Obama’s the better salesman
ArgYou.com measures the success of the US election campaign on the Internet
If the US election were decided on the candidates’ Internet efforts, Barack Obama would win hands down. A recent study measured how well each candidate sells himself as a “digital product” and which one’s name is most searched for on more than 180 different search engines worldwide. John McCain is much less visible in his content on the Web by one third and his site presents less relevant arguments to web-users. In contrast, of the VP candidates, Sarah Palin is searched for three times more than Joe Biden.
A new method, developed by ArgYou.com, the Swiss Internet market analysis company, measures the impact of websites by systematically comparing what content is searched for and how intensively. According to their analysis, on average, 53% of all content on Barack Obama’s website is actively searched for by users whereas John McCain is active searched by only by 49%. This means candidate Obama’s digital campaign is more than four percent closer to the interests of average American Web users than McCain.
Compared to McCain, Obama shows himself to be a significantly better marketer looked at as a “digital product” and as a virtual brand. Generally, Obama, who has deservedly acquired the nickname “e-Bama”, addresses people’s current political concerns in the Internet very much better than his rival.
Obama promotes America, McCain the USA
ArgYou.com’s measurements also show which topics in the campaign “pull”, which do not and how each candidate differs based on their internet content: The democrat speaks three times more about “America”, whereas the republican speaks almost exclusively about the “USA”.
Barack Obama, who emphasizes the environment in particular, wins on search for almost all political topics. His site better matches what people are searching which makes him a more interesting candidate. McCain’s contents are mostly about the rhetoric of war, as were those of his republican predecessor, Bush, four years ago. Among other topics, he focuses on security, American values, Iraq, the military or 9/11. McCain mentions these war related topics about five times more than Obama. He also publishes ten times more about issues of wars and about the right to bear arms (2nd amendment).
Terrorism and war down almost 100% in both campaigns
Americans continue to search the Internet heavily for jobs, schools, insurance, credit or mortgages. Popular as ever in the search engines are business, health and universities, followed closely by “money”. This is not an artifact of this year’s election campaign during a finance crisis. In 2004, during the Bush and Kerry campaigns, these issues including Mammon, were also high on the list of people’s interests and concerns.
The following campaign topics are mentioned on the candidates’ sites more frequently versus campaign 2004 (also measured by ArgYou.com): immigration laws, defense, reforms and technology. Significantly decreased are topics with a religious flavor, Afghanistan, costs, Vietnam, freedom, weapons, independence and marriage; the topics terrorism and war dropped almost 100% in importance compared to the 2004 campaign.
Technical obstacles in the election web
ArgYou’s analysts also systemically evaluate the structure of products or digital election campaigns on the Internet. John McCain’s web site is technologically antiquated. He uses an obsolete, unsuitable Content Management System (CMS). The links are based on a system that, worldwide, is out of fashion. In contrast, Obama’s website has a relatively clear structure, and contains consistent and very differenciated descriptions of his political positions. According to ArgYou’s study, America’s Internet future would probably be in much better hands with Obama than with McCain.
Internet market research from ArgYou.com
A new analytical approach to measuring elections or products on the Internet:
- Measures the competition on the web (which contents are searched for and which ones have the best chance of being found).
- Measures how closely site contents match their markets (yours and others)
- Enables the savvy operator to appear in front of visitors more often with target-relevant, exciting content
- Puts competition in the shadows
- Allows in-depth, pre-launch testing of web sites.
www.ArgYou.com
Media contact:
Dr. Christoph Glauser
Chairman
ArgYou AG
Zugerstrasse 74
PO Box
CH - 6341 Baar
Switzerland
T +41 41 767 08 28
F +41 41 767 08 29
M +41 79 652 25 09
glauser@argyou.com
www.ArgYou.com
