Barack Obama, The Social Media President

The American people have clearly made their choice and made it convincingly clear about who it is that they want to lead their country out of a difficult time. An election that saw record turnouts at the polls and the first African American president of the United States will not soon be forgotten and is now a moment in history.

It has been a long and difficult challenge for both parties and only one was left standing after all the dust had cleared. In looking back at each party's campaigns, it is evident who had a stronger online presence. By raising over $200 million solely through online donations, Barack Obama's team realized the value of what a well developed and tightly managed internet strategy is able to deliver.

There were many touch points that their strategy covered including a presidential candidate website along with active accounts with a number of leading social network sites all intended to drive traffic to the main site.

Obama's profiles have generated hundreds of thousands of followers and more importantly, listeners. Continuous dialogue has been maintained and monitored by Obama's people I'm sure while potential voters have been provided with a forum in which they are able to express their opinions and have their voices heard.

The metrics are highly convincing in terms of social media measures and with last night's result, it would be difficult to argue that the internet did not play a small role at the very least in leading American's to making an informed decision.

Through my research I came across a blog written by Alex Cleanthous who does a great job of illustrating the 6 Lessons We Can Learn From Barack Obama’s Online Marketing Strategy. He highlights effective persuasion tactics and information architecture among other things.

Now that Obama's goal has been met it will be interesting to see how the online strategy will shift as Obama gets sworn into office in 2009.