I’m always willing to listen to a Republican leader who takes social media seriously, Save Jerseyans.
There are PLENTY of things wrong with Republicanism in New Jersey, not the least of which is the almost complete lack of an integrated social media presence at the local and county levels. That’s a huge, debilitating weakness for the NJGOP at a time when young people (those under 40), sobered by the job market and crushed by student loan debt, are slowly beginning to wake up from their Obama-induced comas.
But who is winning the messaging war? Too often it’s the Left by forfeit or “no one” since dying liberal media rags have all but completely abandoned local coverage. Young guys and gals like your Blogger-in-Chief no longer pay attention to literature drops, newspapers or the television networks. Nope! If/when my generation is paying attention to the world around us, our information is coming from online sources including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs like Save Jersey.
Anthony Rottino seems to get it. He’s one of three candidates in Bergen County’s bloody civil war for the BCRO chairmanship. Rottino’s campaign has rolled out several points in a “blueprint” for a better BCRO over the last few days; the most interesting is Point 4, “Improve the Use of Technology.”
I sincerely hope he follows through if elected. Too often party leaders pay lip service to social media during the campaign; then, when the dust settles, they return to traditional priorities at social media’s expense. Bergen County has a big election coming up this fall. They can’t afford to overlook the online battlefront!
Rottino’s points are posted below the fold…
1. Website Upgrades: The BCRO needs to create a new, exciting interactive website that goes far beyond listing upcoming functions for our candidates and organizations. The website must explain the principals of our party and organization and offers important information on vital issues of the day. The new website will serve as the communication hub of the BCRO. It will integrate with social media such as Facebook and Twitter to ensure our message will be broadcast on social networks so we can reach voters with carefully crafted BCRO messages. The website is often the first thing people see or learn about the BCRO, it must be professional, informational and useful to the new voter and importantly, to the new, potential supporter.
2. Email Access: Every municipal chair will have his or her own free BCRO emailaccount. This account will help support County Committee communication and assist in community outreach by identifying each municipal chair as a readily available leader of the BCRO.
3. Informative Email Blasts: The BCRO suffers from too many repetitious email blasts about beefsteak dinners and fundraisers that many County Committee people already know about or cannot attend. There should be routine issue-based email blasts from the BCRO that include talking points on local, county or state issues from the perspective of our Republican organization and leaders. The emails should serve to inform our members. They should highlight the governing accomplishments of our State, County and Municipal officials.
4. Creation of Voter Databases: Through the use of modern, inexpensive database and mapping software, we can identify voters, their addresses and voting tendencies, making voter contact far more efficient. This will be an important tool at the county and municipal level.
5. State-of-the-Art Voter Identification: With this plan, over time the BCRO will be able to secure an interactive, online database of all voters in the county. This database will be available to municipal chairs, county committee members and candidates for reference and can be updated locally by county committee members. For example, the voter information gathered by county committee members or candidates while doing door-to-door campaigning can be uploaded to a central repository for voter information and once verified, will be made part of the database. There can be many other uses for such a database, such as tracking which voters have been contacted and how often. The process of voter identification must be ongoing and begins well in advance of elections making effective targeting of voters possible during the campaign season.
Much of this plan can be accomplished at little or no cost to the BCRO. I will champion this effort and the professional expertise necessary to make it happen. The sooner we get started, the more effective a tool it will be for our county committee members and our candidates in the November 2012 election.
