I had lunch with a young man who’s volunteering his time to help with a municipal campaign. Specifically, he and another volunteer are sharing responsibilities for the digital components of the campaign. He explained to me that the greatest challenge he faces is convincing the candidate to take the reins of his own Twitter account. That led to a discussion on the merits of a politician doing his/her own Twittering.
Lack of time was among the reasons the candidate has given for not managing his own Twitter account. I suggested the volunteers can manage that by following Twitter activity for the candidate and breaking up the engagement into three blocks of time, selecting 5-10 messages that need to be responded to each morning, another 5-10 each afternoon and a final wave of 5-10 each evening. The volunteers should bring the messages to the candidate at regularly scheduled blocks of response time each morning, afternoon and evening, along with a summary of the ongoing conversation and sentiment. This makes sure social media is integral to the campaign and the candidate doesn’t become overwhelmed by the activity.
A similar approach can be used to manage all social network activity. Candidates can’t be expected to follow all of the activity, nor should volunteers be taking away the candidate’s opportunity to engage with the public.
By the way, I highly recommend that volunteers bring a mix of messages to the candidate. Responding only to the happy messages denies the candidate the opportunity to convert a voter. I have a great story about that which I captured in audio. I’ll publish that as a podcast.
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