Communications

Chamber president Doug Luciani attended the plenary session featuring Rahaf Harfoush at the ACCE Conference in Raleigh. Ms. Harfoush is the author of "Yes We Did: An inside look at how social media built the Obama brand." She credited innovative use of social media for Obama raising $750 million in campaign funds, mostly in increments of less than $100, versus McCain's $360 million raised.

She cautioned against an over emphasis on tactics rather than developing and sticking to a strategy. Obama's team stressed that online organizing needed to equal offline action, as well as consistent branding and design. She recommended an incremental approach to social media, i.e., focusing on one aspect and mastering it before moving on to others. The seven lessons from the Obama social media strategy:

1) Redefining "engagement"
2) Converting low-end (passive) users
3) Facilitate existing behavior (Iphone application)
4) Incent the right actions
5) Personalize the mission
6) Empower co-innovation (let others be creative on your social media)
7) Embracing the unexpected.

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