SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.

Last week’s poll question: President Barack Obama announced his 2012 re-election campaign through Facebook, YouTube and text messaging instead of traditional media outlets. Do you think social media will play a major role in this election cycle?

• Yes — 89.21%
• No — 8.27%
• Not sure — 2.52%

We saw it first in the 2008 and 2010 elections — and now we are seeing social media take even more prominence in the 2012 elections. It wasn’t much of a revelation that President Barack Obama used social media to spread the word about his re-election campaign, given his campaign history, but to not announce something so significant on national television first, demonstrates a radical shift from mass media to the one-on-one communication model.

Television was always perceived as the most influential channel of political communication. Now, the social Web may be taking over that title, since diverse individuals of all ages spend their time online to connect with others, share ideas and voice their opinions.

But, could relying on social media too much have disadvantages as well? I would say this is my main concern, and I doubt I am the only one who worries about this. Since political leaders have been accustomed to broadcast-only media for so long, I am not quite sure if many are ready for the authenticity, openness and two-way dialogue that social media requires.

In 2008, Obama used social media exceptionally well because he understood the technology and the power of the social Web, as well as its remarkable communication capabilities. Many believe the strategic use of social media helped Obama topple Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. Although social media has changed considerably since 2008, I don’t doubt that the president and his staff have a terrific social strategy lined up. However, are other candidates ready for the challenge?

Many political leaders and their staffs are still at the embryonic stage with their social media presence. Also, the more popular the social Web becomes, the more people will expect political candidates to authentically engage by addressing issues and answering questions, and not just delegating their social media engagement on to their staff. The social Web is not a broadcast-only medium and failing to interact with constituents is no longer an option for any political leader.

Do you think political leaders are social media ready? Have your political views changed due to social media?

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Just weeks after the shooting in Tucson, Ariz., brought calls from politicians, pundits and members of the public to re-examine the tone we use to engage one another in political debate, it took just one unofficial response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to get the fighting words flowing again.

Nowhere was this seen more clearly than on social channels. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., utilized YouTube to deliver her response to Obama’s speech — separate of the official GOP response from Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan — only to see many commenters take to social networks to fire back. Facebook reported that in the hours leading up to Obama’s Tuesday night address, social chatter was more focused on Bachmann — for better or for worse.

WebTrends looked at conversations about the speech across a variety of social media mediums, finding the economy as the leading topic, with education, military matters, innovation and health care all coming in behind the 10,000-plus hits the top topic drew in the 24 hours after Obama’s speech.

CNN’s coverage of the State of the Union looked at Twitter’s trending topics during the speech, using them as a sort of instant analysis of the Obama speech by the public at large. But going beyond a raw number of mentions and actually grasping the tone of what is being said is much more difficult, notes ChicagoNow.com writer Fernando Diaz.

“What was interesting was to see how few people actually cared about the State of the Union,” Diaz writes of the CNN Twitter trend compilation, which showed topics such as the Apple iPad and Katy Perry receiving a higher number of tweets than those mentioning the State of the Union address.

Perhaps political discourse can’t prosper online in less than 140 characters, despite efforts by Republicans and Democrats to flood social media channels before, during and after the speech.

Several lawmakers, including Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., posted thoughts on their Facebook accounts during the speech, allowing for a level of access to power that may be changing the game, despite the issues of indifference on one hand and partisan fervor on the other.

Inhofe, like many others, planned ahead for the president’s speech, choosing to go beyond merely disagreeing with the president in his own words, but also putting up links to past Obama speeches or government documents to drive home a point.

While Obama’s campaign successfully used the Internet, and social media specifically, during the 2008 elections, most are willing to admit the Republicans and other political groups have caught up in terms of their ability to use such tools to great effect.

“The Internet is a medium for challengers. It’s a medium to disrupt the existing power structure,” Republican digital media consultant Patrick Ruffini told NPR. “Inherently speaking, a decentralized online movement is going to be frustrating to people who have the power, and the White House is the very definition of power.”

Image Credit: Bosphorus, via iStock Photo

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There are many examples of top brands watching their mentions and responding accordingly to individual customers on the social Web.  Some have taken advantage of the attention to boost their image, services and bottom line (Comcast or TurboTax, for example). Others, notably, have not. We all recall Kevin Smith’s “too fat to fly” rant against Southwest Airlines … yikes.

So how can you leverage listening to drive your next campaign? Look no further than your nearby 7-Eleven.

During the midterm elections this year, President Barack Obama mentioned Slurpees in 35 different speeches. Obama referenced the product as the Republicans’ beverage of choice while they criticized Democrats’ efforts to revive the economy.

In the first postelection news conference, Bloomberg news correspondent Hans Nichols asked the president whether he would have the Republican majority leader, John Boehner, over for a Slurpee. Obama quipped, “I might serve [Slurpees,] they’re delicious drinks. The Slurpee summit, I like that.” 7-Eleven liked it too — and within 24 hours pulled together a team of 30 people from their PR, marketing, operations and ad agency teams to figure out the logistics and get on the road with their 14 city Slurpee Summit tour, promoted entirely through Slurpee’s Facebook fan page.

Lessons learned from 7-Eleven’s listening induced campaign:

Listen everywhere — and to everyone: Influencers come in all forms and share their commentary on all kinds of mediums. Sometimes the best endorsement for your product or service can come from a unlikely source.

Act fast: Press attention was at its zenith when the 7-Eleven team came up with their summit idea. Their team got the summit on the road within 48 hours of the president’s news conference remarks, allowing them to capitalize on existing buzz.

Some SmartBrief staffers enjoying the summit.

Add value: Fans who came to the Slurpee Summit got more than just a Slurpee (in the bipartisan flavor of choice, “purple for the people”). They saw a free concert by Blues Traveler and received lots of free swag (T-shirts, fancy Slurpee straws, glowsticks, etc.). The 7-Eleven teams used their Facebook page to share videos, pictures and stories from the tour as they traveled across the country, enticing fans to come out when the event rolled into their town.

Connect with your fans on an issue outside of your brand: The Slurpee Summit capitalized on a hot topic that extended past the president’s remarks on Nov. 3,  it touched on the elections and the state of U.S. politics. Though they kept the conversation tongue in cheek, 7-Eleven’s efforts piggybacked on something consumers already had top of mind.

Sales results are still pending, but in the three weeks since the campaign launched, Slurpee has received more than 400,000 new fans on Facebook. All because they were listening and ready to respond.

Image Credit: 7-Eleven

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Today’s Q-and-A is with Kevin Flynn, one of the prime movers behind Motorola’s Ochocinco News Network that helped transform the Super Bowl last week in Miami. Kevin honed his expertise on President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, where he helped manage 18 State Blogs on the campaign’s Web site.  He’s now working on European social network strategies and a host of other community building projects.

How did your experience on Obama’s new media team prepare you for your work at Motorola?

The campaign conditioned me to work long hours with an intensity of mission very similar to Motorola. The coordination and speed with which ideas can go from someone’s lips to being live in front of millions of people online is also analogous.  I learned how to handle divergent views –- and angry customers –- with respect.  I also came to understand that successful communities share the same key tenets, regardless of what or who is being “sold.”  Trust is the most important of these, and as my blogger friend Liz Strauss, impressed upon me, you have to stop thinking sales and start thinking relationships.

Congratulations on the high-profile multimedia community you created for Super Bowl Week.  What was all the buzz about last week?

The Ochocinco News Network (OCNN) powered by MOTOBLUR(tm) was all about having fun. Chad Ochocinco joined other NFL stars Chris Cooley, Darnell Dockett, Ray Rice and the comedy team of Jake and Amir to deliver insider views, satire and real reporting. The team was on the Miami scene all week, at official Super Bowl events and on the party circuit. The site featured fresh video and photos daily, and the #OCNN hashtag pumped updates as they happened into the Twittersphere. After just one day, the media buzz around OCNN was robust, with outlets from ESPN to The Huffington Post reporting on the team’s antics, and the Miami Herald saying they were “covering Super Bowl Week like no one ever has.”

Are there takeaways from this experience that might benefit marketers at other companies?

There are amazing Web sites building software programs available these days that allow html novices like myself to create an online presence that would’ve cost a bundle just a couple of years ago. We produced a quick Grammy site last week and took it from idea to live with about 10 hours of work. The OCNN site involved more time, support and designer input, but still went from idea to live in just under two weeks.

Looking ahead toward your next project, are your community recommendations for Motorola Europe different than they are for the U.S. market?

I can’t comment on specifics since they’re still in planning mode, but the general considerations are different.  Because we had a vision of one Facebook community for all of Europe, I struggled at first to come up with how to handle language differences. With help from Eric Berlin, my editor at Technorati who also runs a startup aggregation firm called Forwerd Media, we came up with the idea to create a content aggregation widget that visitors can customize by country, language and media preferences such as sports, music, social networks and news feeds. Instead of having to leave their Facebook page to go their favorite sports teams’ sites or popular European social networks like Tuenti or Skyrock, European users can have it all in the widget, making their online lives more organized. The benefit to us is having a branded widget that users’ friends and fans can see, grab it and make their own, thereby spreading the Motorola brand virally around the Web.

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