Old Man Winter is making his mark and it’s downright cold out, even in the south! However at Politics4All, we have been keeping warm by working on our next round of services to heat things up on the political social web. Today, we are really excited to announce that we are rolling out strategic services designed to ignite and educate the political community. We are excited about our offering because we believe that the social web is one of the most powerful communication tools available to both candidates and citizens. And, we want to make sure you know how to harness the power as a candidate or a citizen.

We are committed to igniting and educating both candidates and citizens about the social web because we know it’s going to play a critical role in the upcoming mid-term elections and going forward. We also know that getting started can sometimes feel like a daunting task. So, we have assembled a team of experts who are also passionate about the social web and  about helping you get answers to all of your questions.

So stop sitting on the sidelines, and let us help you get in the new media game and be a key player. Check out our New Media Services page and start making the social web work for you today.

Technorati Tags: campaign management, candidates, citizens, political groups, social media, social media strategy, workshop

As Social Media week comes to a close we have decided to extend it over at Politics4All. Our community is filled with interesting people writing about fascinating topics important to them. We want to get to know you better and so do others in our community. We would like to feature you on our blog in a get to know you style interview. If you are interested in being featured or possibly guest posting on our blog drop us a line or comment here and we will be in touch.

That’s not all. We want to help you drive traffic to the content you are producing at Politics4All. So if you want us to tweet about your posts make sure you tweet us @politics4all and we’ll kindly respond with a RT.  If you are launching a campaign, as we are more than happy to provide the RT, along with a mention on our weekly campaign round up.

And finally, we are in the process of planning some “tweet ups” to connect with you offline as well. Keep checking back here at the blog as we will announce it here first.

As always we want to hear from you so if you have ideas or suggestions or want to help us plan these events please leave us a comment here.

Technorati Tags: blogging, candidates, citizens, events, political groups, social media

Today, is the beginning of Social Media Week 2010. In honor of this week there are conferences being held along with various other events and activities around the world. The goal of the week is to educate, create awareness and even influence how social media is used in corporate, public and non-profit organizations. On our end, we want to be a part of educating and influencing the use of social media in the political/government arena.

We are very excited about this week and all we have planned for the community. Over the last few weeks our team has been hard at work designing features and activities to build this community and to enrich the experience. One of our goals is to be a place where politicians can get visibility online, build or extend their social profile and garner support for their campaigns. We want to make it easier for politicians to get started on our site and once their campaign has been launched we want to help promote it on our end. Every Monday we will be posting a round-up of all the campaigns that were launched in the previous week. So, if you are a politician who has questions or needs help building their social profile on the social web or on Politics4All we have a team ready willing and able to help you with that process. Just click on this link and tell us how we can help and someone from our team will follow up quickly.

And while we are on the subject of new campaigns here is a list of the campaigns that have recently launched at Politics4All:

• Floyd Bayne for US Congress Virginia
• Dave Funk for US Congress Iowa
• David Walter for US Congress Alabama
• Mike Fellows for Family Court Lee County Alabama
• Lenny Lopez for Justice of the Peace #2 Tarrant County Texas

Technorati Tags: social media

This has certainly been a game changing week on the political front in the U.S. First with the election in Massachusetts, the people clearly sent the message that their seat belongs to the people and not any particular party. We are well aware that they are other factors at play here, however,we believe a critical factor was the grassroots effort by Brown. His campaign strategy seemed to embrace both digital and traditional media. There is no denying that candidates today have to embrace all the mediums of communication to reach their community.

Another interesting move this week, that has sparked lots of debate, is the 5 to 4 decision by the Supreme Court (PDF) to lift the ban on the corporate use of treasury funds for political speech. The majority agreed in the 180+ page decision that the government should not be regulating political speech, citing the First Amendment and our right to free speech. While the dissenters found that allowing corporate monies to be used would corrupt democracy. The timing of the decision is important in that it could be a game changer upcoming mid-term elections.

At Politics4All, we know the community here has something to say about the events of this week. We really do want to know what you think, so make sure you share them with us by commenting here, or alerting us to your blog post, or copying us as you tweet out the message.

Technorati Tags: candidates, community, local elections

Welcome to 2010; a New Year, a new decade, and we are excited to see what it brings. We’re also excited about our vision for this community.  Over the holidays we’ve spent time thinking about what we can do to move this community into a new decade.

This week we will be returning to our blog series about the Community and Campaign. We believe it’s the community that comes first. We’re working on a project where we’ll need your help, so stay tuned. We believe this is the year politicians will have to get in the game. What do you think?

Not so long ago, elections were won and lost based on a candidate’s level of engagement in their community. Candidates didn’t need to get the addresses of all their constituents to know who they were because they already knew them. Canvassing the community meant meeting with your neighbors, sitting at their kitchen table listening and discussing ideas and issues. Town hall meetings were real community meetings where candidates and constituents came together to discuss and resolve the issues of the day. It wasn’t a studio audience brought together based on questionnaires and hosted by a news anchor. A candidate’s platform was crafted based on their vision as well as real feedback from their community. The point is the community was there first.

Fast forward to the wired world of today.  The most successful people are the ones who have built and are actively participating in their communities through all of the various channels available to them – both online and offline. Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents, speaks about this in his most recent installment of his video series – overnight success. The premise of this series is that success doesn’t happen overnight but through lots of hard work, commitment and through community. Take a minute, and watch the video.

At Politics4All, we believe the most successful politicians, advocates and citizens are the ones who are actively participating in their communities today. We believe that the community comes first, and we think we’re building a place that makes it easy to connect and build communities online and offline. Our community is a place where you can listen, connect, build support and even hold Town Hall meetings. Over the next several weeks, we’re going to share with you all of our best tips on how to leverage our offerings to assist you in building your community, crafting your platform and building support. Whether you’re planning a campaign, or trying to gain community support, an active community organizer, or someone trying to get the attention of the policymakers in your community, this blog series is one you’ll want to follow.

Now you know where we stand.  We think community comes first. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: campaign management, candidates, community

If you ask any politician or advocacy group what the critical success factor for creating and executing a winning campaign is, they will tell you it’s strategy. And winning strategies cannot be crafted without the right data. Data is the key to creating targeted messages that rouse a constituent to take action. At Politics4All, we know how important data is and we’re excited to announce that you can now purchase USPS Zip+4 Congressional District data for all 50 states from us, http://data.politics4all.com.

Also, at Politics4All we know that you’re busy and that you may not have data experts to extract and match the data to your lists or segment for your strategies. So, we’re ready, willing, and able to do the custom data work for you. Our team is ready to carefully and cost effectively execute your custom requests so that you can stay focused on your strategy.

Our new data services ensure you can:

• Determine where and how to focus your efforts to target the right segments
• Eliminate costly errors by ensuring your direct mail pieces meet USPS requirements and will be delivered
• Plan more strategic campaign appearances to reach constituents on their own turf
• Create and execute successful growth strategies

We provide data in CSV format which can be opened with MS Excel, MS Access, and most other spreadsheet and database applications. Other formats include XML and dBase IV, so just let us know what you need.

To find out more about our custom data services visit http://data.politics4all.com/data-services.html.

Technorati Tags: campaign management, candidates, data, political groups

The Winners of the 2009 W3 Awards have been announced by the International Academy of the Visual Arts. In its fourth year, the W³ Awards received nearly 3,000 entries from Ad agencies, Public Relations Firms, Interactive Agencies, and interactive media professionals from around the world.  The W3 Awards honor outstanding Websites, Web Marketing and Web Video created by some of the best interactive agencies, designers and creators worldwide.

The Winners of the 2009 W3 Awards have been announced by the International Academy of the Visual Arts. In its fourth year, the W³ Awards received nearly 3,000 entries from Ad agencies, Public Relations Firms, Interactive Agencies, and interactive media professionals from around the world.  The W3 Awards honor outstanding Websites, Web Marketing and Web Video created by some of the best interactive agencies, designers and creators worldwide.

Politics4All has been awarded three “Silver Awards” for creative excellence from the International Academy of the Visual Arts’ W3 Awards in the following areas: Politics, Social Networking and Political Blogging. Website entries are judged on the following factors: creativity, usability, navigation, functionality, visual design, and ease of use.

“We were incredibly impressed by the quality and creativity of this year’s entries. W3 winners continue to set the bar in Web development and design, push the limits of web advertising creativity and advance the use of web video. We are thrilled to have reviewed such a diverse and respected pool of work” said Linda Day, the executive director of the IAVA. “On behalf of the entire Academy, we congratulate this year’s W³ Award winners as they continue to advance Internet creativity and greatly contribute to the robust and ever-changing online community.”

The W3 Awards is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms.

Thanks to the design and development team for all of their hard work and to the Virticle Media Group team for their support as well.  We couldn’t have gotten here without each one of you.

Technorati Tags: awards

The Business Council of Alabama (BCA), the Alabama Democratic Party, the Alabama Republican Party, the Alabama Council of Association Executives, and Politics4All are joining forces to host a workshop on social media. The workshop will be held on Thursday, October 8 from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Montgomery.

The Workshop will feature experts in the social media world like Paul Chaney, The Social Media Handyman, who released his latest book, The Digital Handshake this month. Other speakers include Lindsay Waits, former director of communications for the Alabama Democratic Party, Philip Bryan, communications director for the Alabama Republican Party, and Rep. Cam Ward (R), who is one of the first elected officials in Alabama to adopt social media marketing.

This workshop is perfect for candidates or current office holders, association personnel, communications and governmental affairs personnel, and government employees. Everyone is encouraged to bring their laptops. To register for the social media workshop individuals need to go to http://politics4all.com/events. The cost of this conference is only $25. Space is limited to the first 100 registrations.

Technorati Tags: events, workshop

Politics4All has been selected as an Official Honoree for the Blog – Political category in The 13th Annual Webby Awards.

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, established in 1996 The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites.

The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to work that scores in the top 15% of all work entered into the Webby Awards. There were nearly 10,000 entries received from all 50 states and overmore than 60 countries.

Winners are chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization whose members include David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser, AKQA Global Creative Director Rei Inamoto, and R/GA CEO Bob Greenberg.

Recognition by the Webby Awards puts you in an esteemed group of industry leaders such as Amazon.com, eBay, Yahoo!, iTunes, Google, FedEx, BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, NPR, Salon Magazine, Evite, Meetup, Wikipedia, Flickr, ESPN, Comedy Central, PBS, and The Onion.

Needless to say, the Politics4All team is pretty excited about this honor.  But we couldn’t have done it without all the people who come to our site every day. Thanks for coming to the site and making it what it is!

Technorati Tags: awards