There’s no doubt that Obama’s online and grassroots campaigning infrastructure is second to none, but what can the rest of us without hundreds of millions in funding do to learn from his campaign achievements?

Over at the “Web Profits” site, Alex Cleanthous has gone through “10 Lessons from Barack Obama’s Online Marketing Strategy“. This detailed and comprehensive post goes through the main take-aways for unions and other progressive organisations who want to campaign online “like Obama” (without the budget). The principles that Cleanthous goes through are widely applicable and even campaigns with a limited budget can take most of Obama’s lessons to heart.

The Strategy

Barack Obama’s strategy hasn’t changed much since 2008… build up a database, grow social media followers, encourage donations, and build credibility and trust through ongoing and sincere communication. The main difference in his campaign this time around is that he is focusing only on Facebook and Twitter to connect with people through social media.

The most important thing to take away from this article is that the process of achieving success online is the same in every market… even when running for President! Here’s the strategy:

1. Develop an effective website that drives action
2. Drive visitors to your website using marketing and advertising
3. Build a relationship with your prospects through email marketing & social media
4. Expand your reach through mobile
5. Implementing all of these steps together is the key to success

I suggest you go across and read the entire article – there’s a lot of detail and it’s worth it, even for relatively experienced online campaigners.