Virginia Congressional Campaign Facebook Breakdown (Part 1)

Continuing with my review of the social media campaigns of Virginia’s congressional candidates, I will breakdown Facebook this week.  Today, will be Virginia’s 1^st and 2^nd districts.  I received some very good feedback on “Virginia’s Congressional Campaign Twitter Breakdown” and I would appreciate any suggestions or corrections to my analysis of Facebook.

* = Incumbent

Red = Republican

Blue = Democrat

Black = Independent

Post Quality = Mixture of Content (Articles, Photos, Videos, Campaign Updates, etc.)

Virginia’s 1^st District:

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) also has a government official page, which has been liked by 2,321 users.

Analysis:

Wittman and his Democratic challenger Krystal Ball take very different approaches to their Facebook pages.  Wittman mixes in a lot of different content and makes sure that he has something posted each day.  While Ball puts a heavy emphasis on her page being used for group discussion, which she also responds to.  Ball writes in her description box, “Please feel that this is YOUR page to debate and discuss. I look forward to hearing your views.” While I think that Ball has embraced the “social” aspect of Facebook far better than Wittman, the content that she posts is weak, as it is tends to be centered almost around events and fundraising.  Both candidates have received a lot of positive feedback.

Winner: Wittman (Very Close Though)

Virginia’s 2^nd District

Analysis:

Rep. Glenn Nye (D-VA) does not have an actual Facebook page (He has a page but doesn’t use it).  His page consists of a picture of him, his Wikipedia article and a box at the top saying, “If you have a passion for Glenn Nye, sign up and we’ll let you know when we’re ready for your help.  Nye has pulled the reverse of what many politicians do; he has Twitter account, but no Facebook.  This page has no postings and I highly doubt it makes anyone want to “like” his page.  Very strange.

Republican challenger Scott Rigell has a lot of “likes”, but his quality is down.  Rigell has gotten away from mixing up his post content and now posts almost exclusively about his offline events.  Informing your supporters about what you did the day before is always a good strategy, but it should not be the only thing you post.  Rigell receives a lot of comments and “likes” on everything he posts.

As an independent candidate, Kenny Golden faces many of the same struggles online as he faces offline, including name recognition.  Scott Rigell is huge name in Virginia because he has a legitimate shot at unseating Rep. Glenn Nye, which has led to a lot of “likes” of his page.  Golden also switches between 1^st and 3^rd person, but does not note when it is staff or himself speaking.

Winner: Rigell

What I think:

-None of these candidates wowed me on Facebook.  Facebook offers so many tools and options, yet none of these candidates are taking advantage.

If you have any suggestions or additions about candidates or things to breakdown, please leave a comment and I will update the analysis.  Tomorrow, will be Virginia’s 3rd, 4th, and 5th districts.