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

We mentioned on Monday that we have been hard at work strategizing to find the best ways to enrich your experience at Politics4All.  So today, we are excited to let you know that we have added a new feature to make things a little more social and extend your community. We want you to be able to share your other social networks with the community at Politics4All, so we have created a place on your profile for you to do just that.

So let’s get started….when you login into Politics4All you will notice under settings we have added a new tab: Social Web.

Click on that tab and you will see you can add one or all of the services listed.  It’s really simple: just enter the link to your profile in the space provided, click add the link, and your profile will be shared.

We would love to hear from you.  Are there other features you would like to see us add to make things more social?  Have we left off any social networks you’d like to share?  This is your community and your input is important, so drop us a line and let us know what you think.

Technorati Tags: candidates, citizens, community, political groups, 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

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

MONTGOMERY, AL – October 31, 2008 – Politics4All announces the participation of several national candidates on their politically-neutral website, www.politics4all.com. Politics4All is a social platform created to provide citizens, candidates, and political advocacy groups a central network in which to exchange ideas and information about politics on the local, state, and national levels.

Politics4All provides free of charge to campaigns a suite of campaign management tools that can be used for volunteering, campaign and legislative tracking, news feeds, blogging, news flashes, press kits, and a real-time town hall forum. Politics4All’s collaborative network provides a community of users interested in people, activities, events, and groups about politics.

Philip Bryan, communications director for the Alabama Republican Party was quoted in a local newspaper saying, “For people who aren’t in these high dollar races, this is a platform they can use to really get their message out to more people,” Bryan said. “As they develop it and make it robust, they will increase all the different ways for candidates to really get their message out. I can’t wait to see where it goes.”

The Democratic Party of Alabama also sees the potential of Politics4All. Lindsay Waits, communications director says, “Politics4All arrived at the opportune time, as the field of politics has really branched out to encompass the online community.  This has been especially evident in the success of the Barack Obama campaign. It also provides an interactive outlet for us, as a party, to share information with the public to which they may not otherwise have access.”

Branden South, Vice President of Marketing of Politics4All, believes this website will change the landscape of politics. “Politics4All has the power to change the way all sides communicate in the political world. Candidates have more resources at their fingertips. Citizens can become more involved at all levels of politics. All this is done through the power of the Internet.”

• 124,000,000 Americans have gotten news and information about this years’ campaign from the Internet
• 28,000,000 Americans 30 and under use social networking websites to get or share information about politics or campaigns
• 18,000,000 Americans go to the Internet daily to engage politically

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Technorati Tags: campaign management, candidates

This year’s presidential campaign has shown that the Internet can be a powerful tool to have in one’s campaign arsenal.  Both presidential candidates have ushered in a new and effective means for developing grassroots support on a large scale with their use of the Internet.  Politics4All is designed to provide those same types of campaign management tools to every office seeker or current office holder on the local, state, and national level. The catch is . . . there is no catch. Politics4All offers this service at no cost to the candidate.

Today’s campaign environment is getting harder to control.  Candidates or incumbents seeking all levels of government office are trying to navigate through an unprecedented access to media sources.  In addition to traditional media (newspaper, radio, television, outdoor), the Internet has taken on a more pronounced role in campaigning.  With the proliferation of Facebook and MySpace-type web sites, today’s voters are expecting a “quick view” of politics. While these types of Websites and single-candidate sites may give them a taste of politics, Politics4All gives the candidates and citizens all-things political in one place.

For example, if a candidate creates their own web site, the number of potential citizen-visits will be extremely limited. The majority of visitors to a candidate’s Website are those citizens already supporting the candidate, or members of the media that are researching the candidate.  With Politics4All, the candidate will attract far more potential voters without incurring costly design, development, and hosting fees. 

Politics4All provides today’s candidate with a free Web-based platform combining campaign tracking, volunteering, blogging, press kits, and a real-time town hall forum, helping bridge the gap between the candidate and the citizen.

To register, go to www.politics4all.com and create an account. When creating an account, type county, municipal or state in the Promo Code box. Next, the candidate will request a Candidate account. A candidate account will provide more tools to help them manage their campaigns and grow their support base. The candidate can then build their personal candidate profile and start to experience the power of Politics4All. The candidate can add pictures or videos, blog about their campaign or platform, or contact potential voters. And with a personal web address, ex. jansmith.politics4all.com, the candidate can drive traffic directly to their personal P4A website.

“Politics4All is designed to allow candidates, citizens, and political organizations to collaborate and influence the political landscape, at all levels of government,” says Branden South, Vice President of Marketing & Co-Founder of Politics4All.  “Now the candidate has a tool to help them grow their voter-base, all on a politically-neutral site.” said South.  There are only a few hundred nationally elected officials in the U.S., but more than 400,000 on the state, county and municipal levels.

One of the added benefits of Politics4All is that the communication established by the candidate during a campaign doesn’t have to end once the campaign has ended. For instance, if the election is won, the office holder can continue to send information and news to their constituents through Politics4All, or use our platform to direct them back to the local government’s official web site.

From voter referendums for a proposed drink tax in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, to a ballot in Nashville, Tennessee proposing English as a first language for all state government workers, Politics4All provides a forum for a candidate to rally support and voice their opinions with others, including the citizens who will be impacted by these decisions.  While the U.S. presidential elections are top of mind, Politics4All builds upon promoting political candidates, issues and parties on a local level, where decisions made have an immediate impact on voters.

Politics4All’s collaborative network provides a community of users interested in people, activities, events, and groups about politics. Local politicians are excited about the launch of Politics4All. According to Alabama State Representative David Grimes, “Politics4All provides an unbiased forum for the free-flow exchange of political ideas so that all sides can be more accurately informed.”

Now, the power of developing a grassroots support base is available to anyone who campaigns for an elected office.  The future of campaigning is here, and Politics4All is leading the charge.  Politics4All is encouraging registered political candidates, incumbents, advocacy groups, and voters to register with its site, and begin the political discussion in their hometown.

Technorati Tags: candidates, local elections