Political parties in Canada are clueless when it comes to social media

Dear double k,

Do you know what a vanity URL is?  The person running the social media campaign for a candidate didn't in my riding. 

Have you heard of a facebook fanpage?  The same person who did not know what a vanity URL also decided against the advice of experts to use a profile instead of a fan page.  The excuse I got was people were not liking the fanpage which is what someone who clueless says.  A smart person understands that you have to train people on how they can support you other than a cashbook. 

Have you ever had a politician respond to user comments in youtube, facebook or blogs?  A different candidate in my riding started doing videos on youtube.  I asked more than one question and not once did that candidate or anyone working for him bother to answer my question.  Sincerity in social media is judged by how much effort you make in the comments.  In terms of views on youtube, the number of comments you get correlates to the number of views. 

www. :  the "www." is four extra steps not needed by any browser.  When I see a campaign poster with www. I think out of touch. 

Election posters:  Why do you think movie posters link to a facebook fan page now? Why do politicians link to websites?  The answer is because those who do social media in hollywood know what they are doing.  They understand that for 99% of businesses online the facebook vanity URL is the most important online. 

geo:  Geo based apps are huge right now in the tech industry.  If you have to google foursquare, facebook places and gowalla you should not be running a social media campaign.  During an election politicians are all over the place.  Checkins would be a natural evolution to the whole election process.

qr-codes:  On each campaign poster you could put a little qr-code or at each event which would then pull up a mobile app allowing the user to checkin or get more information on a candidate.  Meaning I could be walking home.  I see a poster for some candidate in my riding who I don't know about.  I take a snap of the qr-code and bam I on a mobile app telling me everything I need to know about the candidates. 

twitter:  If those you follow is greater than those who follow you on twitter, you are considered spam.  

time:  everything in terms of social media should of been prepped and standardized long before elections.  There should be both a short term goal relating to the election and then the long term goal of getting people to like, follow or sub because that is how you win people over time.  Meaning if I am new to a riding and likely will lose then my goal should be to get a large following in social media to help with the next election. 

volunteers:  Why would you let an idiot handle the most important aspect of your campaign going forward?  Each party should hire one individual who will build each MP or potential MP a social cobweb and train them how to use it.  The cool thing about social media is it really does not have to take up a lot of time.  You could run a blog with an email once a week.  You could power your facebook fanpage with just pictures.

That said you can't really be too hard on politicians for not understanding what most businesses don't understand.  How long did it take the Edmonton sun to include twitter links in its paper?  Even then I have to laugh because who actually reads twitter streams?  I still think every single reporter should have a facebook fanpage.  The reason being is when you like a newspaper you end up getting way too many updates about stuff you don't care about.  If reporters were to have a facebook fanpage it would allow me to like them and only get the stories I want.

Not that it matters because there is nobody to vote for.  None of the leaders inspire anything in me.  That is what all the election ads are telling me.  All I hear is reasons to not vote for the other person and I am tired of people trying to scare me into voting for them.   If you have to use fear how good can your policies be?  They all use fear based marketing.  

Sorry for the long email.  I suppose you hit a nerve. 

Cheers,

Ivan

PS:  When you have a chance take a look at how many candidates put christian or catholic down as religion.  Then look at how quick those same people are to jejoice in the flaws of others even though that directly contradicts "don't point out the spec in your brother's eye when you have a board in your own."  I am not religious and think most religious people are brainwashed idiots who are afraid to think for themselves.  I just find it amusing. 

Cheers,

Ivan

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