5 Digital Campaigning Secrets from Leadership Institute’s Newest Online Course

Digital campaigning is an essential skill if you want to advance your principles and win at the ballot box. Often, getting started can be the hardest part. There are so many platforms, options, and choices to make, and it’s easy to become overwhelmed. But not if you understand the fundamentals of digital marketing and never lose sight of your goals. 


Leadership Institute’s new Zero to 1,000: Social Media for Campaigns training series helps conservatives of all skill levels overcome the hurdle of getting started. It’s three hours of video lessons with everything you need to know about launching your digital campaign.


The best part? The training is FREE for a limited time.


Sign Up Here


To give you a preview of what you’ll learn, here are five digital campaigning secrets to improve the quality and effectiveness of your online efforts. 


KEEP IT SOCIAL 

The secret to social media marketing is right in the name. Too many campaigners only focus on the media component with photos and videos while overlooking “social” and “marketing.”  


Being social means you respond to comments, participate in conversations, and have a personality. 


Don’t forget the marketing either. Your campaign should use social media to win an election by getting attention, raising money, and earning votes. If you know why you’re using social media for your campaign, you’ll stay focused on your marketing goals and not get distracted by the platform.

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BIGGER IS BETTER 

When it comes to online fundraising, the bigger your active email list, the more money you’ll raise. That’s the only secret there is. Text messaging – both broadcast and peer-to-peer (P2P) – is also increasingly important. 


Think about it: when someone signs up to support your campaign and opts in to receive communications from you, they are already on the way to being invested.


BEWARE THE PLATFORMS 

Your goals are different from those of Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, and other online platforms. Your objective is to win an election. Their goal is to sell more ads by keeping users on the site.


To avoid sharing your audience with big tech, do everything you can to make your campaign accessible through other means, including email and text. 


DATA TARGETING ISN’T PERFECT

Using data to target your digital advertising is essential, but targeting too narrowly is a mistake. The goal is to gain efficiency by showing fewer wasted impressions to the intended audience. You can’t eliminate all inefficiency without trimming out key voters.  


Simply relying on past behavior – namely voting history – can also be a big mistake. As many as a third of voters in a primary election, for example, could be first-time voters. More citizens are coming into the political process than ever before.


CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY 

Digital campaigning is fundamentally about audience building. The most effective way to build an audience online is to create and share content consistently. Think about your favorite TV show or podcast. You know when new episodes come out, and you make time to watch or listen to them.  


The same is true for the content your campaign or cause creates.


No matter the platform, posting consistently builds and grows your audience. So, don’t take on more than you can handle. Start with email and Facebook, then grow from there.


YOU OWE IT TO YOUR PHILOSOPHY TO STUDY HOW TO WIN

In the new Zero to 1,000: Social Media for Campaigns course, you’ll learn these digital campaigning “secrets” and much more. Most important, this training will simplify the “why” behind key online marketing strategies so you can apply them in any context, regardless of experience or budget.