There is both a fascination and some misconceptions about Twitter that I encounter regularly no matter what group I’m addressing.  Lately, I tell a story that helps to illustrate how effective social media can be even if you can’t see it or measure it quite as closely as other types of marketing.  This is social media for political campaigning.

When I first began to work with political candidates, I introduced the idea that Twitter is a great communications tool by giving out numbers on how many governors were using it and how many followers they had.  At the time, I thought Arnold Schwarzenegger with his 55,000 followers made a compelling example.  (@Schwarzenegger now has well over a million)  Numbers and statistics alone aren’t as motivating as I had imagined, but I did get a few candidates willing to give it a try and one of them is Mark Keam.

Mark Keam is no stranger to politics, but his campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates is his first as a candidate.  Running initially in a 5 candidate primary for his party’s nomination in the 35th District, Mark tentatively launched his Twitter account in the Spring of this year and waited to hit that magic follower goal of 100.  His tweeting is far from prolific, but he is consistent.  He also follows what I believe are the basic tenants of effective social media usage: he is authentic, interesting, and engages his followers in conversations.

After winning his party’s nomination in June, Mark began to focus in earnest on winning the upcoming November 3rd election.  He continues to use Twitter, along with Facebook, to keep his network growing and his online conversations alive.  Social media does not replace the hard work of campaigning however.  Mark still gets out most days and on the weekends to knock on doors in the Vienna and Oakton areas of Northern Virginia.

Two Saturdays ago he was working a neighborhood in Vienna and leaving notes on his literature when he found that no one was at home.  He worked his way down one side of the street, and as he was returning up the other side of the street, he saw a man in the yard of a home where he had left a note in the door.

Mark waved to the man and said, “Hello!  How are you?”

The man replied, “Fine, how are you?”

Mark responded, “I’m Mark Keam and I’m running for the House of Delegates.  I left a note in your door.”

The man responded, “I know.  I follow you on Twitter!”

In an instant, all those tweets sent off into the ether over the past several months came down to one voter – one constituent – who validated that someone really is paying attention!  Mark couldn’t believe it.

I tell this story a lot now to drive home the point that we need to talk to people where they are. And sometimes we don’t know who is listening and watching, but we need to keep communicating.  Whether people choose to raise their hands and identify themselves or not, they are there listening to us.  Social media provides an effective opportunity to reach many people through multiple channels. That should not be under valued simply because the metrics aren’t there to measure effectiveness as precisely as we would like.

One man, one vote and one Twitter follower has brought @MarkKeam that much closer to his goal of representing the 35th District.  And when he wins this election, he will be the first Asian-American ever to serve in the Virginia General Assembly – and possibly the first freshman delegate ever to use Twitter in his campaign!

My next post on Mark will be in 2010 on how he is using Twitter as an effective constituent communication tool! Stay tuned!