I would say that Under The Power Lines won a pollie this week for our work on JimDeMint.com. But the fact is that Senator Jim DeMint won a distinguished award by the professional organization of political consultants for our little web firm. He did all the work.
South Carolina blogger Waldo Lydecker recently wrote:
“If the GOP teaches its elderly, white, conservative politicians to thumb their way through 140 characters on their government-welfare Blackberries, is the party in any way more advanced, more in tune with the public, more tolerant, or any less adherent to the views that got their asses kicked in 2006 and 2008? Or is the medium trumping the same old reactionary message…As much as we admire Mr Donehue, no amount of technology will make a shitty party message more flavorful outside your base.”
I responded:
“I disagree with your calling the GOP message “shitty,” but I will agree that no amount of technology will grow a bad message or messenger. Obama had a great tech machine, but I think the tech is getting too much credit. Obama was a candidate who could resonate on the web with those who most use the web. Another candidate with the same exact tech team and tools would not have blown up the web the way Obama did.”
I’ve made this point over and over again. New technologies help promote a message, but without a message the technology is useless. President Obama resonated on the web because of his personality and message, not because of his web tools. The web tools just helped deliver the message and recruit, organize, and activate his volunteer base. A candidate with the same exact web tools would not have been as successful as Obama.
The same goes with Senator Jim DeMint.
Under The Power Lines has been tasked with helping Senator DeMint spread his message across South Carolina and the nation. Luckily for us Senator DeMint has been leading the conservative charge in the United States Senate. We just provide the tools that enable him to spread that message…a message that is catching on like wildfire. His website visits and Twitter follows are growing through the roof. It’s not because of the tools. It’s because of the message. read more
Really Smart Student: It’s what sets you apart from the competition. What makes someone want to do business with you and not someone else? How do you get another vote in a close election? How come your lemonade stand makes more money than the one down the block?
It could be argued that there are a few different USP’s. MY personal favorite and the one I’d use most often is the Persona Driven USP. From an article I found on Copyblogger:
“They started with something fairly ordinary (business advice, housekeeping tips) and made it extraordinary through the force of their personality, their passion and their individual expression.”
This is perfect.
“…Made it extraordinary through the force of their personality, their passion and their individual expression…”
I love that.
I love making things different, memorable, fun, special and unique.
Happily, its what we do here at UTPL…giving our clients, friends, readers, politicos, followers, the tools to let their personas be their USP on the web.
Your website can be completely ordinary. But no one will like it. No one will go to it. No one will know who you really are. But, by using new tools like Twitter, Facebook, videos, blogs, FlickR,… etc you have the perfect opportunity to show your true personality and what you are truly passionate about.
Just like how I wrote a brief blog about running and blogging (Ive got a 10k in less than 2 weeks) and why Wesley Donehue may blog about his favorite albums. These things may not mean much when you first stumble upon them, but they do one thing- teach you about the person who’s site your are visiting. You wouldn’t be there if you weren’t curious in the first place.
So, I encourage you to analyze the message you are sending out on your website. How much of your personality, shines through? What does your USP say?
A few years ago one of my political friends told me “many Americans get the majority of their news from the trash magazines in the grocery store line.”
I believe that.
But why does it happen?
It happens because it grabs your attention. I’m one of those people who really doesn’t give a dang about the latest Brad and Angelina news, but sometimes its delivered in such a banging way that I can’t help but pick up the magazine and read a few sentences. It’s phenomenal marketing.
Some of this WOW factor is because of the salaciousness of the content, but a great deal is based on delivery. Attention grabbing pictures/graphics paired with straight to the point headlines.
That’s how your website needs to be.
The Model (and we aren’t talking about Bar Rafeali… but something close to her):
Quit beating around the bush. Get straight to point and grab your visitor’s attention with a great headline and stunning picture. This headline is important because the voter will associate that phrase with your name. Put a great picture next to it and they’ll have a mental image as well.
Designers are worth their weight in gold. Seriously. A great designer can help you coordinate the look of your page. Our designer rocks. No, you can’t have her.
Make it sexy but not revealing. Our motto at UTPL is that we hate brochure sites… and this point is right up that alley. We want your website to be informative (ie: with great headline and content) and good looking (ie: with great design, photos, videos, etc). You want your site to keep people coming back to see what’s new. Give a little… and keep ‘em coming back for more.
Check out the new Twitter background Lauren created for PNN. This design rocks hard.
Would you like a custom Twitter background for your page? Under The Power Lines can get it done for you. Just give Adrienne a shout at adrienne@politicalnetroots.com.
We had a great opportunity this week when Ashleigh Walters from WLTX interviewed Representative Nathan Ballentine and UTPL about the popularity of sctweets.com and Twitter. By now if you know Wesley Donehue or myself, you probably have a good idea of what twitter is (hopefully you follow us on twitter!)… but in case you missed it… twitter is simply a micro-blogging service that allows you to tell people what you are doing. If you are familiar with Facebook, it is similar to your status update.
Now why is this important? Well… its important for many reasons- its important for our elected officials to inform their communities what they are doing (which is what sctweets does!). It’s great for communication (think of it as a conversation starter) and its very fun. It can also be used to help promote a business or idea or your very own blog!
Blog? What’s a blog you say? Just take that short sentence you wrote for your twitter account and expand on it. Blogs keep your websites fresh and give the reader more information than just “what are you doing.” Under the Power Lines is excited about twittering and blogging because we don’t like brochure sites. Brochure sites never change; they don’t engage your voter. Blogs and Twitter actively engage, organize and involve the voter in an on-going conversation.
Lawmakers have decided the people of South Carolina cannot have enough transparency this year, so they have turned to the Twitter Internet networking service to further open the doors of government.
Twitter users post short updates to their accounts, letting those “following” know what’s on their mind or what they are up to.
A handful of S.C. pioneers have taken it a step further, pulling together all those updates in one place: SCTweets.com. (A “tweet” is Twitterese for an update). The site now has about two dozen elected officials and more than four dozen consultants, media, spouses and other politicos in its network.
Readers of SCTweets can learn:
• What state Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Richland, thinks of the current House bill up for debate
• Who U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis is speaking to in Washington, D.C.
• Attorney General Henry McMaster’s latest Internet sex predator arrest
But SCTweets isn’t a one-way conversation. It provides Twitter users a direct, often instant, connection to talk to state leaders. Or you can just sit back and listen.
The lawmakers who Twitter say it is another small step toward more open government and hope it will break down some of the mystery about what goes on in Columbia.
The Buzz hopes those officials really put their money where their mouth is: When leadership asks you to come to Jesus, bring Twitter with you. Start Twittering about those closed-door meetings and caucus events that are closed to the press and public.
MAKING $%^* PAY
State Sen. Robert Ford was rediscovered by Internet bloggers last week, as Web surfers excoriated the Charleston Democrat for filing a bill that makes public profanity a felony.
Actually, Ford’s bill makes publishing profanity in front of minors a felony. (But why be technical, right?)
In one of 65 bills he pre-filed this year, Ford, who may run for governor in 2010, would have cursers, if convicted, pay a $5,000 fine or go to the prison for up to five years.
Net surfers unloaded on the Lowcountry lawmaker, blasting him for threatening to add to overcrowded jails, censorship, and kowtowing to right-wingers to win their support for his bid for governor.
It was all done in language way too explicit to print in a family newspaper. (Ford or not.)
