Celebrity California Governor Candidates
The Forrester research survey released a report that 60% of marketers intend to shift from their traditional marketing to a more interactive way of marketing, which can be done online. But it’s not only the marketers, entrepreneurs and celebrities who have realized the great impact of social media, the California governor candidates have seen it as well and are now up to a race to win and win big. Those who have witnessed the effectiveness of online campaigns are now trying to get the hang of this technology religion.
It’s no wonder that celebrities, entrepreneurs, news stations and more are moving to online media marketing. This new media allows direct interaction with and between publisher and consumer. No other media exists that combines the speed of implementation with the analytical horsepower of “near immediate” feedback.
We all have witnessed the power of social media when President Barack Obama took over the White House. And this is clearly a test to all California governor candidates to see if they can repeat what happened in 2008. “Speak and ye shall hear,” these famous words from the The Book of Job are aptly suited to define what Internet social networks are.
Technology has completely changed what we have called political campaigning. In the past years, California governor candidates would go extra mile in terms of their political ambitions. The kind of campaigning they had back then requires months of strategizing and planning not to mention ample amount of money so they could produce and mail their campaign materials to newspapers and scheduled speeches to get more publicity.
Today, the use of social networking sites and blogs literally allow you to speak and be heard or “write and be read.” Of course, this strategy depends heavily on having enough friends, fans, and followers to make a difference. This is precisely why celebrities like Oprah, Britney Spears, and Ellen DeGeneres hire experts to make all this magic happen.
The California governor candidates are no slouch when it comes to getting in the pulse of this new trend. On Twitter alone, Gavin Newsom has 1.1 million followers and Jerry Brown has more than 900,000 people following him. The have almost the same followers of the real celebrities like Ms. Paula Abdul and John Legend.
At this moment, it’s safe to say that there’s an inverse relationship between the success of online marketing and campaign expenditures. Meg Whitman who spent $900,000 and Steve Poizner who spent $100,000 on their campaign, both Republicans, have the least number of votes by a factor of several thousand percent! What does this mean? Did they failed to take advantage of technology or simply they just have the wrong message? It’s far too soon to tell perhaps.
Whatever the answer, these California governor candidates have a huge challenge on their hands. With a budget deficit of $26 Billion, an unemployment rate of 12% an unfavorable business environment, and California’s education tanking, employers and families will pick up stakes and move elsewhere. No matter how you slice it, no amount of technology is going to create a quick fix to California’s problems.
