Let’s say you are a candidate for a local office, perhaps borough council. You want to reach out to the voters and give them your pitch. What do you do?
Door to door canvassing? Almost useless. People have those doorbells that take your picture. If they don’t know you they won’t answer the door. If they do answer, they are often times rude or downright nasty.
Phoning? Almost everyone has phones that show the number of the person calling. If people don’t know the number, they won’t answer the phone.
Newspaper ads? Small town newspapers are pretty much a thing of the past. We still have one in Carbon County, but not very many people subscribe.
Text messages? You need a phone number.
Facebook? Good luck with that.
Direct mail? Have you priced postage lately? Even a postcard costs 51¢. 51¢!
Door hangers? That’s where you hang information on the front door knob. It’s relatively cheap, and the voter may read it. One problem is they don’t work in rural areas.
Television? Way too expensive for the average candidate.
Yard signs? They work, but most people won’t even think of putting up a yard sign. Their neighbors might not like it.
If you have any solutions to this, let me know.
The reality is that the vast majority of people get their information from social media. I know this is a bad way to get informed, but it is what is happening. Of course listening to your crazy uncle doesn't work well. More than likely he isn't informed at all.
ReplyDeletePossibly radio would be a way to go, especially during drive time when people are going to and from work. Electronic billboards might work, but I don't think Carbon County has any. Of course one could have a town hall to put out their ideas. Or, make your own video with what you are about or what you want to do and post that on social media. I've seen people use a cell phone to do things of that nature.
Actually, Carbon County has at least two electronic billboards, and we did reserve one for October. A group of people more knowledgable than I am on social media (which is everybody in the world) are also using Facebook to spread political info. During the second Obama campaign my wife and I starred in a short video our friend made, and that got over 2000 views, so I
ReplyDeletelike that idea. Thanks for reminding me. Amazingly, I had forgotten that.