Buzz around national parties and their political leaders has reached some significant highs now the election campaign is in full swing.  Although largely driven by either news sites or tweets by the general public the parties themselves are also investing time and effort in using digital and social channels to get their manifestos across – see Labour interactive videos on You Tube, Conservative Podcasts and Lib Dems ‘Mash -up’ videos.

But what about the party representatives on a local level? I have seen door steppers treading our streets and leaflet distributors targeting busy Saturday shoppers but are they bypassing the online tools that their national contemporaries are trying so hard to introduce?

Marginal Seats

With marginal seats vital in one of the closest elections in years it could make more of a difference to drive and engage local buzz online.

At this stage with three weeks to go, the efforts must be as tactical and local as they are strategic and national.  Big national issues and policies being outlined in manifestos mean very little until you can interpret them on a personal and/or local level.

Lets not also forget that a ‘grass roots’ approach lends itself perfectly for social media too. Where else can you easily bring practical strangers together over a shared interest or rally advocates for a cause?

Picking on Crawley

Tweetmister have a neat tool  that enables you to see which MPs are using twitter in your region, here we can see that Lib Dem are ahead looking at both number of tweets and number of twitter accounts but this doesn’t go down to a constituency level which is where the big difference can be made.

Using one of the many useful poll tools online we can see that Crawley is one of the most contested constituencies (even more so since their Labour MP controversially resigned so close to the election).

Both the conservative MP, Henry Smith, and the new Labour MP, Chris Oxlade, are present online to some degree:

Henry Smith, Conservative MP, Crawley.

170 fans on facebook, last update 4 days ago, responding to questions from the public.  No twitter account or blog but has a video on You Tube that has received 62 views.

Chris Oxlade, Labour MP, Crawley.

622 fans on facebook, last update today,  having a dialogue with the public around a range of issues. 123 followers on twitter although with only 8 tweets its not at all active.

Both appear to have a basic presence and good to see they are having a dialogue with people who approach them rather than just using the platforms to push their own messages out but it does seem fairly limited compared to some of the national activity occuring.

Listening Locally

Could MPs of Crawley be doing more?

We know health is one of the areas of weakness for Crawley so we had a dig around to see where relevant communities and conversations are occurring for an MP to target.  Looking briefly we have found a few already where a relevant target audience can be found around health and well-being:

Some basic tips for local MPs to get started

1. Search for twitter users and facebook groups by location
2. Find out which local community clubs / organisations have online presence
3. Use google search and enter search strings like ‘health crawley’ and filter results by discussions or blogs
4. Spend half an hour each day listening to what all these people you have found are saying
5. Think about which of these people could be ‘useful’ to engage as advocates for different policies or ideas
6. Ask the community questions on your facebook page or as a hashtag on twitter around an issue you have discovered as important
7. Produce a video or podcast that takes the most relevant issues in the national manifesto and highlights what it will mean in reality for locals

Risk and Opportunities

Last weeks peak of online buzz occurred around the digital economy bill. With sites being shared online like this, local MPs can’t afford to hide even on the big issues.

Tom Watson is a local MP who has actively got involved with people online, standing very clearly for a key issue.   Gaming may not necessarily be top of the list of priorities for all of the residents in his West Bromwich constituency but he has the right approach to the social media space.

Many are saying that this election is to be won by ‘word of mouth’. Maybe a little more conversation locally could be the tipping point for those marginal seats?

Qube recently ran a benchmarking survey into Social Media use, attitudes and budget in the travel industry.

With nearly 100 key players in the industry taking part from travel organisations large and small, Qube has gathered key insights into how this sector views and engages with the challenges and benefits of Social Media.

Social Media Benchmarking

81% of marketeers and directors in the travel industry say they use Social Media due to pressure from customers. And despite the fact almost two thirds of respondents felt Social Media was important for the future of their business, nearly 50% still use non-expert staff to deliver Social Media marketing.

Platforms

Bebo and MySpace, perhaps unsurprisingly, were the least popular social networks for marketing activity within the travel industry, while Twitter is by far the most popular tool in use for this sector.

Setting Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Whilst there are many ways to measure Social Media activity and quantify ROI, difficulty in measuring direct impact of sales was far and away the greatest reason cited for not engaging with Social Media marketing.

Interesting, a large proportion of respondents don’t actually set any Key Performance Indicators for any of their current digital marketing activity.

Round table event

Qube will be releasing and discussing the full benchmarking report at the Social Media for the travel industry round table we’re holding on the 17^th February.

This is a chance for people in the travel industry to discuss the findings of the report and talk to each other about the particular challenges travel companies face in this ever-evolving digital era.

If you work in the industry and would like to attend, you can find more details here.

Qube’s very first client project – over 6 years ago – was a ground-breaking social media campaign for Connexions Sussex to help engage young people online and encourage their participation. We have continued to work with young people online ever since with other clients including West Sussex County Council, East Sussex County Council, Sony BMG, Electronic Arts and Greenwich University.

This experience has helped us hone down why social media should be at the heart of any council’s strategy for engaging with young people.

1. Efficiency: Connect with young people in the most cost effective way
Social media allows you to create and engage with communities of young people online – something which is easier, much cheaper and possible on a much greater scale than in real life. It removes the difficulty of creating real-life communities across wide geographic areas, of hiring infrastructure or equipment. Using social media to communicate means huge savings in design, printing and media costs. It means faster reaction to young people’s needs and enquiries.

2. Reach: Engage with young people where they actually are
Today’s young people – often known as Digital Natives – have grown up using the internet and social media to connect with each other. The numbers of young people using social media are vast and increasing. It is completely natural to them and increasingly their media of choice, while TV and printed media are all in decline. Trust in advertising is also declining – they see it as a broadcast, one way activity with no opportunity for response or interaction. They increasingly build their opinions and make their choices based on their friends’ and others people’s views online – even when they are strangers.

3. Improvement: Converse with young people and create better services
Having a two way conversation with young people enables the Council to listen to the views of young people on a regular basis and understand how they feel about the services they are offered. It allows their participation in the creation of better services and ensure money isn’t wasted on services which they don’t like or want.

4. Reputation: Proactively manage the council’s reputation where young people are talking about related issues
Social networking sites, Facebook, forums, blogs, Twitter are all places where young people talk about issues that matter to them. These often will include issues such as jobs, education, what’s happening in the local area. Where these conversations become negative about the Council it can effect the Council’s reputation, particularly if left without response. There is the opportunity with social media to ensure that not only do you know about these opinions but that you can change them into positive actions.

Controversial, perhaps, and we’re not suggesting banner and display advertising doesn’t have merits.

But - and it’s a big but – people are still reluctant to put money into social media outreach because they feel the case for it hasn’t been proved.

We’re lucky enough to have run a social media campaign directly benchmarked against a banner ad campaign to get real results.

What we found out was fascinating…. check it out:

http://www.qubemedia.net/banner-ads-social-media.php

Agree, disagree, interested, not interested… let us know what you think.

Some very exciting news to end the week on…

Our very own #twago travel community is a finalist in this year’s Brighton & Hove Business Awards (BAHBAs).

It is officially short listed as The Most Awesome Use of Digital Media which is pretty awesome.

We’re already dusting down our DJs ready for the big awards party with our fingers heavily crossed!

A big shout to Fiona, Glenn, Tom and Nige at Qube for their Awesome work on the project and to our wonderful clients Bob and Dawn at PBA and Kath at BHCC for their support and vision.

Twago (Tweet As you Go) is a social media research community we are working on for Brighton & Hove City Council and Peter Brett Assoc.

If you haven’t tried it yet – its a simple way for everyone who lives and work in Brighton and Hove to share their travel habits on Twitter.

You simply tweet when you travel somewhere, using the hash tag #twago. Its beauty is in its simplicity. Why not have a go!

Head to the Twago blog to find out more.