The other day I attended a Town Hall meeting in Lisle, Illinois organized by Governor John Kasich’s campaign. I learned a few key lessons from this event and from using the campaign’s online phone-banking software.
First of all, let me disclose this – John Kasich is my guy. And I knew it the minute he entered the race. This wasn’t a matter of having to make a choice among candidates about whom I feel lukewarm. John Kasich is the real deal. Here, in descending order, is why folks should vote for him:
- He’ll make a great president.
- He’s a governor and knows how to manage an executive branch of government.
- He’s better prepared than any of the candidates to balance the budget.
- Having been a Representative, he knows how to work with Congress. (Presidents still have to do that, even if the GOP front runner doesn’t think so.)
- He’s pragmatic and a problem-solver. These are good things. Trust me.
- He has the right message and believes in it. He talks about making sure that our economy didn’t leave people behind and expanding opportunities for all.
- He’s authentic. He’s not in the least bit scripted and has a deep knowledge of the issues affecting the country.
- And for the GOP purists out there – he’s the only GOP candidate who can beat the Democratic front runner in November. He’s experienced, smart and has a folksy charm which help make him electable. Oh yeah, and he’s not a bigot.
Now that I’m off my soap box, here are few tactical lessons learned.
First of all, the Kasich campaign is using phone-banking technology through i360, the powerhouse GOP political data firm. Volunteers who want to phone bank from home register with the campaign’s website and will be emailed a link, login credentials, instructions and a script. I made about 30 calls yesterday. The data from the list I was given appeared to be nice and clean. There were no wrong numbers, disconnects, etc. The program itself was VERY easy to use, if a little slow between calls, even when I chose the option not to take a break between them. It’s probably the best system I’ve tried.
Next, the campaign could have done a better job on the ground at the event this week. Governor Kasich did a great job speaking to a packed house. However, the campaign didn’t capitalize on having a captive audience of newly energized or recently converted devotees. There was no “ask” for volunteering or other support. There wasn’t even anyone there collecting data on attendees. The campaign used Eventbrite to issue “tickets” to the event, but no one was collecting them and I’m guessing that plenty of folks walked in off the street. If the plan was to follow up with those who registered via Eventbrite, they just missed the “walk ins.” Also, no one was asked to share anything on social media while in the room. While I realize a great many folks in the audience where in the 55+ age group, 63% of those 55-64 and 56% of those older than 65 are on Facebook. While the use of Twitter in this demographic is significantly less, media outlets use Twitter to see if there is any “buzz” around a candidate or event. The more folks using a designated hashtag or the candidate’s Twitter handle, the better for demonstrating that buzz. This is all the more important when the message to the media is, “cover my guy because he has the momentum.” (Which, BTW, Kasich has. The majority of the late voters in Michigan chose him over Trump.) When we checked later to see how many folks used his Twitter handle to check in at the event or post content, it seems the list was short. Even the campaign didn’t do much. But the room was full of people taking pictures or filming with their phones. Anyways, by not asking for a single thing, the campaign lost the opportunity to engage with a whole lot of people who left the room thinking very highly of their candidate. Here are MY “asks”: Vote for Kasich and volunteer on his campaign. Sign up on his website at www.johnkasich.com
If the campaign is unsure how to integrate a social media strategy, I can rent them my 11 ½ year old for a nominal fee. Never mind. They can consider it an in-kind contribution. Anyway, my tween son seems to have a good handle on social networking, which apparently he is using to drive traffic to his YouTube channel. (I try not to ask too many questions. I find the whole thing disturbing.)
Finally, I used the event as an opportunity to test out Periscope, an app that allows you to broadcast live from where ever you are using your phone. As you broadcast people can watch and post comments. I used it with my Twitter (@GrootsGoddess) and Facebook feeds to share footage of the Governor speaking. It was incredibly simple to use. I downloaded the app, signed in using my Twitter account and then enabled my camera, speaker and location services when the app asked me to. Then just clicked the “Broadcast Live” button when I was ready to broadcast. You can type a description of what you are broadcasting before you go live and I used the campaign’s Twitter handle so people other than my Twitter followers could find me. You just hit another button to end the broadcast and then can choose to save the footage to your phone. Since the account was tied to my Twitter and therefore my Facebook account, my followers and friends could view the footage later. I’d advise uploading any saved footage to iCloud or Dropbox as soon as you can. It will be a memory hog if left on your phone. Bottom line, Periscope was very cool and super easy to use.
To summarize today’s rather lengthy blog post:
- Vote for Kasich.
- I360 is a great platform for at-home volunteer phone banking.
- Don’t forget the “ask.”
- Try out Periscope.
Great information!! 😀