Parker is Winning Social Media Campaign

On May 6, 2009 I wrote, “Grading the Houston Mayoral Websites,” a blog post in which I evaluated the websites for the candidates seeking to be the next Mayor of the City of Houston.

One of the subcategories was “Social Media Campaign” in which I concluded that Annise Parker had the best strategy. At the time, Peter Brown did not even have a Twitter account … luckily 3 months later that has changed and I have decided to review each candidates strategy.

First and foremost … I do not endorse any candidate at the moment. As I have stated on multiple occasions, I believe the three candidates are great choices to lead our City during these uncertain times. Thus, my commentary regarding a candidate’s strategy should not be viewed as an endorsement for that candidate.

This is an objective critique of the Social Media Campaign of each candidate. Please view my remarks as constructive criticism and not a jab at any particular candidate.

I have been impressed by the way each campaign has grown in 3 months. From Peter Brown implementing Twitter to Annise Parker hosting a blogger lunch … each campaign has done their best to create and adhere to a coherent Social Media Campaign.

Matt Hardigee of the Peter Brown Campaign has been awesome. Whenever I would submit a blog post in which I could not find a statement from Peter Brown regarding an incident … I could count on Matt to shoot me an email by the end of the day with Brown’s response.

This type of blogger relations is great! I have shared the same type of relationship with the Annise Parker campaign. From being personally invited to a blogger lunch by Jeri Brooks to obtaining clarifications on Twitter from Justin … this campaign has been proactive about reaching out to bloggers.

As for Gene Locke … I used to have this relationship with Vonn Butler but I have recently learned that his role shifted to the Mobile Campaign for Gene Locke. I am attempting to reestablish this rapport with the newcomers such as Priscilla Villarreal who I met at the Latino Summit. I must add that Jose Soto personally invited me to the lunch held at Doneraki’s in which Texas Representative Carol Alvarado endorsed Gene Locke.

Annise Parker’s Social Media Campaign was the best but after implementing certain items … she has gone into overdrive and left the rest of the campaigns in the smoke.
The campaign has introduced Live-Streaming Social Media Feeds on the website … which will introduce visitors to other avenues in which they may interact with the campaign.

The Custom FBML Facebook Tabs are once again another means in which supporters can support the campaign without ever leaving Facebook. It also has the potential to go add extra fundraising money and support once folks engage with her Facebook page.

Parker has kicked butt when it comes to Twitter. It doesn’t help Locke that he has divided his supporters. They have to follow two different accounts in order to stay in the know. After reading the campaign’s rationale … I had to still dissent. It would make sense that they want one account to be a personal one versus the other one being the campaign account but the personal one ends up retweeting the campaign tweets and vice versa … you might as well combine them!
This is the conclusion Parker’s campaign arrived at since now they only have one account and when Annise is tweeting … you will see a “-A” so that you know that comment came directly from Annise.

Annise has used video and pictures at events in conjunction with Twitter. Peter Brown had a Tweet-Up and has done his fair share of attempting to expand his clout on the Twittersphere. Unfortunately, Locke is lagging behind but since implementing a young staff to manage his Twitter presence that may change.

Social Media is 10% content … 90% interaction and once the campaigns figure this out … they will do a superb job connecting with the folks that matter.

I have to give props to the Gene Locke campaign for having an aesthetic way of displaying News, Tweets and YouTube Clips on his Facebook Page.

When it comes to Flickr ... it seems Peter Brown has not been using it as much as he should. Annise Parker and Gene Locke have been submitting photos and creating sets just like the should be. I will have to give Gene Locke the win on Flickr for having a profile with content on it.

Although all of the campaigns have a presence on YouTube ... only one candidate is constantly updating his channel ... thus I will give Gene Locke the win.

So, here is the breakdown ... Parker takes Facebook and Twitter, Locke wins Flickr by a small margin and wins YouTube hands down and Brown, Locke and Parker are tied for blogger relations, newsletter press releases etc. Overall, Annise Parker wins the Social Media campaign but don't count Gene Locke out ... and Peter Brown has some ground to gain.

What do you think? Who has the best Social Media Campaign? Is there something I am missing? Any future plans from any of the campaigns that I may be overlooking?