I’ve been pondering this post for a while, as anything ‘political’ sometimes rubs people the wrong way.  Enough pondering – it’s relevant so I’m posting.  As Computer Weekly states, we are in the middle of the first truly digital Presidency.  It’s an interesting shift in how a campaign footprint can extend beyond the status quo and can serve as a model for businesses to incorporate social computing into their marketing mix.  Looking at this Fast Company article that I was impressed by his forward thinking ways.  By incorporating social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) and disciplines into his everyday campaign activities, he was able to ‘Fish where the Fish are‘ and go where his customer base was.  That’s top of mind for me every time I engage in a social effort in my day job at Intel.  It just makes sense.  I don’t subscribe to the ‘If you build it, they will come’ mentality of marketing.  Your customers have established patterns and heavily traffic sites they feel a sense of trust with.  As marketers of a brand it is our job to engage valuable customers, both current and prospective, where they are already going.  Obama’s campaign staff took that to heart, and it helped pave the way for him to the ultimate CEO gig.

Update 3.21.09 – Fast Company profiles Chris Hughes, the man behind the social media component of Obama’s campaign.

Traditional marketing as we know it is changing.  Heck, it’s changed a LOT over the last few years with the rise in user-generated brand advocacy and criticism.  Companies need to start thinking about social media in this way- and some already are, like Scotts:

Adotas profiles them in their February 20th article:

“The Scotts site leverages social media to elevate the consumer experience. Scotts enables consumers to participate in blogs, forums, and photo galleries that are designed to inspire and assist gardening enthusiasts….. Within days of rolling out the social media features, thousands of visitors registered to create blogs, connect with other lawn care enthusiasts, and share their stories and pictures. To date, the Scotts site has hosted more than 246,000 social interactions between consumers.”

Allowing people to connect on your site around their passion points to elevate your brand affinity…smart.