If you have any interest in how political campaigns work or how technology is changing the way candidates get elected, you must read this excellent blog post by Mindy Finn. Mindy provides a detailed case study about the McDonnell for Governor campaign’s use of new technology to build volunteer support, raise money and get out the vote. Her examination provides tremendous insights for candidates looking to harness tech tools to achieve success on Election Day.

As a sampling, here are Mindy’s 7 habits of highly successful campaigns -

1. Major statewide campaigns need multiple people working on the online aspects of the campaign, even if they are part-time. One person should be wholly dedicated to website content, social media and blog outreach, and this person will likely not have the bandwidth to run online organizing and fundraising.
2. Invest in a professional-looking site with a robust platform, but you can’t stop there. Budget for continued development to adjust to strategy shifts. Every campaign has them.
3. Devote between 5-10% of your media budget to online advertising. The commercial standard is 15%. With the exponential growth in DVR use and 10% of the population no longer watching television, you will miss voters if you don’t run online ads. Remember, online ads can be launched w/in minutes to rapidly respond to an incoming attack or to take advantage of an opponents’ stumble. Both happened on the McDonnell campaign.
4. Manage online fundraising expectations. No matter how hard you try, your biggest online fundraising haul will come in the final 2-3 months.
5. Don’t forget to utilize your online presence to engage and activate volunteers, and involve your political operation in this process.
6. Candidates and campaign managers must take a vested interest in the online strategy of a campaign. It will not succeed in a vacuum.
7. If you are able, invest in new communications channels such as mobile. Mobile messages reach recipients instantly and are opened at higher rates than email; however,recognize that email will allow you the greatest reach, and is unique in its ability to instantly inspire contributions.

I know Mindy from her work as leader of the Bush-Cheney ’04 online effort. She has valuable expertise in this ever-changing field. Take some time to read the full post here.