Obama Brings Back Faith in Politicians

So many politicians work to win the trust of the public. For generations, politicians and their PR staff have work on slogans and schemes to make them seem more appealing to the public eye. As time has passed, citizens are becoming frustrated with broken promises and misled messages of who a candidate truly is. There is one man in all of this madness that has found the perfect message and the perfect balance in order to gain trust and support of his country. President Barack Obama's campaign was one to go down in history. You may ask what makes it so special? Unlike other candidates, Obama did his research and learned how to reach not just one public but a variety. The key thing to take away from his campaign is that he found a way to do it while also being consistent across all publics, which created a feeling of trust and motivation among Americans and, quite honestly, most of the world. So, how did Obama do this?

There are many factors that go into Obama's success, but the most important, in my mind, was the use of New Media. From a PR perspective, it was executed perfectly and will most likely change many PR professionals attitudes toward new media. Let's take a look into some of the key elements of Obama's New media campaign.

Website- http://www.barackobama.com/

• Obama's website was constructed by Chris Hughes, one of the creators of Facebook. This may be a small reason why it appealed to so much of the youth, but, needless to say, it worked wonderfully. The site gave insight into who Obama was, gave links to where else on the web you could find him, and allowed supports to download some pretty fun applications, which I'll discuss a little more below. All in all, Obama's website worked as a tool to get members of the same community together to work toward one common goal, which was getting Obama elected.

Social Networks- Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Youtube...

• Obama truly was EVERYWHERE. He was was on every social site from Facebook to LinkedIn. This made Obama extremely appealing to the youth of America by making him human. His Facebook page had things about him, things he liked to do, and most importantly over FIVE MILLION supporters. These social networks not connected Obama to his supporters and gave those who were unsure a place to feel him out, but it also allowed supporters to come together and speak with one another.

Targeting Cell Phones: genius move

• Barely anyone in this world is without a cell phone anymore. It is almost a little bit scary as to howobsessed people are with their phones. Well then, what better way to target people. Obama used this, as some say annoying habit of todays socities, to his advatnage by creating ring tones and phone applications. There is a ring tone for every person, no matter what his/her style is. This tactic not only inspired people, but it left people wondering what was going on and asking where they too can get an Obama ringtone, which just funneled more traffic to his website, and, as sad before, Obama's website is amazing enough to convert even the most doubtful voter.

Ending Thoughts

I could write pages and pages on Obama's campaign. There is so much to be said of it even just within the new media realm, but, for the sake of my readers sanity, I have attempted to keep it some what short. Feel free to comment or ask any questions about Obama's campaign. I'll do my best to get back to you with answers or my thoughts.