Social media and politics. A week of events in Calgary.

As some of you may know earlier this year (August 2010) I got on Barb Higgins’ team as a digital communications guy. The next 2.5 months were months full of interesting and unforgettable experiences. It was my first political campaigning experience. It was tough but I learned a lot. The elections took place on October 18th, 2010 and Barb came in 3rd with a little over 90k votes.

As you probably know, I like sharing things and I’d love to share what I learned through this campaign with you both here and and at events across Calgary. This week appears to be the most active one since the election to discuss social media and politics at public events. There’s 2 events I’m speaking at this week: Election Dissection by Third Tuesday Calgary and Online Marketing in Politics by Calgary SEO and Online Marketing Meetup groups.

Election Dissection: The role of social media in Election 2010 Calgary

There’s no question social media came to life for the first time in a Calgary civic election this fall. The question is, what role did it play in the final outcome? Did tweets and posts elect our new mayor as many claim? Or was it a case of a good mix of strategy and all forms of media?

Four of Calgary’s finest politicos, pundits, and digerati will come together in what is sure to be a lively panel discussion "Election Dissection". Troy Wason will moderate, joined by panelists Stephen Carter, DJ Kelly, and Alexander Zagoumenov.

Online Marketing in Politics: tools used, results achieved, best practices

In case you slept through October, there was a landmark election that was more exciting than any municipal election I can remember. Regardless of who won, the exciting part for many of us marketing geeks was how much of the race was run using social media and online marketing techniques.

Alexander Zagoumenov will be giving his insight on Online Marketing in the political arena. He was hired to handle Barb Higgins’ social media campaign, and can now share with the Meetup Group his experience.

I really hope you have a chance to come and support me and my colleagues as we discuss what the future holds for the use of social technologies in political campaigning.