Your by-the-numbers approach to marketing online. What is it worth to convert a visitor? How will you achieve conversion? How will you get visitors to your site? Want to know the answers? See our slideshow.

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Social media is taking over traditional areas of campaigns, from fundraising to media to volunteer recruitment and more. Some now argue that social media is the most influential part of a campaign. Its effect is difficult to measure, however, because it encompasses so many parts of a campaign.

Fundraising, perhaps the most important aspect of a political campaign, can be extremely lucrative online. Ron Paul raised over $1 million within 24 hours online. A recent study of the California governor’s race found that the results of “social listening” closely correlated with polling and focus groups. Simply paying attention to social media – which is almost all virtually free – could save a campaign thousands of dollars otherwise spent on polling.

48% of 18 to 34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up in the morning. 65% of adults under age 30 cite the internet as their primary source for news, almost doubling since 2007. A full 34% of people ages 50 to 64 also rely on the internet for news. Twitter has become a better source for breaking news than any other news source.

A January survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 21% of adults accessing the Internet use social media for political purposes, such as to find information on candidates, sign up for a cause or campaign, or find out who their friends are supporting. More Republicans than Democrats fall into this category, putting Republicans ahead of Democrats for using social media. This is a reversal from 2008, when Obama held a 15-point advantage over John McCain among adults using social media. The change is due to an increase in older voters and Tea Party activists using the internet.

Fewer people are watching cable news and broadcast network news, and campaign ads are losing their importance due to the prevalence of DVR which allows fast-forwarding over commercials. Traditional media is not only transforming, it is disappearing. Maryland news site The Rockville Central became a Facebook-only news organization in March.

Social media is a highly effective way to get information quickly to journalists. A poll of journalists found that 40 percent use Twitter to source stories, and 35 percent use Facebook. Social media also allows for more control over the message. “Twitter and Facebook and the web can hold the media accountable,” says Alex Conant, a spokesman for Tim Pawlenty. “And if anyone ever does misquote [Pawlenty], [social media] are a quick way to respond to our supporters.”

Chandler City Councilman Jeff Weninger of Arizona, a prolific user of Twitter, has a response for politicians who complain about Twitter and their lack of followers. He tells them that 70 followers on Twitter is still 70 people who you can get a message out to once a day; that is more people than most politicians and candidates can get to show up at a meeting. Additionally, many people use Twitter for searches, making it irrelevant how many followers someone has.

Even if social media does not seem particularly effective, perception is important. A politician who is actively engaged on social media seems more credible and in tune with his constituents than one who neglects it. The media is watching and reporting on which politicians are using social media effectively and which ones are not.

Social media is expanding to wireless phones. Social media author and guru Ralph Benko predicts that after our current Web 2.0 era of social media, the internet will transform to Web 3.0 on mobile phones. One percent of adults have contributed money by text message to a candidate or cause connected to an election. More than one quarter of adults used their wireless phones to learn about or participate in the 2010 election cycle. Email is still important, but since people are so deluged with emails, it cannot be the only online method of communication.

Campaigns can no longer dismissively relegate social media to volunteers. Volunteers are pulled in many directions in today’s Web 2.0 era, where every campaign is online. They cannot possibly devote enough time to the needs of a moderately-sized political campaign. Social media encompasses too many parts of a campaign to expect volunteers to master all areas. Republicans learned a lesson in the 2008 presidential election. If they repeat that mistake, they may as well change their symbol from an elephant to a dinosaur.

Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2011/05/24/political_candidates_ignore_social_media_at_their_peril/page/2

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For those that haven’t read the book, it lays out a method of what they call “principled negotiation.” This is an alternative to the classic “positional negotiation” that’s little more than starting at two extremes and haggling to some center point with little regard for what makes sense. They also point out that positional negotiation can also be less adverserial, although possibly just as destructive, when one or both negotiators are falling over each other to make concessions in the interests of protecting the relationship, such as when a boyfriend “gives in” to his girlfriend, despite what he really wants.

The authors cover four basic aspects to the method then relate how to use the method even if others in the negotiation aren’t. As with Difficult Conversations, they include plenty of examples and one of the impressive aspects is that those examples range from a husband and a wife figuring out a floor plan for a custom home to the Camp David Accords.

Like many of the best books in the self-improvement and business categories, much of what’s in the book will be familiar. (“I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have gone ourselves.” – E M Forster)

We’ve all negotiated with others many, many times and had varying levels of success. The successful negotiations often included inadvertent or instinctive reliance on some aspects of these methods. But the complete method described in Getting to Yes brings it all together, explaining why some negotiations have failed and how others could have gone better.

In just the last few days, I’ve already had several opportunities to start practicing the techniques from figuring out what to have for dinner to improving the possibilities for two deals that my company is seeking to make with other companies – one as a vendor, one as a customer. As such, I can’t help but pile on the bandwagon and recommend this book as what ought to be required reading. If you haven’t read it, you need to, and not just for work. If you have kids, you need to get them to read it, too, as I think it will be one of those things that prepares them for adulthood more than anything they will learn in school.

I was talking with a wedding photographer recently that was trying to figure out the right call to action to use for a series of Google AdWords ad campaigns. My suggestion was to offer something that might be useful to a bride in exchange for an email address. The photographer could prepare a short PDF on the subject of how to pose during the photography session to get the best results.

The photographer was thinking about an offer of a free “parents’ book” with the purchase of a wedding photography package.

That’s too much, too early. Think about it for a moment: the bride clicks on an ad and sees an offer that makes an assumption that she will hire the photographer for the wedding and after the event, when photos are being prepared, the photographer will make up an extra book for her parents.

Aren’t we kind of jumping ahead in this relationship?

I suggested thinking about it like dating. When the person clicking on your ad first comes to your site, you only just met after a nominal introduction that suggests there might be some potential there. Do you ask for a date by suggesting you’ll cook dinner for her on your anniversary?

That’s what I asked the photographer. Her response: “Creepy.”

Don’t be creepy. Make your call to action one that fits the state of the relationship as it stands. There will be plenty of time to cook her dinner later.