Twitter 101 for Political Campaigns

If you're a candidate, strategist or staffer establishing a Twitter presence, pat yourself on the back! Twitter's emerging as a critically important space for you. But beware: everything you've ever learned about getting earned media will backfire on you if you treat Twitter like a traditional "outlet." You run the risk of making your candidate/cause look clueless, and worse; of missing out on Twitter's potential to help you develop your community of support.

Here's some ideas to help you shift gears and get the most out of your Twitter presence.

Standard rule: Stay on message.

Twitter Rule: Join the conversation.

If you're using your Twitter primarily to link to your own press releases, talk about where your candidate's going to be speaking tonight, and point to other earned media coverage, you're stuck in "megaphone mode." The megaphone is a must if you're working in traditional media - there's only so much attention available, and if you aren't relentlessly focused on repeating your message, it will get lost in the clutter.

Twitter is different. Your followers are already tuned in to you. They're in your living room, and your megaphone is hurting their ears. It's as socially awkward for your followers when you tweet in headlines as it would be if you spoke in headlines at a party.

So how can you do it differently? There's some great options. If your candidate wants to Twitter her- or himself, great! The key is authenticity. Who did you just meet who was fascinating? What question do you wish you had an answer for? How frustrated are you to be stuck in traffic while your supporters are waiting for you across town? Share things that show yourself.

Standard rule: Focus on the candidate. Keep staff in the background.

Twitter rule: Authenticity trumps the illusion of presence.

Twitter is powerful because it allows for "ambient intimacy" or the feeling that you're getting to know an actual person even though you aren't in their realtime presence. If you want to generate the warm fuzzies of ambient intimacy with your followers but it doesn't make sense for your candidate to Twitter: avoid the royal "we" like the plague, and don't hire a ghost-twitterer.

Instead, use the "bio" space on Twitter to identify the staffer(s) who will be doing your Twittering. Choose people who will be a wise, friendly, personable ambassador for you and who have time to engage in realtime back and forth. For your followers, it's infinitely preferable to develop ambient intimacy with a staffer or volunteer than it is to be faced with an undefined, impersonal "we."


Standard rule: Don't waste your time on "the crazies" or nonvoters.

Twitter rule: Listening is paramount.

This one is really the big ball of wax. New paragraph:

Every single day, you need to search Twitter for mentions of your candidate/campaign/visible staff/events. And you need to respond.

Yes, you'll reach a point where you can't respond to everyone. But (note that this is being written in June of 2009) YOU'RE NOT THERE YET. Right now, everyone who's talking about you on Twitter is someone you care about, whether they're a registered voter in your district or not. When your registered voters and the journalists who cover you search you on Twitter, they're going to judge you by the quality of your community participation.

Your willingness to reach out and respond to actual humans who are paying attention to you is going to generate some real love - love that will translate to boots on the ground and money in your pocket. You don't have to waste time engaging in big debates. (In fact, the great thing about Twitter is the 140 character limit can function as a built-in conversation stopper. You don't have to send yourself a fake call to get out of the interaction!) Just thank people, provide information, point to accurate versions of your positions, and call it good.


Standard rule: Talk about yourself, because if you don't, no one else will.

Twitter rule: Talk about other people 4 times for every one time you talk about yourself.

Remember: don't bring your megaphone to the living room. But if you're not talking about yourself, what DO you talk about?

Think about the things you'd want yourself/your candidate to say or ask in a living room setting. What have you seen/read/experienced lately that taught you something? Would you like to know if someone here has expertise on a problem you're trying to solve? Have you seen something cool, or wrongheaded, that you want to share? Would you like to introduce people to each other? These are great fodder for tweets.

Also (paradoxically) your power to move a message forward in Twitter increases when you're not talking about yourself. Use Twitter to put the spotlight on your volunteers (NOT what they're doing in your office, but what they're doing in their day jobs.) Link to news stories about great things happening in your district, and congratulate the people responsible. Link to articles and authors whose messages resonate with yours - the resonance and warm fuzzies will grow.

Some of my favorite resources for learning how to use Twitter well are:

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media. Beth Kanter is, for my money, the smartest person in the world on how to use Twitter to move the good work forward. She's @kanter on Twitter.

The Twitter Book, by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein. This is the user's manual for Twitter. It's got a fantastic sections on managing group/corporate Twitter feeds, metrics, and the importance of listening first. They're @timoreilly and @sarahm on Twitter.

The Whuffie Factor, by Tara Reid Okay, I confess, I haven't read this yet (it's on it's way) but if it's the distillation of everything @missrogue has said on Twitter and her blog and on Slideshare, you need to read it.

Please comment and let me know if this was helpful, campaigners! Thanks for reading.