Vice President Joe Biden may not have helped President Obama carry any states, but the frenzy that surrounded his selection helped the Obama campaign rake in roughly 3 million cell phone numbers and propel mobile technology to the front of politics.

But are average Republican voters really ready to give a campaign something as intimate as their cell phone number?

One of the first things I was tasked with on the McDonnell campaign was finding a mobile vendor to use for the campaign. Mobile was not being pushed onto the campaign, but the campaign and candidate had a strong interest in becoming the first Republican campaign to successfully integrate the use of mobile through all aspects of the race. I spent countless hours calling vendors across the country and spoke with more than a dozen firms offering mobile services, and boy, did their prices fluctuate.

The large cost associated with the use of mobile is not set up costs, nor sending messages, but the monthly fees associated with a unique “shortcode” or short group of numbers attributed distinctly with the purchaser. In Governor McDonnell’s case, our short code was “GOBOB” or “46262.” The process to acquire a short code is neither easy nor quick. The large carriers must approve your request, which can literally take months (in Bob’s case it took about two months). Once a shortcode is acquired, campaigns must pay a monthly rental fee to keep it, and there of course set up costs.

I know what you’re thinking: why not use a “rented shortcode”? A “rented shortcode” is a shortcode that has been acquired by a firm or vendor that they control and pay the monthly rental fee on. They can then let you use the code without having to go through the 2 month process of getting your own. The big issue with rented shortcodes is the duplication of “keywords.” In short, a “keyword” is the word or set of numbers that you text TO the shortcode. In McDonnell’s case, we encouraged people to text “Jobs” (the keyword) to “GOBOB”(the shortcode). Keywords can be created instantly, and their beauty lies in the fact that they make the user feel special. For example: college students at James Madison we were given their own shortcode “JMU,” and people from Fairfax County could text “Fairfax” to 46262. Keywords are also beneficial to the sender, because targeted messages can be sent to lists of subscribers who opted-in from specific keywords. In the case of the JMU student, we could send information about when Governor McDonnell was going to be in Harrisonburg for an event, or perhaps send a message to every college student in the state.

Now, the problem with mixing a robust mobile campaign filled with keywords, and a rented shortcode is that only one user of the shared shortcode can use a keyword at a time. To explain further, lets say that Campaign A and Campaign B are both choosing to save money and use a shared shortcode. Both Campaigns A and B are likely to want to use similar keywords such as “JOBS” or “VOLUNTEER” or say “INFO.”  Well, only one campaign can use each distinct keyword, and there is potential for the other campaign’s auto-replys to be sent to the sender. If you’re sticking with me, let me explain further. Campaign A and Campaign B are both very active with their mobile list. Campaign A decides they want to use the keyword “Info” and they set up an auto-reply to be returned to the user whenever someone texts in “Info” to the shared shortcode. If someone from Campaign B or ANY other client on the shared shortcode texts “Info” to the shortcode for ANY reason, they will receive the auto-reply that Campaign A has set up.

Further complicating the shared shortcode mess, is the fact that campaign’s cant always be sure what other clients are using the shared shortcode. A quick Google search will show you some examples of campaigns that have ended up on shared shortcodes with….shall we say….less than desirable groups that have gotten them into trouble.

For campaigns that have the ability to get a unique shortcode, there are many pluses to running a robust mobile program. Open rates on text messages are exponentially higher than e-mail lists, guaranteeing that whatever information you’re sending is reaching the subscriber. Unique keywords allow campaign managers and political directors to hold their staffs accountable by tracking the number of opt-ins on a keyword, with different keywords being able to be given out to staffers.

It seems by reading stories across the country that simply having a mobile program all but ensures that the press labels the candidate “tech-savvy,” and who doesn’t want more good press?

Looking at the McDonnell race as a case study, I am not sure if I would bet for or against the success of SMS marketing in political campaigns. In McDonnell’s case, it would seem that we did everything right to gain the maximum number of mobile numbers possible. We encouraged opt-ins via our large, statewide television buy, on our website and yard signs, and through direct mail, t-shirts, and web advertising. Heck, even Governor McDonnell pushed mobile at countless stops, and he made it a constant topic of discussion.

The campaign actively engaged potential opt-ins with different contests and offered prizes (including giving away free Redskins tickets). Despite pushing mobile through ads and on the stump, the majority of our numbers came in via website sign-ups, with people giving us their cell number when they filled out a volunteer form, or a web-based petition.

A concern that I have yet to see addressed is the ability for campaign’s to monetize their mobile list. With the McDonnell race, we used live-callers to follow up on pledges taken via text, the Perry campaign in Texas and Whitman race in California are acting similarly. Subscribers will be asked to text “Pledge” and a donation amount to the shortcode, and (sometimes hours later) a live-caller follows up via phone to take credit card information.

When the ability to instantly take money off of a phone bill is more readily accessible to every organization and campaigns can work out the campaign finance law concerns with doing this, I believe we will see more of an engagement via mobile, but we’re not there yet.

In summary, integrating an SMS component to a campaign offers a great way to push message out to voters, activists, and press. Still, it seems that people cling to their mobile number much tighter than their e-mail address, and it will be a constant challenge building an active, new list of mobile opt-ins. Campaigns and businesses should be cautious about pricing as the market is so new, often vendors will shoot very high.

Read more:

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/2462.html

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/how-governer-elect-bob-mcdonnell-went-mobile

Blogging, Tweeting and other Funny Words that Grow the Movement

PAC held two Internet specific panel discussions today, “Saving Freedom Through Technology” and “Blogging, Tweeting and Other Funny Words That Grow The Movement.”  The later included Megan Barth of redcounty.com, David All of David All Group, Matthias Shapiro of politicalmathblog.com, and Michelle Oddis of Human Events.

Oddis discussed the difficult process of transitioning from traditional media to new media.  She offered two tips for companies trying to make the change.  The first step is accepting that these tools are vital to future success.  Traditional media is on the decline and companies that don’t adapt will go out of business.  Second, hire workers who understand new media and the enormous opportunities it affords.   If you try to fake it, you will fail.

David All offered the acronym REAL to remember when dealing with direct media (that’s what he is calling new/social media).  R stands for reach.  Direct media allows you to reach huge audiences.  E stands for Engage.  Once you have reached these people you must engage through data visualization.  A stands for activate.  Your message must have a clear call for action and those tasks must be simple and meaningful or they will never get done.  L stands for listen.  You must listen to your followers if you want to sustain and grow your following.

Social Media Now More Popular on Mobile than Desktop

A recent study from Ruder Finn revealed that Americans are spending nearly three hours per day on their mobile phones. And what are they doing there? Educating themselves, conducting business, managing finances, instant messaging, emailing? All of the above, as it turns out, and then some. But perhaps the most interesting finding from the new data is the fact that more people are using the mobile web to socialize (91%) compared to the 79% of desktop users who do the same. It appears that the mobile phone is actually a better platform for social networking than the PC.

Social Media Integration Big Theme for 2010

Social media integration is becoming a big buzzword this year.  As social media marketing matures and starts playing a bigger role within marketing campaigns, businesses are beginning to see that social media can be integrated into many channels.

Here are two current studies that show how the integration of social media marketing is changing the way marketers connect and engage with their audiences—online and offline. 

7 Reasons Not to Put all your Eggs in the Twitter Basket

Are you too Twitter-obsessed in your social media approach?

Twitter’s role as a Magic 8 Ball for our shared culture is unrivaled, and it has almost single-handedly ushered in the era of real-time search and social customer relationship management.

Conservatives are fired up and various groups are looking to turn up the heat online leading up to the President's State of the Union address this Wednesday.

On Wednesday, January 27th the NRCC is hosting its first ever live text chat surrounding the White House's State of the Union address.

This unique program will allow Americans to utilize technology to engage with other concerned Americans to discuss the pressing matters facing our country, said John Randall, ecampaign director at the NRCC...

...Mobile has played a huge role in the past few political elections and with a reach greater than TV and PCs combined, it's not hard to see why.

With politics touching the very core of a person’s beliefs and the cell phone being the most personal communication device each of us have, mobile marketing is the perfect medium to connect with Americans...

The National Republican Congressional Committee is creating a two-way communication tool that will truly engage Americans and by creating a powerful, ongoing relationship.” 

Here's how you can participate: Simply text SOTU or STATE to the short code 777218.

On Wednesday, you can follow the discussion online by visiting the NRCC's mobile site for the event where you can participate in chat rooms and discuss the address with other like-minded Americans.

Be sure to read Mobile Marketer's full-length article about the NRCC's response to the White House.  

Others to Follow For SOTU Tweets--

The RNC will likely be live-tweeting the SOTU address via their account @RNCResearch.

And the Top Conservative on Twitter, @nansen (Nansen Malin), will be a featured tweeter on CBS News as will @johnhawkinsrwn (John Hawkins of Right Wing News).

Are Any Members Of Congress Still On Myspace?

Its garish colors and pop-up jingles have finally driven nearly all of the US Congress from MySpace. Unfortunately, they've left behind a lot of their constituents.

Plenty has changed since the spring of 2007, when MySpace was seen as a potentially invaluable tool for politicians. A close look at all 100 senators' social media efforts shows that only 39 of them have profiles on the Murdoch-owned social network; of those 39, only 11 have signed in since the summer. A less rigorous look at the House supports this trend. It's one thing for a blogger, a media outlet or an advocacy organization to flee a social network for greener pastures, but aren't Congress members using social media for slightly different reasons?

IE 6 Is Almost Dead, But Not Quite

Internet Explorer 6 is the bane of web developers existence.  The browser doesn’t support web standards that have become common the last few years, and making sites work in IE 6 adds significant time to the web development process.  Despite the release of IE 7 in 2005 and IE 8 in 2009, a full 10% of users still use IE 6.  In other words, it is still too big of a group to ignore.

Pingdom Says People Are Tweeting 27 Million Times a Day

Twitter may be having trouble finding new users in the U.S., but its existing users in the U.S. seem to be putting out a majority of the Tweets, which are now averaging 27.3 million a day. According to data provided to us by Pingdom, the pattern of Tweets follows waking hours in the U.S. (see chart), even though comScore data suggests more than half of Twitter’s users are from outside the U.S.

While this data is only a snapshot of the Twitter activity in the three weeks between October 21 and November 11, it does show that the number of messages sent out over the service is approaching a massive scale. 

And...Harry Reid Goes Mobile with a healthcare petition.

Don't get me wrong. I've voted in every election since I turned 18, but this 2009 election is the first cycle where I felt social media and mobile technology played a significant role in motivating me to vote at the polls.

My case in point is how the Bob McDonnell for Governor campaign in Virginia has helped me through the voting process this fall, text by text.

It all started about a month ago with this:

Don't forget today is the last day to register to vote in VA. Tell your friends, family, neighbors if they need to register go to...

And then a couple weeks later:

REMINDER! Election Day is only one week away. To find your polling place to vote for Bob next Tuesday, please visit...

And then yesterday:

Don't forget, Election Day is tomorrow! Find your polling place to vote for Bob McDonnell TOMORROW, please visit...

And now this morning:

Good Morning Bob McDonnell Supporters! Polls are now open, so don't forget to get out there and vote today! For info on where to vote go to www.Bob4VA.com

It's like a virtual cup of coffee in my hand.

In other words, a text message is akin to the little pep talk all voters need to get them out the door and to the polling place, before even showing up for work in the morning.

While it's still to be determined, GOTV is probably the #1 use for mobile technology in a state-wide campaign. 

I know first-hand how hard it is to push & pull folks to the polls as a lowly field director during the 2006 cycle.

You have moms who are just trying to get through the day and aren't sure if they're going to make it to the polls 2 hours before the fact. You have diehard supporters who say they're going to come out and vote, but at the end of the day, forget to.

Your average voter and even your strongest supporters need a helping hand to lead them through the process.

But surely, mobile is not the be-all and end-all.

You still need to make phone calls, you still need boots on the ground knocking on doors. You need email and you need voter mail. You need friend-to-friend conversation.

But at the end of the day - for voters like me who don't have a land line phone - For voters who don't meticulously go through their snail mail, because we get all of our important statements online...

We appreciate the mobile push.

We are millenials and we're coming out to vote more and more each cycle.

And just think - we are going to make up the majority of the voting population in the near future.

Why not embrace the technology right now, text by text? 

How do Canadian Politicians on Twitter Compare to other Countries?

How do Canadian politicians on Twitter compare to other countries? As some of you may know other countries have national Twitter sites like politwitter that connect politicians with people. Tweetcongress in the US, Tweetminister in the UK and TweetMP in Austrailia are the most notable. Since these sites all started before politwitter and in the case of Tweetcongress and Tweetminsiter have large followings and have received a fair amount of press, I expected that these countries would have a fairly high participation rate amongst politicians.

Take Advantage of Facebook Changes

If you have checked your Facebook recently you may have noticed some pretty dramatic changes. We certainly have. To ensure that you and your organization continue to take advantage of the Facebook community, we've identified two key feature updates that occurred this weekend that you should know about.

Sign-in to Myspace...with Facebook?

It could be the ultimate admission of defeat, or, a pretty smart move given its current strategy. According to The Telgraph, MySpace is currently discussing a partnership with Facebook where music and video content published to MySpace could easily be shared on Facebook via Facebook Connect.

How Moms Use their iPhones

According to a new survey by mobile advertising network Greystripe, mothers with iPhones regularly let their children use their phones, download games specifically for their children and often use their phones at grocery stores to compare prices and check their grocery lists.

Not too long ago, mothers were still considered to be a hard group to reach through mobile applications because they tend to be late adopters. The iPhone's mainstream success has changed this, however, and iPhone moms have now become a desirable target demographic for marketers.

CMF: People Like Online Townhalls, They Really Do

The Congressional Management Foundation has been tracking how Congress uses the web since before most members of Congress had websites. (That may or may not be true.)  But they've found something that seems to have even surprised them. The set up is that CMF, curious about how people responded to online townhalls, organized 21 such events -- 20 with representatives in 2006, and one event with a senator in 2008. They invited a bunch of people, told some of those who were interested that they couldn't come (control group!) and then assessed what was different amongst those who had had the pleasure of kibitzing with their congressperson online and those who hadn't.

Got Questions About Making Online Video? YouTube Says "Shoot"

YouTube is throwing a bone to content creators with questions about how to do online video right.

The mega-video site is partnering with Videomaker magazine to offer free webinars on topics of interest to the would-be iJustines and Ask A Ninjas of this world. Topics will cover how to shop for a video camera, microphone techniques, lighting, and all the basics of shooting palatable, watchable online video content.

The NRCC Launches it's First Text Messaging Campaign

In 2008, Nancy Pelosi received 204,996 votes to win reelection in her home district. We need your help today to collect at least 204,997 names on our "Fire Nancy Pelosi" mobile petition. You can put us one step closer to our goal by signing the petition right away.

YouTube's New Logo Shouts From the Rooftops: "1 Billion Views Per Day!"

Head on over to YouTube right now and there’s a minor change that’s sure to catch your eye: the site’s unmistakeable logo has been modified to include a new “1BN” banner, with the words “1 billion views per day!” beneath it. It’s obviously a huge milestone for the site, but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise — back in June we reported that YouTube was seeing over 1.2 billion views a day, and it’s likely above that by now.

On Twitter, Only Some Airlines Soar

Attention, passengers: This is your airline Twittering.

Yeah, like everybody else. But in the cramped, bandwidth-starved confines of airport concourses and airplanes, Twitter -- available not just on Web-connected cellphones (http://m.twitter.com) but even on those that handle only text messaging -- can help airlines and passengers talk to each other.

As a result, some airlines can't seem to shut up on the popular site, which allows users to publish short updates to the Web. Others, however, haven't printed their Twitter boarding passes just yet. 

Is Twitter Worth a Billion Bucks?

Twitter's home crowd can be pretty tough. When reports emerged on Sept. 24 that the microblogging service was close to securing $100 million in funding that valued the company at $1 billion, flurries of 140-character jeers flooded the service. "Nutty valuation," wrote @Nicklippis. "I've seen this movie before," twittered @ericclovesbacon. "It starred eToys.com and ended in fail."

True, a billion dollars for a company with virtually no revenue recalls the excesses of the dot-com era. The logic behind Twitter's valuation comes straight from the very same school. It views Twitter less as a single company than as the base for a whole realm of communication and data. "It is an increasingly important platform for business and consumers," says Seth Levine, managing director of Foundry Group.

Rising Rightroots and Declining Netroots Now at Parity (or Better)

Lost in the hubbub about the tea parties, the health care town hall protests, Joe Wilson, and the ACORN sting is the outcome of a long-simmering meta debate about the vibrancy of the grassroots right and its capacity to organize online. Along with a slew of other bad political indicators, the perception that the GOP might be stuck in a permanent Luddite rut reached its peak with the election of Obama and the role the Internet played in his victory.

Nearly a year later, not only have things turned around, but they've done so faster than anyone could have dreamed or imagined in those post-election doldrums. 

Working Moms are the Mobile Power Users in the US

Perhaps upsetting stereotypes about the male early adopter and big spender in the realm of technology, a new study shows working moms are some of the U.S.’s highest spenders on cell phone services.

The average cell phone bill for a working mom is $94, which is 21% higher than that of the average mobile user. Additionally, working moms are 42% more likely to download content to their phone than the average cell phone user.

Tagga may be a great resource for your GOP state party or campaign.  Tagga, a Canadian company based out of Vancouver (home of flickr), appears to be a great little tool with a lot of potential.  Tagga enables you to establish text messaging accounts for free and you can create a personalized code.  I just set up an account for the Massachusetts Republican Party and you can now text MassGOP to 82442 to join massGOPmobie.  I will also set up a RSS feed to our blog, MassRoots, where people can get updates from the blog on the go.

You can send up to 80 characters to your subscribers for free, paying $0.20 a text will give you 120 characters per message.

Soon, you will be able to create polls where people can vote from their phones and newsletters where you an create text message newsletters.  Granted, with Twitter you can update volunteers on their phones but this is a nice tool with a specific niche that people can understand immediately, there seems to be a learning curve with twitter and "tweets."  

I hope to roll out the new MassGOP.com in a few days and this will be a nice addition to the site, I'm glad I found it.  Speaking of which, I'm using the new and improved websat created by Cyrus at the RNC for the new MassGOP.com and it's been a great system - if you're with a state party, I highly recommend it.

At POLC, one of the panels I attended that I want to discuss in this space was titled "Developing Mobile Social Software Applications." One of my clients wants to push in to the mobile/SMS space so I figured it'd be a valuable use of my time. I was right.

The panelists included:

* Justin Oberman (moderator) – Communications Consultant, Digitism
* Katrin Verclas – Co-Founder and Editor, MobileActive.org
* James Eberhard – CEO and Chairman, Motellus
* Doug Busk – Vice President of Industry Relations, SinglePoint

The top 6 take-away points that I'll be working in to my next presentation:
1. Keep in mind: All mobile is opt-in. You can't "buy a list."
2. Must have a contest or excitement to get people to sign-up for text messages.
3. Messages are limited to 160 characters – be precise.
4. How often do you communicate? When you have something important to say.
5. Always include an “ask” in every message.
6. With regard to embracing mobile: Focus first on SMS/text, then build a mobile website, and then downloads (wallpaper/ring tones).

I'll save you from re-hashing all of my notes, but I do want to focus on two quick points:
1. Doug’s company works for Barack Obama and said that his job is provide the “tools” to help Barack's campaign get their message out through mobile. In other words, they're not consulting with message but are providing another way for Barack to get that message out. Doug noted that your Text-campaign must have a holistic approach to be successful -- the message through your text must be consistent with the direct mail, phones, candidate message, etc. This is common sense to me as a communicator but still important to think about since you're adding another element to the pie.

2. Case-Study: Oprah/Barack appearances. The Barack advance team made a very serious effort to ensure that the audience and event organizers understood how to teach folks to send short-codes/opt-in to receive SMS alerts. 30 minutes prior to an event– the advance team would take the stage, taught folks how to send a short-code from their cell phone, and then offered a prize to come to the front-row to meet Oprah (the winner was selected from folks that signed up for SMS alerts).

To conclude, I'll end with noting that I was left asking myself why no campaign had started thinking of using SMS/text as a utility rather than simply a way to communicate a message. In other words, personally I use Google's SMS feature all the time because it's just as helpful as its website. In other words, because it's helpful, I use it all the time.

What I'd like to see as a campaign operative is giving a tool for 72-hour efforts so that organizers could ping the campaign via SMS for things like issue talking points, polling locations for those canvased and other useful items. That way the communications team could ensure that their message is getting out through field organizers/door-to-door efforts.