Washington, D.C. – October 14th, 2009

Running for congress at the age of 27 is pretty remarkable. There are many hurdles as a young candidate, but there are also a few advantages. One is an ability to connect to young people through social media. When we interviewed Krystal Ball, candidate for Virginia’s First Congressional District, currently held by Rob Whittman, I asked her about her notorious Facebook ads. (For those of you who don’t live in Northern VA, her Facebook ads pop up if you have anything political in your profile and you live near Northern Virginia). She told us that they are a great way to build an early coalition and connect with young people. Additionally, they allow the user to micro-target very specific audiences.

And she not only employs ads, but also recognizes that after someone clicks the ad, they need to be taken to a well populated facebook page. This is where the conversations happen and relationships are built.

A recent article in PoliticsMagazine entitled “Why you should start your online GOTV early” discusses the use of new media for early GOTV. The plan is to use new media early to develop a highly targeted base of supporters that can be called upon later in the campaign. It is a cheap and easy way to build a base without having to expend too much. Many campaigns wait until their operation is in full swing to really engage online communities, but it may be wiser to engage these “net roots” early on. It’s obviously not the #1 focus of many campaigns, but if you follow this model and focus on relationship building through the web early, it can be a great advantage when it comes to the last weeks of the campaign.

(This article is in no way an endorsement of the candidate)

(Photo credit here)