Political Campaigns Go Social, But E-mail Is Still King

Both Facebook and Twitter want to be the platform of choice for political candidates; each company has staff devoted to working with political campaigns. Twitter is aggressively marketing itself to campaigns, journalists and organizations involved in politics -- including at an event in Washington earlier in July. The event was held to promote how political campaigns can target specific Twitter users for advertisements. For its part, Facebook emphasizes the sheer number of its users, in addition targeting methods similar to Twitter. "Facebook offers scale and reach that nobody else can offer," said Facebook Policy Communications Manager Andy Stone. Facebook has more than 150 million monthly users in the United States, which one digital marketing firm estimates to be three times as many as Twitter. Even relative social media newcomer Snapchat wants to get in on the action. The video-sharing service hosted a dinner on July 27 for digital strategists in Washington.

While the campaigns are using newer social media to drive home their message, old-fashioned e-mail addresses are still crucial to fundraising. "Nothing comes close," to an e-mail list, said Michael Beach, co-founder of Targeted Victory, a digital campaign firm that works with Republicans. Beach worked with Mitt Romney's campaign in 2012 and now works with Rick Perry's campaign. "Our campaigns will do 70 percent plus of their fundraising through e-mail," he said. On the Democratic side, the President Barack Obama camp took 90 percent of their online money from e-mails in 2012. Building a digital movement this election may or may not happen, but with billions of dollars to be spent, lots of companies will certainly be cashing in.