to sites and getting in discussions with people they agree with? What better way to energize bloggers than to give them free links? The first candidate to treat the online audience as one of many valued advisors is going to have a big advantage. How do you channel the energy of the masses without being controlled by it? You engage with it.
I'd write more of the how down if this were a closed site, but will be happy to share information on how to build communities with internet strategists for Republican candidates. Just e-mail me.
