Smallbrain Solutions

When I posted this last week, I didn’t really think of this as a series, really. After seeing a flurry of posts on “how to” blog, I thought that I would add some more advice on how to write a campaign blog. Specifically, why so many campaign blogs suck — and how you can avoid that exact situation.

Really, the final straw was that the Harvard Management Communication Letter, even weighed in with this yesterday:

“Don’t let the PR department write your blog. Bloggers will sniff it out, and when they do, you will lose all credibility,” says [Consultant Debbie]Weil. She points to GM’s [CEO Bob] Lutz as a senior executive whose writing style is genuine, conversational, and engaging, and whose blog—like the best executive-written blogs—eschews corporate-speak.

In your blog, express your enthusiasm and passion for your work and your company’s product, with occasional asides on topics that reflect your personal interests. The latter will keep your voice authentic and increase the linkability of your blog.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Here are some examples of political blogging in practice. Here is what I (and I suspect most people would agree with me) would consider a poor example, from Tim Kaine (the Governor-elect of Virginia):

Tim Kaine is the clear choice for Virginians who want to build on the progress of the Warner-Kaine Administration, and Tim’s momentum has been reflected in every recent major public poll in this race for governor. Sixty Virginia newspapers have endorsed Tim, as has Governor Mark Warner.

Click here to double-check your polling place!

But the outcome of this race is far from certain. Tim’s opponent is working hard to get out the vote, and just last night he relied on George Bush to rally his supporters.

Today, please vote for Tim Kaine and keep Virginia moving forward.

Click here to double-check your polling place!

from TK4G.org, November 8, 2005

boorrrrrring. And there is no personality here at all. In fact, most of the posts he has on his blog are like this… just some plain language with no personality.

This is much better (if a bit gushy…):

Governor-Elect Corzine…

was out shaking hands at a commuter stop this morning at 7am. I don’t know how he did it considering the grueling schedule of the last four weeks, but he surely knows that he was elected to do the real work of governing this wonderful state and the millions who live here. New Jersey, thank you, it’s time to get to work.
UPDATE: Bluejersey has a video of Jon Corzine’s speech last night.

from Corzine Connection, posted by Matt Stoller, Nov 9, 2005

There are a couple of important takeaways from this post.

First, and I can’t stress this enough, is that your blogger doesn’t have to be your candidate. It just has to be a real person.

Second, you can see the difference in the voice there. There are two ways to sound human (even if your vetting process requires a ton of people to see/edit it).

a) Write like you would speak. Matt says,

“I don’t know how he did it considering the grueling schedule of the last four weeks, but he surely knows that he was elected to do the real work of governing this wonderful state and the millions who live here.”

Where a Kaine’s blog would say something like this:

Tim Kaine is the clear choice for Virginians who want to build on the progress of the Warner-Kaine Administration, and Tim’s momentum has been reflected in every recent major public poll in this race for governor. Sixty Virginia newspapers have endorsed Tim, as has Governor Mark Warner.

Obviously, one of those is a little more engaging.

b) It is more than wording - Be Personal. Matt’s post is talking about his personal opinions in the first person. The Kaine blog is just spouting something lifeless. Remember that those personal touches really make the blog more fun to read - and as Debbie Weil mentions above, that should increase your linkability.

Now, Matt Stoller is a professional (he blogs pretty much everywhere) and you would expect him to be better at this than most. But what he did with the Corzine blog is not super-secret or even that complicated (well, the tone part isn’t). The ultimate secret of successful campaign blogging is to just get back to what is natural - blog like you were writing emails to your friends and you are probably on the right track.