5 ms·

Ask HN: As a political candidate how would you campaign online for election?

2 points by kumarski 13y ago

What tools would you use? What wouldn't you do? How would you minimize your costs?<p>Are political campaigns overpriced?<p>I wonder if hackernews has any politician readers.

mindcrime 13y ago
I've run for public office before (Libertarian candidate for NC Lieutenant Governor in 2008), so I have a little bit of insight on this. It's probably a bit much to write up here and now though. If I can find time I'll try to write up a blog post on my experiences, and mix in some of what I've learned since then. I'll just say this though, as a TL/DR: Running a political campaign is basically marketing. You're just marketing a person instead of a product or service. The basic principles are the same. So anything you can read on how to market online in an inexpensive manner, can probably be applied to a campaign. "Guerrilla Marketing" applies to political campaigns as much as it does to products. If you're a techie (probably a semi reasonable assumption if you're here) I'd say: use a cheap VPS, F/OSS software, and do the technical stuff yourself. Maybe pay a real designer to do your website design if you don't have any design ability. Utilize the heck out of social media. Probably most importantly, and maybe the biggest thing I didn't do: follow the "permission marketing" approach and start building your audience well in advance of the election. If you're thinking of running in 2016, start planning the campaign and start building your mailing list(s), twitter followers, Facebook page, etc. NOW. And don't be afraid to ask your supporters for money. If people really believe in what you are saying, they'll contribute. And while you can run a campaign "on the cheap", the more $$$ you have, the better in many ways. If nothing else, because the mainstream media use "amount raised" as a proxy for how viable your campaign is, and in deciding whether or not to report on your campaign. Also, what I'd do if I were going to run again (I don't currently plan to, but never say never) would be to really study the craft of storytelling. I'd read books on how to tell a good story, and understand the art and craft of putting together a compelling narrative, and then try to cast as much of my campaign as I could into the form of a narrative. Human beings seem to be somewhat hard wired to find narrative form appealing, and I believe that good marketing in the future will largely hinge on the ability to tell a good story. Anyway... I'm hardly an expert (I didn't get elected after all), but there's a few random thoughts for ya. I'll try to revisit this and write up some more ideas and blog them later.

2 points by kumarski 13y ago

What tools would you use? What wouldn't you do? How would you minimize your costs?<p>Are political campaigns overpriced?<p>I wonder if hackernews has any politician readers.

mindcrime 13y ago

I've run for public office before (Libertarian candidate for NC Lieutenant Governor in 2008), so I have a little bit of insight on this. It's probably a bit much to write up here and now though. If I can find time I'll try to write up a blog post on my experiences, and mix in some of what I've learned since then. I'll just say this though, as a TL/DR: Running a political campaign is basically marketing. You're just marketing a person instead of a product or service. The basic principles are the same. So anything you can read on how to market online in an inexpensive manner, can probably be applied to a campaign. "Guerrilla Marketing" applies to political campaigns as much as it does to products. If you're a techie (probably a semi reasonable assumption if you're here) I'd say: use a cheap VPS, F/OSS software, and do the technical stuff yourself. Maybe pay a real designer to do your website design if you don't have any design ability. Utilize the heck out of social media. Probably most importantly, and maybe the biggest thing I didn't do: follow the "permission marketing" approach and start building your audience well in advance of the election. If you're thinking of running in 2016, start planning the campaign and start building your mailing list(s), twitter followers, Facebook page, etc. NOW. And don't be afraid to ask your supporters for money. If people really believe in what you are saying, they'll contribute. And while you can run a campaign "on the cheap", the more $$$ you have, the better in many ways. If nothing else, because the mainstream media use "amount raised" as a proxy for how viable your campaign is, and in deciding whether or not to report on your campaign. Also, what I'd do if I were going to run again (I don't currently plan to, but never say never) would be to really study the craft of storytelling. I'd read books on how to tell a good story, and understand the art and craft of putting together a compelling narrative, and then try to cast as much of my campaign as I could into the form of a narrative. Human beings seem to be somewhat hard wired to find narrative form appealing, and I believe that good marketing in the future will largely hinge on the ability to tell a good story. Anyway... I'm hardly an expert (I didn't get elected after all), but there's a few random thoughts for ya. I'll try to revisit this and write up some more ideas and blog them later.