Ian Orekondy @iano1000 1

2009 New York City Mayoral RaceDigital Social Media Strategies and Impact Analysis

Bill Thompson vs. Mike Bloomberg

Vs.

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Ian Orekondy @iano1000 2

The 2009 New York City Mayoral Race Is Taking Place on Social Media Sites Much More Than on The Campaigns’ Own Sites

Campaign Website (monthly visitors)

YouTube Channel (video views est.)

Facebook (fans/supporters)

Twitter (followers)0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

20,000

100,000

23,600

12,5008,000

20,000

4,785800

BloombergThompson

Ian Orekondy @iano1000 3

Bloomberg’s YouTube Videos Have 4x More Views Than Thompson’s Videos

BloombergThompson

Only Bloomberg Appears to Be Promoting His YouTube Channel With Promoted Videos when users search on relevant terms within YouTube

Ian Orekondy @iano1000

Bloomberg Is Winning the Battle for Attention on Twitter, and He Is Aggressively Promoting His Twitter Profile via text ads on Google’s Content Network

Bloomberg has built a comparatively large Twitter following, despite a less personal toneThompson has a more personal tone on Twitter, but has not been effective at building a large following

Graph of Twitter Followers Over Time Provided by TwitterCounter

# of

Fol

low

ers

on T

witt

er

Bloomberg’s Twitter Account Is Using A Range of Borough-Specific Hashtags to Increase the Reach of His Tweets

Example of Bloomberg’s Google Content Network Text Ad Driving People to His

Twitter Profile

4

Ian Orekondy @iano1000 5

Bloomberg’s Facebook Page Has 4x More Fans/Supporters Than Thompson’s Page

*Facebook also prices these on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions basis)

Only Bloomberg Appears to Be Actively Promoting His Facebook Page with Cost Facebook’s Social Ads -Cost Per Click Text/Image Ads Presumably Targeted to People Who List New York City As Their Hometown

6

Search Interest in Thompson Peaked Higher Than Bloomberg’s in September and October, Probably Because Fewer NYC Residents Knew Much About Thompson Before The Race

However, Bloomberg’s Campaign Site Traffic Has Grown Significantly Faster.

Ian Orekondy @iano1000

7

Bloomberg’s Campaign Website Is Dominating The First Page of Google Search Results for Keyword “NYC Mayoral Election”

Ian Orekondy @iano1000

Organic Search (SEO): 4th Listing on Page 1

Paid Search (PPC): Top Listing Premium Placement

Ian Orekondy @iano1000 8

Bloomberg Is Even Reaching Voters With Ads On Bill Thompson’s Own Website

When visitors to Bill Thompson’s website search for information on Mike Bloomberg, they are served an ad for Mike Bloomberg via the Google Content Network

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Both Thompson and Bloomberg are Bidding on Their Own “Brand Terms”, And Both Candidates Are Battling for the Term “Mike Bloomberg” within Paid Search (PPC)

Ian Orekondy @iano1000

One area within the search and social media space that Bill Thompson is winning is on his own “brand term” – Bloomberg doesn’t appear to be bidding on this term

Ian Orekondy @iano1000 10

Recommendations for Both Candidates

BillThompson2009: 1. Extend the reach of your tweets

• Engage passionate groups in relevant ways with better hashtags (e.g. #brooklyn or #yankees, #jets), just make sure you’re staying relevant to these groups

2. Focus funds on reaching engaged voters researching the election online• With only two weeks until the election, it’s probably too late in the race to try to compete within

the organic search results on Google• But with few competitors bidding on relevant search terms in the paid search space, give yourself a

voice on more general keywords (e.g. NYC Mayoral Election), and…• Consider driving these engaged searchers directly from Google to your YouTube videos ,Twitter

profile and Facebook page where people are more likely to return on an ongoing basis, so you can keep them engaged throughout the rest of the race

3. Finally, your campaign may need all the funds it can get, but give up the $1.25 your making from Google AdSense and stop (inadvertently) promoting Bloomberg on your site.

Mike Bloomberg for Mayor:

Make sure you’re paying your search and social media teams handsomely – they’re doing a pretty good job for you.

Ian Orekondy @iano1000 11

Agree/Disagree?Share Your Thoughts, Ideas, Suggestions for the Candidates at

http://www.SearchandSocialMedia.com

And you can find me on Twitter @iano1000

Vs.

Monday, October 19th, 2009