Search Engine Marketing Blog: piloSEO

What is the Ron Paul Revolution?

If you follow politics in the United States you have probably heard of Ron Paul. Even if you don’t follow politics and spend any time online you have also probably heard of him. It is becoming more and more difficult to not read a story about Ron Paul at any of the social news sites. His popularity and motivated followers have forced mainstream news sources to spend some time talking about him even if they believe he is a fringe candidate.

What started out as a small and mostly ignored candidacy has become a national phenomenon. Paul’s campaign has the capability to change the way politicians promote themselves. In the past, and even now to an extent, politicians relied on money from big corporate donors and publicity from major broadcast media networks. This left the average person out of the equation until it was time to vote. Ron Paul’s campaign has eschewed all of that and uses a more grassroots effort with the Internet as a publicity medium. Most of his money comes from average citizens because they believe in what he has to say, which is impressive considering the amount his campaign has collected.

Ron Paul and the Internet

The Ron Paul campaign has utilized the online world to spread his platform more than any other politician before. Not only has it used the Internet to disseminate his message but his supporters have embraced social media and helped spread his message. Ron Paul the first candidate to embrace the Internet to broadcast his message and his supporters are the first to actually utilize Web 2.0 infrastructure to spread his message in a peer to peer format. This has been very successful as his support online is HUGE. The effect on his overall campaign has been less noticeable because many Americans still don’t trust any candidate who does not get mainstream media coverage. While the mainstream media has begun to mention Paul they talk more about his online popularity and not his positions. They don’t give him the same exposure they give to the big names. I believe this Internet exposure is laying the groundwork for future political campaigns and opportunities for search marketers.

How can Paul change Political Campaigns (and provide more opportunities for SEM’s)?

The Ron Paul revolution has shown that the need for a strong Internet presence is necessary. More and more Americans get their news from the Internet and if a candidate is not viable online they will have a hard time reaching all of the potential voters. As Internet connectivity becomes more ingrained in US society the need to have an Internet presence will become more important. Of course politicians are generally slow to adopt new ideas and try new things. The fact is that none of the candidates are using quality SEO practices even after the Googlebombing of Bush and Kerry last election. Even Paul and his supporters do not make full use of the SEO potential of his campaign. They are better than others but they are still lagging.

SEO and Social Media Optimization can help politicians in a number of ways.

One of the most important ways SEM’s can help candidates is in reputation management. Using good SEO practices can help the politician’s web site rank better than sites denouncing him or her. If nothing else it gets the candidates message to the public before the anti-candidate message. Using social media is important for reputation management too. Bringing articles and writings about the candidate to social media sites increases exposure. Since social media sites foster communication it is also a great place to counter negative stories about the same candidate.

It is a way to reach more potential voters and rally support. As more and more people look to the Internet for their news it is important to be active online. By achieving quality SERP rankings on the candidates name as well as relevant keywords the candidates message will reach more potential supporters. A secondary (and possibly more important aspect) is that many of these supporters will spread your message themselves. This is true of Paul whose supporters are out in force online and expanding their reach offline with a huge number of meetup groups and members. These supporters also make websites that end up ranking well and furthering the proliferation of the message. Most searchers do not go past the first page of results so it is great to have the official site along with a number of sites made by supporters crowding the front page.

Will Candidates begin hiring SEM’s as part of their campaign teams?

That has yet to be seen but if they are smart they will. As the Internet evolves and becomes an integral aspect of our daily lives it will become more important for every candidate to have a solid presence online. Ron Paul has shown what the power of the Internet can do and it is only going to increase in the future. Candidates must take notice of how the Internet can help (and hurt) their chances and plan accordingly. Ignore the Internet at your own risk. Professional SEM’s can help candidates enhance their presence online and market their campaigns to the online world. Now the only question is are there any SEM’s who want to work on a political campaign?

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