As we close the books on the 2022 midterm elections, here’s a look back at the most popular articles (by pageviews) on Best Practice Digital. Traffic to these articles, especially those from previous years, were driven by organic search results. In fact 45% of our site traffic for the year came from search.
Let’s countdown the top five articles and dig into why they stood out last year.
4 Essential Twitter Tactics for Political Campaigns (2020)
Twitter isn’t real life, but it is crucial in the shaping of the political narrative. Twitter is largely dominated by celebrities, entertainers, and journalists, but that means it also draws highly influential opinion makers. And don’t forget that 90% of the network are lurkers. As a campaign, you have to be on Twitter and you have to work on shaping the conversation. If you’re not involved, you’re relinquishing this critical space unchecked to your opponents and journalists.
Our advice about Twitter hasn’t changed – yet – following Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform since political journalists and operatives remain active on the platform. If that changes, campaigns will need to reevaluate whether the time and effort they’re putting into Twitter is worthwhile.
The 5 Best CRMs for Political Campaigns (2021)
The needs for a political campaign’s CRM are different from those of a typical small business. Small businesses may have dozens to hundreds of customers and leads to keep track of, but for a political campaign, a CRM needs to track thousands of supporters, donors, and volunteers. Additionally, political campaigns need their CRMs to integrate with industry-specific platforms like WinRed and GOP Data Center.
The perfect CRM is still at the top of the wishlist for campaigners who want a single source of truth for all of their data. Getting all of the various tech tools a campaign uses to integrate with each other remains the biggest hurdle. Datrm.in, featured on our list, continues to make headway in solving this challenge.
What Does a Political Campaign Marketing Funnel Look Like? (2021)
Effective digital campaigning involves designing and executing marketing funnels to guide supporters on their way to specific actions, like donating, volunteering, and voting. A supporter can move quickly or slowly through a conversion funnel. Some donors will give the first time you ask while others may wait until just before Election Day.
Online campaign marketing faced strong headwinds in 2022 due to changes happening at Facebook and increased competition for donors. Campaigns need highly optimized conversion funnels now more than ever. Perhaps the most important part of building one is guiding a supporter to a desired action – you’ll never get anything you don’t ask for.
Everything You Wanted To Know About Political Email List Rentals But Were Afraid to Ask (2022)
Email list rentals can be a valuable tool for online fundraising when used properly, but the market is far from transparent. That makes it difficult for less experienced candidates and campaigns to understand how email rentals work and when to use them.
Email list rentals still aren’t for everybody – well-known candidates or surrogate signers are a prerequisite for effectiveness. Unfortunately, the donors who are on rentable email lists are getting burnt out for asks and relying on these lists doesn’t expand the pool of new donors to the party.
Why Every Political Campaign Needs A Content Calendar (2022)
Digital marketing is essential to your success as a political campaigner. This means posting consistently on social media, sending emails regularly, and updating your website periodically. A content calendar will help organize and plan all of this digital marketing output. It will keep your messaging on track and ensure that you are reaching your target audience with the right content at the right time.
Content is the fuel that drives the digital campaign engine. Having a plan is key to successfully producing the right mix and amount of content. The most effective content calendar is the one you actually use so don’t start off too complex.
Conclusion
There are nearly 200 articles in the Best Practice Digital archive here along with new posts coming each week. Don’t forget to check back here for answers to all of your digital campaigning questions in 2023 and beyond.