Democrats Getting Their Social Media House In Order

Over the last couple of months, I’ve written a couple of stories on how Arkansas Democrats have been lagging behind Arkansas Republicans in utilizing social media.  As a Democrat, it’s been a bone of contention for me because it’s been a problem with my party both at the state and national level.

Last night, I attended a meeting of the Pulaski County Democratic Committee because the committee chair, Kirk Bradshaw, arranged for social media training for the committee.  Over 100 Democrats showed up at the Holiday Inn Presidential Center to learn about Twitter, Facebook, Constant Contact and more.  Members of the DPA staff and communications consultants led the training.

The first presenter, communication strategist Eric Wilson, noted the social media deficit that Arkansas Democrats face and the importance of engaging voters in a conversation, which social media allows for.  Some examples, in the Arkansas State Legislature only 13% of Democrats have a Twitter account, while roughly 54% of Republicans do.  Further, all six members of the federal delegation use Facebook in their official capacities, but Mark Pryor and Mike Ross’s usage of the medium lags dramatically behind the Republican members of the Arkansas congressional delegation.

Everyday, more and more voters are getting into social media, whether it be through Twitter or Facebook and candidates and elected officials must use these tools to engage in conversations with the voters.  When I’ve led campaign trainings across the country, I tell candidates if they don’t get their campaigns on Facebook, they deserve to lose.  That is how important some of these online tools have become.

The silver lining is that some Arkansas Democrats understand they are lagging when it comes to social media and are attempting to correct the problem. The other 74 Democratic County Committees should follow Pulaski County’s example and work with their members to get them involved in the online conversation at the grassroots level.