It’s not a surprise to say far more people use social media now than when I first learnt political campaigning because Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the whole lot didn’t even exist back then. Nor even did (glory be, you might think) Internet Explorer. Back when a beta version of Netscape was cutting edge, the scope for successful online political campaigning was tiny compared to now, when there are more people on the electoral register who use social media than will vote next week.
But the story of the last few decades isn’t just about the rise of the online world. It’s also about the increasing problems with traditional ways of communicating with voters on the ground. Fewer phone numbers are in the phone book; fewer households have someone in when you call round; and fewer properties have accessible individual letterboxes.
That is why mixing old and new techniques is so important. Not only do the new offer up new opportunities, but the old are losing some of what they used to offer too.
For getting people out to vote, leaflets, door knocking and phone calls all have their place – as do text messages, emails and social network updates.
To help make the latter easier, I’ve put together a set of graphics that can be shared online to help remind supporters to vote.
You can get the full set from here, including also a newly updated version of my ‘What have the Lib Dems achieved in government?’ poster.
I hope you find them useful.
* Mark Pack is Party President and is the editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire.
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2 Comments
One other difficulty of conventional doorstep campaigning is the increasing number of blocks of flat with entryphone systems.
Do you have any tips for building up Facebook friends and followers? I have been fairly successful building up Twitter followers in my ward but less so with Facebook
Something to be aware of – a large number of our activists have gone to other parties – with their zeal and strategies. This will lead to a tougher challenge to the LDs who remain if the other parties accept our methods via their new recruits.