Tuesday Tidbit: Learning from Bernie. Ideas for Social Media Campaigns

I'm taking over for Joli this week as she recovers from a bit of a bug, but have no fear - the tidbit is still happening!

I'd like to ask: How can a democratic candidate teach us a thing or two about social media and website design? Last night, while scrolling through Facebook, I landed on "I Like Bernie, But..." For reasons discussed below, it caught quite a bit of social media attention and got me thinking about something I wouldn't have otherwise. Read on to learn how you might apply this effective campaign to your own social media and website strategy. 

The page was shared by quite a few of my friends on Facebook. At first glance, the headline had me thinking that these friends did NOT like Bernie, or at least had some hesitations about him. In contrast to all the support I've seen from my recent college grad friends, this post stood out. What was making them pause? I quickly clicked through. 

1) Mission accomplished Bernie campaign. You spiked my interest and got me to click through to your page, and off my lazy Facebook feed scroll. Marketers: your campaign can do the same - be creative in the way you draw people in from social media. Call them to click through. 

As I began reading the page, I realized Bernie's campaign was actually refuting common claims from others. On the left-hand side, the page features statements that are often heard when people argue against Bernie Sanders. On the right, there's an explanation on why those claims don't stand true. What's nice about the page is that it includes digestible information - mostly short and sweet responses with statistics and facts to back up his campaign. I even read aloud some of the stats to my roommates, since I could click on links to reputable sources like CNN and verify that each was true. 

2) Step 2 done. Congrats Bernie campaign - you answered the questions I had with strong evidence and I even shared them with others. Marketers: if you incorporate a Q/A page like this, be sure you can back up what you're saying. 

I continued to scroll through the page since it was a smooth user experience. The background is a high-quality image of Bernie and the sidebar provides a menu to easily go back or forth to other answers. These two features remain stable as you scroll, keeping the page fun to move around and easy to navigate. 

3) The effective result? I stayed on the page for longer than I would have if it wasn't such a unique UX, which works to increase its standing with search engines. Marketers: With each campaign you create, make sure your landing pages are strong and work well for your user. 

Perhaps most notable of all, the Bernie campaign calls viewers to action. At the bottom of the page his call to action is as simple as, "Convinced?" This stands apart from typical CTAs of "donate now" or "support so and so". I wanted to see what else was there since the webpage had already been useful and interesting.

4) There you go! I clicked through and was yet another potential user, feeling called to act. Marketers: if you're attempting to draw from these ideas, continue the creativity all the way through to your call to action. Then, keep it clear what you want viewers to do. 

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For more on learning from presidential candidates' marketing campaigns, take a look at: "How to Say 'Yes We Can' via Social Media."