9th Way Ohio Political Candidates Can ROCK Their Social Media

In early 2011, I asked the question, “Do Ohio Elected Officials Kick Social Media Butt?” I extended an open invitation to all Ohio political candidates on the ballot for the November 2011 election – and again for the May Primary – to submit a guest post to help citizens become aware of their platform. That original post inspired a series of informational posts. This is the ninth in the series on how Ohio Political Candidates can ROCK Their Social Media.

For those finding this post first, here are the first eight ways:

So what's the 9th way Ohio political candidates can ROCK their social media?

Tweet & Hash!

Huh?

Let me explain...

As a political candidate, you will attending and speaking at many events. These occasions are perfect opportunities to tweet terrific tellings of what you're up to.

Said another way: Twitter out some juicy details to your constituents.

There are a few ways to go about this:

Do it yourself.
Have someone do it for you.
Encourage many to do it WITH you!

Optimally, you'll have a plan that includes all three.

A few things happen by tweeting out tidbits of information along your campaign trail:

You draw interest to yourself.
You entice your audience to engage with you.
You encourage your followers to ask questions.
You increase your social presence online.

Now, some political candidates don't like questions. But, logically, if people are asking questions, at least they have interest and want to know more about you.

This shows they want to engage in conversation with you. Which should be your goal so your constituents will remember you and vote for you on election day.

Here's an example - A collection of my tweets from yesterday evening's Keynote presentation by Jeremiah Owyang at Social Media Success Summit 2011:

Pretty cool?

To increase engagement, I did a shout-out to my Facebook fans to let them know I would be tweeting insights from the event.

To the right, is an example of such a post and Facebook Fan interaction. You'll see I'm encouraging fans to hop on board for some exciting Social Media Success Summit sessions happening this evening.

Hash

In the tweet collection above, did you notice the "#smss11" within each tweet?

That is the official "hashtag" for the Social Media Success Summit 2011 event.

A hashtag is an identifier -- A way to easily find a topic on Twitter and interact with folks of similar interest.

If you click on the #smss11, you will be directed to all the real-time tweets for the event (they'll be twittered out all month!).

To maximize the effects of Twitter efforts, political candidates should create a #hashtag for themselves and use it throughout their campaign.

This encourages the following:

An easy way to find and curate tweets.
Intrigue about your campaign and the conversation.
Gradual increase in followers as they adopt the hashtag too.

To ensure you choose a hashtag not already in use, you can search a Twitter hashtag directory.

So Tweet & Hash!

1) Utilize Twitter to inform your constituents along your campaign trail.

2) Use a #hashtag to make your tweets more identifiable and increase your followers.

So...

What did you think of the curated tweets on Storify above?

Do you have questions about choosing Twitter hashtags?

Tweet me, or tell me your curiosities in the box below! :)

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of the Social Media Success Summit 2011 event.

7 Replies

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By Keri Jaehnig on 7th May, 2011

Mattias, It is at the end of the business day for me when they begin. So, I’m always charged up, but exhausted when we finish sessions. Feel free to call on me to compare notes! 🙂 ~Keri

Reply to Keri
By Keri Jaehnig on 5th May, 2011

Mattias, Thank you for your compliments! Did I see your face at Social Media Success Summit too…? 🙂 Thanks also for the addition of *Search*. That is indeed a very important piece of the puzzle!! Tuning in, touching people, connecting. Very good points. Great to see you here again! ~Keri

Reply to Keri
- By Mattias Gronborg on 6th May, 2011
  
  Yes! 🙂 I’m a bit behind and need to catch up with the recorded information during the weekend. I fight with the time zones.. Always so late in Sweden when you go live with over there!
  
  Reply to Mattias
By Mattias Gronborg on 5th May, 2011

Great post! You are always right on target Keri! You are running in the trenches and developing yourself further all the time. You attend Social Media Success Summit 2011 and it’s a great benefit for your clients/customers. Respect to you! I want to add an important thing here. Use search.twitter.com and find out what people are talking about. 1,Search, 2, Tweet 3, Hash! What do you think? Social media is all about tuning in and touching people. Show your audience that you are paying attention to them. Thank you!

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