"Battlefield" - A painting by Richard Mac Tir showing king Bård overlooking a battlefield You’ll see it on Twitter, the front lines of the political battlefield, and you’ll see it there first.
I’m talking about the message, of course, or at least what’s passing for it at this particular moment – now – which is awfully hard to tell when you’re in the thick of it, bullets are flying, and the fog of war is concealing much if not all.
So we step back from time to time, to the rear where the decisions are made and analysis can take place. Sometimes that happens from horseback on a hill overlooking the carnage, other times it’s thousands of miles away in some semi-underground ‘bunker.’
Either way, that “message” has to be figured out, and the forces have to be marshaled for a victory.
Let’s begin.
I’m talking about the message, of course, or at least what’s passing for it at this particular moment – now – which is awfully hard to tell when you’re in the thick of it, bullets are flying, and the fog of war is concealing much if not all.
So we step back from time to time, to the rear where the decisions are made and analysis can take place. Sometimes that happens from horseback on a hill overlooking the carnage, other times it’s thousands of miles away in some semi-underground ‘bunker.’
Either way, that “message” has to be figured out, and the forces have to be marshaled for a victory.
Let’s begin.
Dick Haines Missoula
This is a piece of mail I got today, one talking-down Dick Haines for SD49. It’s pretty hard-hitting and you can tell his opponent wants to win.
Dick Haines in Montana
So who is his opponent? You can’t tell at all from the mailer, even the backside that you see here. I’ll tell you it’s Diane Sands, and she’s been raising some serious money for this race. I’m thinking it’ll be in the 60%-40% range on this race, with Hines taking up the rear.
What can I say – women in Montana are tough and speak their minds, especially when they want something. That’s why I try not to piss women off (unlike Republicans always want to do), but maybe I pushed the line a bit with this Tweet earlier today:
What can I say – women in Montana are tough and speak their minds, especially when they want something. That’s why I try not to piss women off (unlike Republicans always want to do), but maybe I pushed the line a bit with this Tweet earlier today:
Steve Daines More Jobs
Yep, it’s got that nostalgic feel, kind of what Republicans want for society. They’ve already got women in Montana making about $0.68 for every $1 a man gets, so getting them back into the kitchen full-time shouldn’t be a huge jump.
Steve Daines jobs plan
The 70s was damn near as good for corporate America as the 50s, and I guess that’s what I was going for in this one, which outlines the Steve Daines job plan.
These were simple tweets I put out early in the morning as people sat down to work, or at least the appearance of such. I just took some photos off Google after typing “woman in the kitchen,” then stuck it in MS Paint and found a way to get some text in there so you can read it.
It’s a pretty simple process, and many people on Twitter are doing it, and I want to look at that today. I also want to look at some of the more fancy stuff, which is bought and paid for with that Koch Brothers and other Wall Street money flowing into the Daines campaign.
He also gets social media marketers with that, and they can put out slick stuff like this:
These were simple tweets I put out early in the morning as people sat down to work, or at least the appearance of such. I just took some photos off Google after typing “woman in the kitchen,” then stuck it in MS Paint and found a way to get some text in there so you can read it.
It’s a pretty simple process, and many people on Twitter are doing it, and I want to look at that today. I also want to look at some of the more fancy stuff, which is bought and paid for with that Koch Brothers and other Wall Street money flowing into the Daines campaign.
He also gets social media marketers with that, and they can put out slick stuff like this:
Steve Daines, not wearing his usual plaid = not in Montana (click for proof)
This is a damn good tweet right here. It’s got a lot of info that’s hard to see, that’s true, but it’s specialized for local geographical areas, ensuring that if Twitter users have friends close by, this will be shared.
I bet hundreds of people saw this, if not a thousand or two. It’s a damn good message, and I wish the Democrats were doing something like it.
I bet hundreds of people saw this, if not a thousand or two. It’s a damn good message, and I wish the Democrats were doing something like it.
Here’s another one put out by Steve Daines, or at least the Daines campaign. It’s always hard to tell who actually has their hand on the ‘ol Twitter machine, but in this case it doesn’t really matter.
Again, this is a good Tweet. It’s simple and effective and targets the base. I’m sure tweets like this turn out some of the people in the photos you see of volunteers at call centers. So in that regard, this is social media being used to target younger voters who want to be active. They’re then corralled into the call centers or mail centers where they can then touch more voters of a different demographic group. It’s good politics, with just a slight tweak to bring it into the 21st-century.
Again, this is a good Tweet. It’s simple and effective and targets the base. I’m sure tweets like this turn out some of the people in the photos you see of volunteers at call centers. So in that regard, this is social media being used to target younger voters who want to be active. They’re then corralled into the call centers or mail centers where they can then touch more voters of a different demographic group. It’s good politics, with just a slight tweak to bring it into the 21st-century.
Steve Daines looking smug
Here’s another one from Daines, the same message: get your ass out and volunteer and vote and this is what you need to know to do it. This is going right out to the faithful and they’ll vote, if many haven’t already done so by absentee ballot.
New Zinke land policy
Alright, let’s get back to old-school. This is a photo I found on a Google search and then I put that white text up there, which was just copied from the Montana Democratic website.
It’s a great tweet, it targets the base, and it was on the Twitter photo roll all day, right on the main #mtpol page.
Sometimes you get a photo up that stays there all day and you try and tweet your own photos but the damn thing just will not go away no matter what. I was trying to do that the other day when this hippy girl photo was up, but I couldn’t get rid of the damn thing to save my life.
It’s a great tweet, it targets the base, and it was on the Twitter photo roll all day, right on the main #mtpol page.
Sometimes you get a photo up that stays there all day and you try and tweet your own photos but the damn thing just will not go away no matter what. I was trying to do that the other day when this hippy girl photo was up, but I couldn’t get rid of the damn thing to save my life.
LR126 in Montana
No, this isn’t the hippy girl, but it is a fun tweet that will excite young voters. It’s funny, not taking itself too seriously, and uses sarcasm and absurdity to make a point – people should be able to vote on the day of the election. It also appeals to gay voters, as that rainbow color can only mean one thing in politics.
Amanda Curtis and evironment
Now, remember that ad I showed with Zinke looking sad and the white text next to him? I wasn’t able to find any good spot to put text on this photo of Amanda Curtis, so I just tweeted it out saying she supports our lands. Not very effective.
John Lewis probably ran into the same problem with this tweet, which I have to say looks awful. I’ve done some like this on Google+ in my writing groups, and it just doesn’t work.
John Lewis and public lands
This one right here, however, kicks ass. You can see the contrast between working with the background and fighting it. And these are so simple and easy to put together, and they get liked and retweeted quickly.
It’s just a small part of the campaign message getting out to people. It’s probably not as effective as face-to-face, but maybe it’ll get someone
It’s just a small part of the campaign message getting out to people. It’s probably not as effective as face-to-face, but maybe it’ll get someone
John Lewis and Lands
Here’s one I took off Facebook from the John Lewis page and just retweeted. The reason I did that was because I saw a bunch of Zinke BS come down the pike and I wanted to put something up real quick to counter that.
But for what? Who the hell am I talking to on Twitter? I think a lot of the time it’s just preaching to the converted. And that’s why you want to get the converted to start working for you.
But for what? Who the hell am I talking to on Twitter? I think a lot of the time it’s just preaching to the converted. And that’s why you want to get the converted to start working for you.
Mike Wheat Vietnam
Here’s a great tweet from Montana Cowgirl, the leading political blogger in Montana. This is for Mike Wheat for the Montana Supreme Court and it’s a great tweet. It’s got a compelling image with none of that modern airbrushing crap, and the text is large.
Here’s a tweet from someone that tweets a lot about forest issues. This is a toss-up tweet. First, it has a great image, but you can’t see it that well. Next, it’s got a lot of words. Finally, I just think it’s bombarding people with too much.
Koch brothers in Montana
The contrast of that is this tweet sent out by those Koch Brothers Americans for Prosperity outfit. This is a good tweet, it’s easy to read, but full of BS. Like most Koch stuff, it really says nothing.
SEO and political campaigns
You’ll want to say a lot, including with your images for Google. That’s why I name mine things that people will actually search for on Google, hopefully leading back to my site, and my message.
But we’ll talk about doing that at another point. Until then, happy tweeting!
But we’ll talk about doing that at another point. Until then, happy tweeting!
