Effective e-campaigning is not a shop window – it is a two way conversation

It never ceases to amaze me the way new technology has transformed modern campaigning.

A few months ago, I was on Facebook and some young people from Dover started instant messaging me. They wanted to know what I thought of domestic violence and 42 days. An odd combination you might think! I disapproved of both.

It turned out they’d written about this no less than three times to the current Labour MP and not had a reply – while I had given them a clear answer in seconds. The next thing I know, they are asking whether they can join my campaign and help get change.

So a whole bunch of schoolboys come and help in the local elections and a 40 strong Conservative Future Facebook group has started in Dover & Deal. Just like that! It made an incredible difference to our local election campaign and results. Technology can build organisation at a speed we could never have dreamt of even three years ago.

Even better, meeting this group of young people over a few beers, I learned so much about the changes they would like to see. An extension to free bus travel. More for young people to do and to go. The Sea Scouts (pictured below) are great, but they wanted more. They’ve inspired me to campaign for a social action “dry pub”. These young people tell me they now feel part of the change that is happening – listened to, taken seriously and helping to make the difference. They had this sense of powerlessness, yet see that with the right team in place, changes can happen.

These pub chats have also made me think harder about how we can help families more. More help with child care, family days out and places for families to go and enjoy some fun are badly needed in Dover & Deal. So I’ve started a “Putting Families First” campaign – things like getting more play areas, using the great assets we have locally better for families to enjoy a great day out, encouraging a new transport museum project and asking the local council to do more to advertise the things that are going on.

This little story has a simple point. We have long known that an ineffective campaign sees a candidate delivering leaflets all day long, while an effective campaign witnesses a delivery network being built.  It’s the same with e-campaigning. This is what I love about technology like Facebook. Why I now Twitter, allow comments to be left just about anywhere on my website as well as engaging on issues with the website “Chatmap”.

Because effective e-campaigning is not a shop window – it’s the two way conversation that builds organisation and activity.

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