Politics — Lauren MacEwen

War of the Words: How to be a WOW Blogger

10/15/2012 by Guest Blogger

When radio was young, Orson Welles held the world in frightened captivity when he narrated an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ fictional tale, The War of the Worlds. Since the first hour of the radio program was structured as a series of news reports, many tuning in to the broadcast heard frantic, panicked descriptions of an alien attack on our planet, and, trusting what they heard coming through the box, believed it to be true.

But that was 1938. Surely, that could never happen today, right? Well, probably not to that degree. But the power of words, once they are transmitted, is still undeniable.

Nowadays, with technologies that have gone beyond the one-way messaging of radio and TV, such as texting and Internet communications like emailing, social media, chat rooms, forums, and blogging, we are sending and receiving information to such a degree that our ideas can make an instantaneous impact. At the same time, however, our choice of words is more important than ever, and our message needs to stand out among the seemingly endless stream of sound bites we are bombarded with each day.

The most impactful leaders of our generation utilize the latest avenues of mass communication and social media to impart their ideas and share their knowledge. But what a leader says, and how she says it, is critical to her success. Words are indeed powerful, but their strength is intrinsically linked to the way they are communicated.

Blogging is an ideal format for a WOW leader to convey her message to a broad spectrum of followers. As a leadership journal of sorts, a blog provides a venue through which ideas can be shared, opinions can be voiced, problems can be discussed, and solutions can be offered.

So, how do you make your business blog a success? How do you turn your WOW ideas into a WOW leadership blog?

1. Keep it short. Whatever you say, say it fast. You are competing for the attention of busy, information-overloaded professionals. (Admittedly, keeping my blogs short, succinct, and to the point, is one of my greatest challenges.)

2. Make it relevant. Know your target audience. With a leadership blog, keep your topics related to the challenges faced by those in the business arena. Don’t stray off topic with irrelevant posts and offhanded observations.

3. Find your voice. Be confident in your own opinions, and then use your voice in a consistent and truthful manner. Remember that your words do have power, and can be helpful, thought-provoking, and inspirational to the right group of individuals. Through an open, honest exchange of thoughts, you can lead as well as learn, reinforcing your own leadership abilities and honing the skills that make you successful.

4. Stay positive. Although there may be times when your topic refers to negative subject matter, don’t always be the bearer of bad news. Keep your tone positive in nature with a solutions-based approach to realistic problems.

5. Think big. Unless Donald Trump is writing a blog, readership is anything but guaranteed. Once you start blogging, your following will likely be relatively small. But a great leader keeps her goals focused on continuous growth and steady progress. She is always thinking big, aiming towards expanding her viewer profile and reaching more potential leaders.

Blogging can be an invaluable tool for up-and-coming or established leaders. A blogger’s message may not have the effect that Orson Welles’ broadcast had on the public nearly 75 years ago, but through the latest technologies, the power of words can be just as impactful.

Sheri Staak has served in many Vice Presidential roles at both large privately held and publicly traded global companies. She’s a corporate powerhouse and has been the recipient of numerous sales awards and recognitions. In addition to her key position in a highly aggressive, extremely competitive industry, Sheri is a regular contributor to a travel newsletter, lending her expertise by writing articles that provide tips and advice for business travelers. She also shares her wisdom and business perspectives with regular postings at her leadership-focused blog, The Staak Report.

Filed Under: Contributors, Featured, Social Media Tagged With: blog, blog goes, Blogging, business blog, cinema of the united states, internet culture, leadership, leadership blog, make your blog, orson welles, Politics, social information processing, technology, war of the words, word, wow blog, your blog, your business blog

Social Media & Politics: Links to help launch your campaign

02/19/2012 by Lauren MacEwen

Today I am giving a presentation to Emerge NM, an organization that teaches democratic women how to run successful political campaigns. My presentation will be on using social media for your political campaign. I will be focusing on Facebook and Twitter. Though I believe that Google+ is a very strong resource, currently the majority of a local constituency will be on either Facebook or Twitter, as G+ is still a new network and mainly being used by early adapters. . We will be talking about effectively using social media for your political campaign. As a part of the presentation I am providing a list of links that go into detail on how to set up your account, create a page, post, tweet, shorten link, etc.

Enjoy the resources.

Facebook

Twitter

Hootsuite

This is a social manager that will help you manage your Facebook and Twitter from one location. This is particularly useful for scheduling posts or for managing Twitter.

Website

WordPress.com
WordPress.org – for a self hosted blog. This site lets you have your custom domain like mysite.com or laurenmacewen.com and you run your site through the wordpress mainframe. This is what I recommend.
Blogger – run through Google
GoDaddy: Register your domain
Hostmonster – Register your domain and host your website

Filed Under: Conferences, Featured, Politics, Social Media Tagged With: campaign, facebook, links, political campaign, Politics, run successful political campaign, social media, social networking, twitter

SOPA is Dead but Twitter Censors

02/03/2012 by Lauren MacEwen

SOPA might be dead but it seems that our favorite social networking known for not censoring is changing its policy. Twitter will now be censoring content in certain countries.

Twitter has always had the ability to remove content, which they did. People could report spam or abuse and then the content would be deleted or potentially the account owner would have their account shut down, depending on the severity of the offense. But generally they stayed out of the business of what people were tweeting.

Last year Twitter wrote a blog post called “The Tweets Must Flow” about freedom of expression on the network:

“The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact…Almost every country in the world agrees that freedom of expression is a human right. Many countries also agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits.”

However Twitter has announced that the network will becoming available in Arabic. Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu. All languages known to come from countries with strict government restrictions for the media and concerning freedom of expression. Though there is some speculation that this new censoring ability is being driven from a recent investment of $300 million from Saudi Arabia.

Twitter says it will be “withholding tweets” according to the TOS and the country’s laws. Sounds fine and good, but that does pretty much put a stop to any civilian uprising, like Egypt, being coordinated on the social network. Likely planning an uprising to overturn a government via Twitter would count as a violation of the country’s laws. But that is the result of restricting freedom of expression.

Will this have a larger global impact on the network? Yes, possibly.

Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: censor, censoring, country law, freedom of speech, Politics, sopa, tos, tweet, twitter

Did Facebook Predict New Mexico’s Election?

11/14/2010 by Lauren MacEwen

*This is a reprint of the guest post by Lauren MacEwen on nmpolitics.net

As New Mexico continues to increase its use of social media, we are going to see a corresponding expansion in the influence it has on local politics. The national trend is reflecting a substantial rise in the use and influence of social media in the political realm, and New Mexico is following this trend line with vigor. Though our state has the lowest percentage of Facebook users in the country, we are the second fastest growing user base, with a 701% growth rate in the past 24 months. Currently, 23% of the New Mexico population is on Facebook.¹

The conversations on Facebook on November 2nd were dominated by the election. By mid-afternoon, the midterm elections nationwide were already breaking internet records. At 5 pm EST, internet users were 5.6 million per minute, a 1.4 million user/minute increase from the 2008 Obama victory which was the 4th highest traffic day since the 2005 inception of the Net Usage Index for News.

Not only were candidates posting last effort calls for voting, people were posting their “I Voted” badges on Facebook and telling friends to go out and vote. As the results rolled in, friends posted good luck wishes, congratulations and condolences on their candidates’ pages.

So how did New Mexico fare in the 2010 social media election?

Social media did play a role in New Mexico’s recent midterm election, although we were about 20 points behind the national trend. Where Facebook might not have been a definitive predictor in the NM election, it was a certainly an influencer.

The majority of Statewide elections had active social media campaigns, often with both Facebook profiles and Fan Pages campaigning in tandem.

National Political Social Media Trend:

74% of House candidates with the most Facebook fans won their race
80% of Senate candidates with the most Facebook fans won their race
78% of incumbents that lost their seat had fewer fans than their challengers

New Mexico Political Social Media Trend²

60% of all the races used Facebook through Campaign Fan Pages or through Profiles.
57% of the winners used Facebook
57% of incumbents that were overturned used FaceBook³

This is a list showing candidates, their races, what percent of the vote they had and whether they were on Facebook. “Y” indicates they had either a Profile or a Fan Page on Facebook. The candidates in bold won their races.⁴

Click to view the complete list of Candidates

Comparison of Social Media Presence and the Effect on Statewide Campaigns⁵

Generally when a candidate was the incumbent and had a stronger Facebook presence than their challenger, they won their race. The one race (from the sample below) where the incumbent was overthrown, the challenger had a much stronger Facebook presence than the incumbent. The only race (from the sample below) where a strong social media presence did not result in a win was for the Office of the Secretary of State.

This is a list of candidates showing how many followers and friends they had on their Fan Page and Profile. Candidates in red were the incumbents. Candidates in bold won their races. More candidates had Pages than Profiles, though candidates with Profiles (or both Profiles and Pages) had a wider reach than candidates with just Fan Pages. ^{6 & 7}

List of Candidates Network Influence on Facebook Fan Pages and Profiles

US Representative District 1- Both Martin Heinrich and Jon Barela had Facebook Fan Pages and Profiles. Barela’s Fan Page had a farther reach by 313 fans, Heinrich’s Profile had a larger reach by 1,714 friends. Heinrich was the incumbent.

US Representative District 2- Steve Pearce had a much stronger Fan Page than Teague, by 2,934 fans. Pearce overthrew the incumbent.

US Representative District 3- Ben Ray Lujan had a much stronger Fan Page than Mullins, by 1,218 fans. Lujan was the incumbent.

Governor- Susana Martinez and Diane Denish both had Fan Pages and Profiles. Martinez had a strong Fan Page by 6,639 fans. Denish had a stronger Profile by 1,360 friends. In this case, Martinez’ reach with her Fan Page far over-shadowed Denish’s reach with her Profile.⁶

Secretary of State- Dianna Duran had both a Fan Page and a Profile whereas incumbent Mary Herrera only had a Profile. Herrera’s profile was much stronger by 2,427 friends, but Duran prevailed.

State Auditor- Incumbent Hector Balderas had a very strong presence. His Fan Page was stronger than Chavez by 1,540 fans and his profile was stronger by 4,659 friends.

Attorney General- Gary King, the incumbent, had no Facebook presence, and won his race even though his challenger had a strong Profile and Fan Page.

In the Statewide races Facebook seemed to be both an influencer and a predictor. With the exception of one, the candidates with the strong Facebook presence won their race. Is Facebook becoming the social media equivalent of the exit poll?

¹ NM user percentage is Based on US Census and Facebook demographics. I focused the social media analysis on Facebook because very few NM campaigns used Twitter. Also because Facebook allows for more detailed trending due to availability of detailed user demographics.
²The candidates analyzed and shown are only races that had challengers. Races without challengers were not figured into calculations and their social media presence was not accounted for or analyzed.
³This statistic is based on races where at least one candidate used Facebook. There was only one race in which an incumbent was overturned where neither party used Facebook.
⁴Facebook information was gathered by Lauren MacEwen. Facebook Fan Pages and Profiles were not verified by the candidates, but were determined through content, network associations and candidate web page links. Pages and Profiles were sourced from candidate websites when possible. Due to profile settings of candidates, Lauren MacEwen was not able to determine if all candidate profiles were used for campaign purposes. Due to profile settings, not all candidate profiles may have been found and may therefore not be listed. Profiles and Fan Pages of candidates were searched for on Google and Facebook as well as cross-referenced with specific network connections to compile as much complete and accurate data as possible.
⁵In the case of Commissioner of Public Lands where one candidate had a page and the other had a profile, I could not fairly analyze the comparative influence of their social media engagement due to the substantial differences in network growth, ie. active personal networking, ads, organic growth and suggestions.
⁶I did not include the Facebook presences of the Lt. Governor candidates in this analysis. As they were joint tickets I decided to focus on the lead candidates. Additionally I would not have ben able to compare Colón and Sanchez as as Colón had a significant Facebook presence whereas John Sanchez did not.
⁷Profile and Fan Page data was collected on November 3, 2010.

Lauren (Armstrong) MacEwen is the primary social media consultant and strategist for SM Cubed Consulting. Follow her on Twitter. Find her on Facebook. Read her blog.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: brian colon, candidates, criticism of facebook, election, facebook, facebook profile, fan page, hector balderas, lauren macewen, mary hererra, midterm, midterm election, new mexico, new mexico democrats, new mexico republicans, online social networking, Politics, predict, social information processing, social media, susana martinez, web 2.0, world wide web

Social Media: The Fundraising Powerhouse

09/14/2010 by Lauren MacEwen

Social media has changed the face of campaigning. We are seeing more of our political candidates making their voices heard on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Besides being a great way to get your voice heard, build relationships with your constituents, communicate with people and promote your campaign, social media is also the newest platform for campaign fundraising.

On the campaign trail you meet a lot of people, but you can’t meet or talk to everyone. This is where social media seems like an obvious benefit. Think of how many conversations you can initiate and how many people you can ask for contributions – it would take months to knock on that many doors. But with Facebook and Twitter you can reach thousands in seconds. The problem is, it is not as simple as just asking for money. When people meet and talk to you, they are more compelled to donate to your campaign. You have spoken with them, and they have made a commitment to you. When you write a post asking for money, it is easy for your friends to ignore it or pretend they never saw it. If it is cleverly worded, you might even get a few “Likes”, but that does not mean that a donation is following the public show of support. So the big question is, how can you harness social media for fundraising?

Talking to New Mexico Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, Brian Colón

Brian Colón, Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, found the answer to that question. As with all social media, it is all about the relationships. It is not enough to simply ask for money. If you were collecting donations at an event, you’d be offering food and drink, conversation and networking. In short, you are building and sustaining relationships. Online, it is simply not enough to post updates about your campaign and have a website. You have to interact with your friends and followers. You have to create buzz and excitement.

Brian Colón managed to do that with his big fundraising push in April and May. After receiving $138,000 in online donations, he raised more money than almost any other Lt. Governor candidate in the country. He was also publicly recognized for a 48 hour period as the top online fundraiser in the country on ActBlue, the online clearinghouse for Democratic action.

I recently spoke to Brian about these successes. He said he wanted his campaign to be the “gold standard” in New Mexico for political social media. With more than 3,200 friends and a highly interactive social media presence, he accomplished this. Brian said, “My campaign was built on social media. I won the primary by 5,000 votes. Facebook and my online activity got me those votes. I would have been at risk of losing the election without social media.”

Brian didn’t just use social media to bring awareness to his campaign, he was able to harness his influence into tangible fundraising results. On Facebook and Twitter he was open with his fundraising goals, and posted updates about how much was still needed to reach those goals. During big push times he would even post about who donated, giving them public thanks and appreciation. In many ways this is the social media equivalent of the ticker running on the bottom of the screen during the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. We all call in because we want to see our name at the bottom of the screen. Brian Colón managed to capture that atmosphere and enthusiasm.

Taking inspiration from the telethon, Brian said, “My father was one of Jerry’s Kids. I have been raising money my whole life, whether it was walking around with a fish bowl raising money for MDA or walking the campaign trail. I have always recognized the value of seeing my name on TV. People like recognition. The telethon was an inspiration.” Brian successfully translated that inspiration into social media with his updates about who donated and how much. He was able to convert the excitement into real contributions.

I asked Brian what advantages he found in social media fundraising vs. more traditional methods. He said, “People are motivated to do it online because it’s instant. When someone says they are going to drop a check in the mail you have a 50% chance of it happening. It’s not that people don’t want to donate, it’s that writing a check is inconvenient.”

The “instant” quality of social media fundraising combined with the telethon style promotion of fundraising efforts creates a momentum that direct mail and phone calls simply cannot generate.

Fundraising on Social Media: Plusses and Pitfalls

Many candidates learn the hard way that adding a donation button to a website causes almost nothing to happen. Donations are a by-product of the decision to support a candidate. They are not isolated actions, but an integral part of the campaigning process. They are a financial show of support that is tied to the relationship between the candidate and the contributor. Social media is becoming one of the best tools to build and maintain voter/candidate relationships.

On the verge of becoming the best way to leverage a candidates’ time, social media is a public conversation.

Some people are still reticent about donating online. They are wary of sharing credit card information. They don’t trust that their information won’t be used to spam their email box. They are embarrassed about the size of their donation. They don’t want to sign up for an account on another website. However, sites like Paypal , ActBlue and Fundrazr protect your transaction and your information. You can help quell your online community’s concerns by addressing them in your social media fundraising efforts. Post about the safety of online contributions; address their issues publicly and give them the option of sending in a check.

Candidates who use social media are moving from simple tools that handle small pieces to a much more sophisticated system that treats every interaction with a voter as an important piece of their political relationship. Political relationship management is the next evolution of campaign management and social media is the keystone of that strategy.

Filed Under: Politics, SM3 Tagged With: blog, facebok marketing, fundraising, Politics, SMM, social marketing, social media, social media strategy, social networking

Maryland regulating social media in campaigns

07/15/2010 by Lauren MacEwen

*This blog was originally featured on NMpolitics.net

As social media become more integrated into political campaigns, the question of rules and regulations of social networks for campaign usage comes to the forefront. Maryland is the first state to be proactive in addressing this question.

On June 3 the Maryland State Board of Elections voted in favor of adopting the rules that would regulate a candidates Facebook and Twitter accounts. These rules will require that candidates add disclosure statements to their social networks (blogs, Facebook, Twitter and online advertising greater than 200 characters ). The disclosure will be the same that is required on printed material, “Paid for by ….., Treasurer….” In the case of Twitter where there is not enough room for a full disclosure, the Twitter account will have to be registered with the state board which will post a list of official campaign Twitter accounts. Non-compliance would result in a misdemeanor conviction and punishable with a fine or imprisonment.

Currently Maryland is the only state to adopt social networking regulations. Though other states, such as California, Wisconsin and Florida, are already following in Maryland’s lead and are working towards establishing their own regulations.

The goal of the regulations are to let voters know what are official candidate communications. If the candidates social networking sites are registered, then it will allow a voter to know what is legitimate and what is not. “I think it brings clarity to the process,” said Jared DeMarinis , director of the Maryland State Board of Elections. “The public can get an idea of what is an official communication without worrying about the source of the posting. They can make informed decisions at the ballot box.” This will also increase the exposure for a candidates social media profiles. Voter will be able to go to an official list to easily find the links to their candidates Twitter and Facebook pages. As far as social media networking is concerned, this will only increase traffic and credibility, two things that all social media profiles strive to establish.

Establishing validity and credibility is a goal for all public social media profiles. Though Facebook has rules about impersonating people, and will disable an account if they discover fraud, it does not mean that impostors do not sneak through the cracks. The problem is that Fan Pages are outside Facebook’s reach and can be created by anyone. Though it is frowned upon, social network impersonation has become a strategy for the spread of misinformation. The regulations and disclaimer would prevent impostor pages from achieving authority.

There are those who argue that registering the sites, and placing a disclaimer, infringes on first amendment right. However, the regulations are not being put in place to regulate what is being said, just its authenticity. Social networking has become the next power tool in the campaign toolbox. It is a constant and active connection to voters, that is cheaper, greener and has a wider reach than all previous GOTV activities. Social media also creates a level of transparency that has been previously unattainable.

This rule sheds light on the governments acknowledgement of the importance of social media and political campaigning. Social networking has become integral to political campaigns. The authenticating of a campaigns social network will only contribute to the growing strength of social media as a source for reliable political information. After Maryland voted on the rule, Facebook Washington DC said, “Facebook is pleased that the Maryland Board of Elections is now leading the way for the rest of the country in making it clear to campaigns how they can legally use social media to reach voters.”

With New Mexico’s politicians embracing social media for campaigns, and an increase demand in transparency in politics, will we be the next on board for regulating social networking?

___________________

Lauren Armstrong is senior consultant at SM Cubed, a social media consulting firm. @laurencubed www.facebook.com/smcubedconsulting

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: democrat, Politics, social media, social networking

Social Media is the New Political Platform

06/30/2010 by Lauren MacEwen

-written by Lauren Armstrong

*This is a repost from the original on NMPolitics.net

President Obama is called the Social Media President. During the 2008 elections Obama embraced technology that extended beyond email and websites to fully harness the power of social media to reach and energize people. With the New Mexico Primary’s behind us, we are starting to see many of the candidates also embracing the potential of social media. Brian Colón, candidate for Lt. Governor, avidly engages with Facebook and Twitter, posting his experiences from the campaign trail to sharing news and driving fundraising. Hector Balderas, NM State Auditor, uses Facebook as a way to build and maintain relationships with his constituency. Susana Martinez uses her Facebook Page to share her campaign positions and communicate with her supporters. The common thread is that all of these candidates use social media as a way for them to communicate directly with their supporters. When put simply, this does not sound revolutionary. What makes this so significant is they are reaching out en masse, in a very personal way, to voters. Traditionally walking, phone calls, emails and events have been the way to directly interact with the public. This meant that candidates were only able to meet a very small portion of the public. They had to rely on third party communication, ie. commercials, interviews, mailers and word of mouth support, to spread their message and establish a rapport with voters. Social media revolutionizes candidate voter relationships. Now, Brian Colón shares his life with his Facebook friends. He is able to talk to them, but what is more important is they are able to talk to him. His Facebook friends can send him an email or post on his wall and know that it is Brian who is responding to them. They can meet him, and get to know him, and find out for themselves who this candidate really is.

A big question in social media and politics, is what happens when you are not receiving positive attention? What if you are in the news due to negative press or scandal? People shy away from the front line of social media when confronted personal/professional controversy. It feels easier and safer to communicate your position through a news release or a personal sound byte. However, social media is the perfect platform to actively and informally combat negative press and deal with the potential fall out from scandal. It is the ultimate “your side of the story.” In this day of hyper communication and constant contact, keeping silent can cause more trouble than speaking up. For instance, the controversy with Tiger Wood was heightened because he kept silent, his lack of engagement became as much a part of the controversy as the infidelity itself.

A local example of controversy and social media was the race for Judge of NM Court of Appeals, Position 2, the race between Dennis W. Montoya and Linda Vanzi. Montoya’s social media strategy was not risk averse when it came to addressing the controversy head on. On his Facebook profile, he discussed the issues with his friends and did not shy away from the controversy. In the discussions on his profile, Montoya would clarify his position when asked, and he would answer any questions fro his Facebook friends. His strategy paid off. According to his Facebook friends list, he did not lose any friends. In fact, he gained friends. His transparency lead to a successful social media campaign. Though he did not win the Primary, his social media presence won him many voters he may not have had otherwise.

Though not every candidate will face the challenges in the Montoya/Vanzi race, but mudslinging and controversy are often a part of the campaign landscape and social media can be a bolster to combatting and addressing these issues. The social media platform gives candidates a chance to speak to issues that the press might not cover, or respond to issues in a highly personal manner. The dialogue that social media fosters allows the candidate to become more than just another talking head. The candidates who are utilizing social media are saying they want to connect with people and they are interested in not only listening to what the voters have to say, but they want to participate in the discussion. Social media is the new political arena.

Lauren Armstrong is the Senior Consultant at SM Cubed (www.smcubedconsulting.com), a Social Media consulting firm.

*Disclosure- Lauren consulted for Hector Balderas and continues to consult for Dennis W. Montoya

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: democrat, dennis w montoya, linda vanzi, mudslinging, new mexico, Politics, social media