Obama, Youtube, and You

It is no secret that Barack Obama utilized youtube and other new media tools unlike any other candidate in the 2008 election cycle. Whether behind the scenes or campaigning door to door, the Obama campaign wrote the rulebook for bypassing television to communicate directly through online video.

With the campaign over, the Obama transition team shows no signs of abandoning that strategy. If the following video is any indication, the Obama White House will be the first to establish a "channel" - or page - on youtube:



With this strategy, the president-elect is preserving an inexpensive mechanism for communicating with voters, minus the filtering effects of mainstream journalism.

So, what does this mean for your company? Politicians aren't the only ones who can benefit from embracing a youtube strategy. Southwest Airlines , Dell, Standard Solar and the One Campaign are just a few of the companies and non-profits that have created channels on youtube to reach a desired audience in an innovative way. Two key factors for determining whether your organization should make the leap to youtube are (1) whether your desired audience gets its information online more so than traditional news outlets, and (2) what message you seek to convey to your audience and whether you can do so through youtube. Have questions? Send us an email.