Hidalgo County Candidates Fail To Maximize Your Campaign Contributions

I have a bone to pick. I see our candidates wasting the money that is being donated to their campaigns. If they keep this up, as a donor you should demand they make immediate changes to their campaign. Those changes are:

PUT THEIR WEBSITE ADDRESS ON ALL THEIR CAMPAIGN MATERIAL

Your candidates are failing to make the most of the money they spend on their websites, signs, TV ads, radio ads, push cards, t-shirts, and other collateral. If your candidates are on flickr, Youtube, Twitter, or Facebook and don't put their web address on their campaign material, then why bother with the social networks?

What happens is that they end up friending people online who would vote for them anyway. Isn't the idea of having a social media campaign to reach out to voters who have not decided who to support? It's like having a campaign event where only your family and closest friends show up. The idea is to get the public to attend, isn't it?

It's like running for an office in Hidalgo County and putting all their signs outside the county line. By not putting their website address on their campaign materials, their social media efforts are out in a dark corner of the internet where only their friends know to find them.

By advertising the website, your candidates can reach those voters who want to know more about the candidates. That campaign collateral can drive traffic to the candidate websites where they will click the photos, read the material, watch the videos, and maybe even make a donation.

Without driving traffic to their sites, the social media campaign is wasted time and money because your candidates are preaching to the converted.

Donors, talk to your candidates so they can go thump their campaign managers on the head. Ask them to do these things:

Posters: put the website address and twitter handle
Pushcards: put the website address and twitter handle
Banners: put the website address and twitter handle
Lawn signs: put the website address and twitter handle
Website: link to the social networks and twitter handle
Youtube: link back to the website and twitter handle
Twitter: link back to the website
Facebook: link back to the website
Flickr: link back to the website
Television commercials (all videos): put a link to the website and twitter handle
Radio commercials: mention the website and twitter handle

If your candidate does not do these things, then demand that they stop wasting time and effort on the web; send them block walking instead. Demand a return on your investment.