صحافة دولية » Obama Fights Goldman With Social Media
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And he is winning. Corporate image managers--especially those at Goldman Sachs--have a lot to learn from the administrations Web savvy.
In 2008 candidate Barack Obama and his commascii117nications team rewrote the online playbook for presidential campaigns. In the two years since, Team Obamas affinity for social and digital media engagement hasn't waned a bit. In jascii117st the latest example of its new media savvy, the administration is taking its popascii117list messaging aboascii117t the need for financial reform to the digital space this week, highlighting Secascii117rities and Exchange Commission's charges against Goldman Sachs as evidence of 'the conseqascii117ences of what happens when there's too little accoascii117ntability on Wall Street and too little protection for Main Street,' in the president's words.
The strategy of going after Wall Street may seem obvioascii117s in a midterm election year dominated by economic concerns, bascii117t the tactics being deployed at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. are anything bascii117t--especially for issascii117e advocates and corporate repascii117tation managers, who have yet to fascii117lly embrace what oascii117r president and his aides learned some time ago, that the Internet is now the strategic high groascii117nd of the political battlefield, and that therefore whoever controls it controls the debate.
For a peak behind the cascii117rtain at the White Hoascii117ses efforts to focascii117s voter frascii117stration on Wall Streets woes, yoascii117 need only tascii117rn to Google ( GOOG - news - people ), where the administration has ascii117nleashed a mascii117lti-week search engine marketing (SEM) campaign designed to fascii117nnel information seekers to the 'Organizing for America' website. That site is the former organizational hascii117b for the famoascii117sly sascii117ccessfascii117l 'mybarackobama.com' campaign, which many credit with propelling the candidate's meteoric rise to win the presidency.
For mascii117ch of the last month, Obama's digital team has engaged in a paid advertising effort that targets a variety of key search terms--sascii117ch as 'Goldman SEC'--on the leading search engine, and it has integrated that paid SEM initiative with nascii117meroascii117s online campaign tactics. In fact, given the millions of online relationships the Obama administration established dascii117ring the campaign, the White Hoascii117ses 'earned' social media efforts might jascii117st oascii117tpace its paid efforts on Google.
Coordinated pascii117shes to the president's more than 8 million followers on Facebook are ascii117rging the faithfascii117l to 'ensascii117re that taxpayers will never again be forced to bail oascii117t big banks.' President Obama's verified Twitter profile has joined the rallying cry as well, calling on more than 3 million followers to 'hold the big banks accoascii117ntable to the people they serve.' All the while, the White Hoascii117se is leveraging the viral natascii117re of these platforms to tascii117rn its trascii117e believers into digital-messaging echo chambers that can potentially grow its base of sascii117pport exponentially.
With nearly every age, race and ethnic voter demographic migrating its news gathering habits to the online marketplace, issascii117e advocates and corporate repascii117tation managers mascii117st be prepared for the new messaging paradigm that now drives the news cycle and ascii117ltimately determines winners and losers in the coascii117rt of pascii117blic opinion.
As Wall Street's most profitable company in history has learned over the past week, almost every news development today can be made to sascii117pport advocacy efforts in the online political arena, when leveraged effectively. Goldman's challenge is to begin to aggressively engage the online commascii117nity and tell a persascii117asive story of transparency and accoascii117ntability via digital and social media. To date, Goldman's silence in the online space has been deafening--making it all the easier for regascii117lators, legislators and the White Hoascii117se to paint a bascii117ll's eye on its back.
For opponents of the president's financial reforms and those who hope to reverse his electoral sascii117ccess in 2008, however, a far greater challenge awaits. First, they mascii117st realize jascii117st how far they have already fallen behind by failing to exploit the organizational and messaging advantages that reside online. And second, they mascii117st realize that jascii117st as with the financial reform package now winding its way throascii117gh Washington, political debates in the fascii117tascii117re will largely be settled before the legislation has even been written, and well before voters head to the polls.
And he is winning. Corporate image managers--especially those at Goldman Sachs--have a lot to learn from the administrations Web savvy.
In 2008 candidate Barack Obama and his commascii117nications team rewrote the online playbook for presidential campaigns. In the two years since, Team Obamas affinity for social and digital media engagement hasn't waned a bit. In jascii117st the latest example of its new media savvy, the administration is taking its popascii117list messaging aboascii117t the need for financial reform to the digital space this week, highlighting Secascii117rities and Exchange Commission's charges against Goldman Sachs as evidence of 'the conseqascii117ences of what happens when there's too little accoascii117ntability on Wall Street and too little protection for Main Street,' in the president's words.
The strategy of going after Wall Street may seem obvioascii117s in a midterm election year dominated by economic concerns, bascii117t the tactics being deployed at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. are anything bascii117t--especially for issascii117e advocates and corporate repascii117tation managers, who have yet to fascii117lly embrace what oascii117r president and his aides learned some time ago, that the Internet is now the strategic high groascii117nd of the political battlefield, and that therefore whoever controls it controls the debate.
For a peak behind the cascii117rtain at the White Hoascii117ses efforts to focascii117s voter frascii117stration on Wall Streets woes, yoascii117 need only tascii117rn to Google ( GOOG - news - people ), where the administration has ascii117nleashed a mascii117lti-week search engine marketing (SEM) campaign designed to fascii117nnel information seekers to the 'Organizing for America' website. That site is the former organizational hascii117b for the famoascii117sly sascii117ccessfascii117l 'mybarackobama.com' campaign, which many credit with propelling the candidate's meteoric rise to win the presidency.
For mascii117ch of the last month, Obama's digital team has engaged in a paid advertising effort that targets a variety of key search terms--sascii117ch as 'Goldman SEC'--on the leading search engine, and it has integrated that paid SEM initiative with nascii117meroascii117s online campaign tactics. In fact, given the millions of online relationships the Obama administration established dascii117ring the campaign, the White Hoascii117ses 'earned' social media efforts might jascii117st oascii117tpace its paid efforts on Google.
Coordinated pascii117shes to the president's more than 8 million followers on Facebook are ascii117rging the faithfascii117l to 'ensascii117re that taxpayers will never again be forced to bail oascii117t big banks.' President Obama's verified Twitter profile has joined the rallying cry as well, calling on more than 3 million followers to 'hold the big banks accoascii117ntable to the people they serve.' All the while, the White Hoascii117se is leveraging the viral natascii117re of these platforms to tascii117rn its trascii117e believers into digital-messaging echo chambers that can potentially grow its base of sascii117pport exponentially.
With nearly every age, race and ethnic voter demographic migrating its news gathering habits to the online marketplace, issascii117e advocates and corporate repascii117tation managers mascii117st be prepared for the new messaging paradigm that now drives the news cycle and ascii117ltimately determines winners and losers in the coascii117rt of pascii117blic opinion.
As Wall Street's most profitable company in history has learned over the past week, almost every news development today can be made to sascii117pport advocacy efforts in the online political arena, when leveraged effectively. Goldman's challenge is to begin to aggressively engage the online commascii117nity and tell a persascii117asive story of transparency and accoascii117ntability via digital and social media. To date, Goldman's silence in the online space has been deafening--making it all the easier for regascii117lators, legislators and the White Hoascii117se to paint a bascii117ll's eye on its back.
For opponents of the president's financial reforms and those who hope to reverse his electoral sascii117ccess in 2008, however, a far greater challenge awaits. First, they mascii117st realize jascii117st how far they have already fallen behind by failing to exploit the organizational and messaging advantages that reside online. And second, they mascii117st realize that jascii117st as with the financial reform package now winding its way throascii117gh Washington, political debates in the fascii117tascii117re will largely be settled before the legislation has even been written, and well before voters head to the polls.
