You might have heard the phrases, the names and all the goofy sounding words like "twitter", "tweeting", "blogging", "friending" or maybe not.  Perhaps what Scott Brown's campaign did will cause you to want to learn more about how to leverage the plethora of social marketing tools that are mostly free and only cost you the sweat equity of learning how to master and exploit for your particular cause.

The Wall Street Journal published an article shortly after Brown's win showing how his campaign team did compared to Coakley's.  The numbers difference is staggering and we all know the results were amazing.  Here is the article reproduced below.  Click on the links to the study and the report for more details.

"A study conducted by the Emerging Media Research Council out today found that Brown had a more effective strategy of using social networking tools including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to promote his campaign and connect with supporters.

Here’s a look at the numbers:

Facebook Posts since Jan. 1: Brown (128), Coakley (58)

Facebook Fans: Brown (70,800), Coakley (13,529)

Tweets since Jan. 1: Brown (142), Coakley (144)

Twitter Followers: Brown (9,679), Coakley (3,385)

YouTube Videos: Brown (57), Coakley (52)

YouTube Video Views: Brown (578,271), Coakley (51,173)

The study concludes that Brown’s use of social media helped in several ways, including boosting his name recognition both in and out of Massachusetts. They note that just 51% of Massachusetts voters had heard of Brown in a Nov. 12 poll, by Jan. 14 his name recognition was at 95%.

The study also found that Brown more openly embraced social media sites on his campaign Web site, where he “prominently” features social networking channels including a Twitter feed while Coakley “gives social networks less prominent real estate.”

In recent elections, Democrats—including President Barack Obama–have gotten the bulk of the credit for using social media networks to boost their campaigns. However, other recent studies suggest that the tech divide between the two parties is narrowing.

A report released last week on lawmaker’s use of Twitter found that Republican lawmakers are taking advantage of the Twitterverse significantly more than their Democratic counterparts. In the House, GOP lawmakers send out 529% more tweets than Democrats."

Bottom line -- if you want to learn more locally, attend the training in February by People's Press Collective in Loveland.  This will be a great first step.