Openness of Obama and the White House to Technology: What lessons can businesses learn from it

in Tech News by Francis Simisim — January 28, 2009 at 1:50 PM | 0 comments

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I’m a big fan of US President Barack Obama, he is the first president to embrace technology and use it very effectively against other political competitors. I believe we are becoming dependent on technology as more and more things are done with ease with its help, however, not all of us maximizes what’s freely given on the internet right now. I think as entrepreneurs and individuals, it’s best to maximize the use of technology to embetter ourselves. So what can we learn from Obama?

Website

BarackObama.com is the website that Obama set for his political campaign. It gave him a way to give details of his policies and to communicate with his followers. Some businesses still don’t have an online presence and is really missing a lot of chances of educating, informing, selling to their potential / current customers about their products or services.

Social Networks

When Obama was doing his political campaigns, he maximized the use of Social Networking websites. By using Facebook and MySpace in his campaign, he was able to interact and relate more closely to his potential and current followers. It’s best for businesses to tap into the online community, this is the best way to show your customers that you care about them, and you’re willing to hear and respond to comments (negative / positive) to embetter your business in the future. You could also run competitions and promotions through the website to enhance the word of mouth by the online community. Funds with Research and Development could also be cut and instead conduct interviews and run certain tests online.

Online Videos

Obama also used YouTube to spread the word. Most of his Address to the public are done on YouTube where people can watch at their own convenience and comment with other community members about the video. Online Videos are fast becoming one of our daily past times, its mentioned not only by people but as well as other medias (TV, newspaper etc.). Businesses could use this to show more information about their businesses, educate customers and win potential customers. See my previous post on YouTube.

Blog

Obama also had a blog on his own website. Which is updated regularly to give information to what Obama was up to and what was going on with his campaign. Blogs make your customers feel more closer to your business, it shows that you are still human and not just a money making machine. It’s also a way to interact with your customers through their feedback.

The whole result of these elements is openness or transparency, I believe as a consumer we would want to know more about what we buy and make wise and informed decisions. As Entrepreneurs, we need to take advantage of the tools given to us online, it’s inexpensive (compared offline) and some are even free. The internet is moving towards web 3.0, it will be about companies and consumers interacting with each other and creating great products and services which everyone can appreciate. Check out Change.gov to see how the US government uses technology.

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Tags: Business Promotion Obama