Posted on February 19, 2009 - by Justin Hartman
DA invites bloggers to Social Media unveiling
The Democratic Alliance today unveiled their new social media strategy to a small audience in Cape Town comprising journalists, party members and, believe it or not, bloggers. I was one of the lucky ones to crack an invite yesterday afternoon and I have to admit I was extremely excited to hear what the DA had up their sleeves.
Cape Town City Mayor and DA Leader, Helen Zille gave the first speech highlighting the DA’s progressive and forward thinking strategy. Mayor Zille said that,
this new digital strategy will reach South African voters in exciting and groundbreaking ways. Our approach is to build a personalised relationship with the DA’s supporters by involving them in our activities and campaigns.
The speech was followed by another from DA CEO Ryan Coetzee and he took us through the elements of the new communication strategy. This new strategy includes some of the following:
- Two Interactive websites
- Online advertising and marketing
- SMS communication
- Mobile web access
- Engagement with voters via social networking and in the blogosphere
New DA website launched
Then the two new websites were unveiled. The first was the DA’s main website www.da.org.za which has seen a major facelift and integration with various forms of Social Media. Some of this include videos embedded via Vimeo and Times Multimedia, a new forum component and various other social tools for sharing information. It’s cutting edge, usable and really puts the pressure on the other political parties. A job well done.
Contribute To Change
The new contribute to change website is equally impressive at first glance. The core of the website is to allow people the freedom to bring upon change in our country and the site has a strong social networking aspect to it that facilitates this process. In addition to the social networking you can pledge your support to making a change in the following ways:
- Build a team by recruiting your friends.
- Spread the word by sending letters to all the major newspapers and talk shows.
- Attend or host a DA event.
- Make phone calls and reach out to voters.
- Go door to door.
- Donate some cash.
Each of these allow individuals to take action and contribute to change as Helen puts it. I noted that while this website was extremely well put together I worried about what the value proposition was for end users and laymen like you and I. My first impression of the site was that this is very heavily directed to helping the DA and while this is positive I struggled to see how this benefited consumers – in other words, what were the DA doing for us in return.
For those who have heard Helen Zille speak you’ll know that she delivers a convincing and strong message and she was very quick to answer my concerns. The whole aim of the DA is to ultimately shift focus on opposition toward the focus on our country and how we as citizens could help make a difference. While I do respect this and it was a convincing argument I am still concerned that an ANC or COPE supporter wouldn’t use this website as it’s too heavily focused on the DA.
I wanted to ask, but thought not to at the time, whether or not the DA had given any thoughts to making this website agnostic – similar I guess to the new SA Elections website – as this could really bring the whole country together and not just DA supporters. If the Contribute To Change website was powered by the DA yet remained in the background I think this website could be far more successful in the long term.
What has really impressed me though is that the DA are by far the most progressive political party in South Africa. The ANC’s attempts at social media have been dismal and these two new sites by the DA really highlight their commitment to long term change in our country.
Both the new DA and Contribute To Change websites are built off open-source technology, specifically WordPress, BBPress and BuddyPress, and it’s great to see the use of open-source to drive the DA’s campaign.
I have to commend the DA, their web development team and the guys running the social media strategy behind the scenes on a job well done. I’m only worried that the Contribute To Change website is a little too advanced for a South African audience but only time will tell.
I am the MD and co-founder of 
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February 19, 2009
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February 19, 2009
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If only their politics were as coherent and impressive as their web strategy.
Sadly this simply adds another forum for whinging whities to whinge. Social whinging.
It’s also a little too obama-esque for my tastes. In other words, too American and a little out of touch with where the market in SA really is at.
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February 19, 2009
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Jarred I have similar concerns. It’s Obama repackaged to some extent however I am really interested to see what they do with Mobile now.
Ryan Coetzee highlighted that these sites are just another communication tool and extend their current strategy but in the next five years they want to focus more of their efforts on their mobile penetration.
This, as you will know, is no easy feat and if they get it right then I need to sit with their team for some tips.
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February 19, 2009
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It’s a great initiative – but I still am pretty frustrated that @helenzille on twitter (http://twitter.com/helenzille) never seems to reply to questions … it can’t be a one way conversation
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February 20, 2009
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Was a great event, nice to see you again bud!
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February 20, 2009
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[...] I met up with Justin, who’s covered the entire event, so if you’re interested in reading more, click here. [...]
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February 20, 2009
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Jarred, neither website will be a forum for whinging. Have a look at our manifesto (on the da.org.za site). I trust you’ll find it a value-driven and coherent policy platform for our country.
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February 20, 2009
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Nice report back, thank you. I would LOVE to sit on a team discussing how mobile could be used.
We interviewed Anthony a year ago, and the impression I got was that he was definitely doing what he could to learn about the possibilities.. while the site might be modeled after an Obama approach, I’m happy to see it launch – as long as they use and take note of the feedback they get..
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February 20, 2009
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They need to tighten up[ on what can be registered – i just registered votfortheanc as a domina on their site.
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February 20, 2009
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[...] http://justinhartman.com/2009/02/19/da-invites-bloggers-to-social-media-unveiling/ [...]
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February 20, 2009
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Nice whinge Jared. I guess it is disappointing that the DA choose to take a leaf out of the book of Barack Obama, the first non-white, post-racial president of the USA. God forbid that South Africans should copy excellence.
And then there’s the politics of the DA, the only party to offer a fully costed manifesto complemented with detailed policy proposals for how they would run South Africa. All underpinned by a consistent vision which they call the open opportunity society for all. But I guess to know that you’d actually have to join their social whinging site and inform yourself…
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February 20, 2009
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Thanks for the link and kudos!
It must be said that the DA team acknowledged that the digital part of their strategy was, in part, too progressive for a broad SA audience, but then they are looking after a very diverse following – more so than opposing parties.
The various elements within their overall strategy have to cater for very different demographic profiles – and I commend the DA for trying not to alienate any of them.
For example, I think the social networking stuff may not be as pervasive with the broader populace, but they’re looking after a niche group that can become very important and vocal ambassadors for the party. With regards to the lower income groups, that’s where the canvassing, advertising and mobile strategy comes in.
Personally (although I’m obviously a little biased), I think they’re bang on with their approach.
The question they asked is: “Can we afford NOT to be progressive?”
As for the influence from Obama, it would be dumb not to take some inspiration from the most successful digital marketing campaign in history. But as Coetzee said yesterday, there are some innovations that they’re rolling out to build upon Obama’s example.
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February 20, 2009
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[...] I met up with Justin, who’s covered the entire event, so if you’re interested in reading more, click here. [...]
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February 20, 2009
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Well said Richard, I could not agree with you more.
As for all these cries of “copy cat” – get over it people. There’s so little authenticity in the world these days – and there’s nothing wrong with borrowing from what’s worked for others. Why reinvent the wheel?
Jarred, I think you are selling South Africa short by implying that this approach is out of touch. I am sure that the DA will be using all the traditional channels in addition to an online strategy to ensure that as many people as possible are informed and updated.
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February 20, 2009
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This election needs some innovation, so I am glad the DA has launched its contributetochange site – a first for SA. Let’s see how it goes.
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February 23, 2009
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[...] influence cannot be ignored, not even in South Africa, thus I am not surprised that Helen Zille is reported as saying that the DA plans to engage voters and involve them in their campaigns through social [...]
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February 23, 2009
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[...] Bearing the context of the upcoming election in mind – I don’t think the focus of websites and social media is what will win an election in this country. These sites are tools to mostly disseminate information and act as information portals and secondly to engage a portion of the population. [...]
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February 23, 2009
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[...] DA invites bloggers to social media unveiling [Justin Hartman] [...]
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February 24, 2009
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[...] volunteers. A number of people have blogged about it, and I’d say the verdict is, on balance, positive. However, some of the negative commentary has generated some [...]
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February 26, 2009
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[...] volunteers. A number of people have blogged about it, and I’d say the verdict is, on balance, positive. However, some of the negative commentary has generated some [...]
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March 27, 2009
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It is a real pity that they have not applied for the DA.mobi domain.
The main registry mTLD is giving these away to worthy applicants. I have written to the DA to make them aware of this, but have had no response from them.
.mobi is set to become the default domain extension for the mobile web.