By Paul Bates

My concern is, in light of the meteoric rise of Twitter and Facebook, and in one of the tightest elections in recent memory, should social media really be discounted so easily?

Granted, the most effective way to reach the electorate remains public speaking and good old-fashioned knocking on doors. But is this due to the irrelevance of social media, or politician’s lack of understanding for it?

Barack Obama made using Twitter look easy, achieving millions of fans on Facebook and a raft of donations for his campaign, yet our own politicians still get their social media strategy completely wrong. Stuart MacLennan’s foul-mouthed Twitter rants come to mind, while a recent survey shows that 79% of the electorate is unaware of any online material from the major parties.

This is a malaise that affects all parties and MacLennan most likely won’t be the last MP to fall foul of social media’s pitfalls. But when used appropriately, this is a medium that could transform a party’s image with otherwise disinterested voters. Politicians must take a moment to understand the pros and cons of social media before they press ‘send’. If they don’t they could be putting their party campaign into peril.

Presenting an email recipient, for example, with an incentivised opportunity to share content through social media has been found to have a profound affect on viral activity. In this case, loyalty incentives that increase a recipient's "status" on the social web or with the party in question are more effective than any cash offering.

If a party is to target advocates for a social programme to help improve their image, they should not target influencers based on the number of social fans or followers. They need to combine that data with statistics such as interactivity on political sites. Only then can they identify and incent their true advocates to help recruit the next generation of loyal followers.

In short, the social web has undoubtedly introduced new channels for political engagement, and it would be folly to ignore them.

Successful social engagement depends on getting your target audience to promote your message within their personal networks. To do this, you need to understand what motivates your recipients to share content, and be able to deliver timely, relevant emails with easy social sharing capabilities.

I would never suggest that the Internet can fully replace traditional campaign methods, but how can the importance of social media be ruled out if it hasn’t even been properly attempted yet? If a party can learn to understand what motivates their subscribers to share content, and apply those motivations to their audience, they will have a successful social media programme. They may also have an appointment with the Queen on May 7th.

About the author

Paul Bates is UK Managing Director at StrongMail. He is an email marketing veteran with more than 18 years of marketing and sales experience in the UK. Paul regularly speaks about email best practices at industry events and regional seminars, including Internet World UK, Online Marketing Show and eTail Europe.

As UK managing director at StrongMail, Bates is responsible for the company's regional marketing, services and sales programs. Previously, Paul served as UK country manager for Emailvision, a leading provider of email marketing automation software, where he ran the company's UK operations. Prior to that, Bates held senior sales and business development positions with Sybase UK and Embarcadero Europe. Bates began his career with the Royal Air Force.

About StrongMail

StrongMail’s online marketing solutions for email and social media enable businesses to reach, engage and influence their target audience using the most powerful channels available to marketers today. StrongMail gives email marketers the control and support they need to improve campaign performance, boost deliverability and lower costs, while also using the power of social media to extend the reach of their campaigns and brand to new audiences. Combining an easy-to-use email marketing application, high-performance delivery system, viral-marketing tool, social media integration, and a wide range of deliverability, strategic and supporting services, StrongMail makes it possible for companies with all levels of resources and expertise to take advantage of its proven solutions. StrongMail’s clients include global leaders across virtually every industry. To learn more about StrongMail, visit http://www.strongmail.com/company/overview/ or follow online at http://www.twitter.com/StrongMail or www.facebook.com/StrongMail.