Most companies today realize the power of online marketing, but it appears that political groups are recognizing the need to use the marketing tool as well, perhaps after the success of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and its use of the internet.
PC Magazine reports that Todd Herman, media director for the Republican National Committee, told attendees of the Personal Democracy Forum that the Republican party is getting ready to relaunch its website – GOP.com – with some Web 2.0 marketing techniques in mind.
According to the magazine, Herman told the audience that the lack of the use of social media and online marketing affected the outcome of 2008 elections, saying that "conservatives didn’t use the tools."
"If, as conservatives, we intend to play this game, we must understand that the rules have been set," he said, according to the news provider.
It appears that on some level, U.S. conservatives are taking a page out of their UK counterpart’s playbook.
Earlier this year the Guardian newspaper reported that the UK Conservative Party planned to use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to counter a budget proposal from the Labour Party. The party said using keywords about the budget to redirect people to its website was "a perfect example of how political parties should be using the internet."
