The Top 5 Mistakes Campaigns Make Online

by Kyle David on July 7th at 7:18 am EST

The Internet’s frivolity and once-juvenile exclusivity has diminished, and its use in business and politics is essential for success on every level. While your kids might still know more about the Internet than you do, the biggest mistake you can make it thinking there are substitute ways to run a campaign. Familiarize yourself with the top five online mistakes campaigns make so you can avoid them at all costs.

• Not taking the Internet seriously. The Internet is serious business—so serious that it was the main reason Obama was elected president in 2008 and billions of dollars were raised for Haiti earthquake relief in early 2010.
• Not updating a Web site enough. The most successful and active Web sites are updated as frequently as every hour and as infrequently as daily. People should be able to count on new information every time they visit your campaign’s site.
• Not urging visitors to take action. Give your online constituency clear-cut ways they can be active and help the campaign. Give them assignments. You will be surprised how many of them will do what you ask. Make it as easy as possible for them to donate money, tell five friends about the campaign, canvas their neighborhood. Give them a detailed outline of how they can be active.
• Not collecting information on visitors. You must constantly work to add people to your lists. One of the easiest aspects of a Web site is collecting information from visitors. If your visitors are truly interested—which, if they are visiting your site, they must be at least a little interested—they will give you at least some of their information.
• Not promoting the Web site as part of the campaign. Your online campaign should be as integral as your TV and radio campaigns, if not more. Print your Web site on every single piece of campaign apparel you put out. Make it impossible for people to forget where to find you on the Web.