Candidates – Maryland’s 5th Congressional District – Technology Outreach Scorecard

My next Technology Outreach Scorecard will look at the congressional race in District 5. Currently there are two Democrats and two Republicans that have entered this race. This is my fist look at MD05 so I don’t have tracking data but this will be a good starting point for anyone looking to keep an eye on this race. To be honest I was not sure I was going to add this district into the scorecard mix for 2016 but some of the candidates are making a real effort to use technology for outreach and so here it is.
The candidates: To see the full list of candidates that have “Officially filed” click here
Democrat:

Steny Hoyer: http://www.hoyerforcongress.com/

Kristin Beck: http://www.beck4congress.us/index.html

Republican:

Mark Arness: http://www.arnessforcongress.com/home.html

Sam Faddis: http://www.samfaddis.com/

The Scorecard: (Click the follower numbers below to view the social media page)

Notes:

• Facebook – Beck and Hoyer dominate this field with total number of followers on Facebook.
• Twitter – Beck holds a significant follower advantage today. Hoyer and Faddis are in the second tier on this platform based on the number of followers.
• Again, without tracking data this is only one aspect of the analytics. Look for more complete data next month.
• Extra Credit – The Beck campaign list LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and Tumblr on their campaign website. I LOVE the fact that they are using all of those channels for voter outreach.
• Candidates that need to fix some issues:
  • Hoyer – No social media posts since November 4th (almost two weeks ago). Might want to be a bit more active to engage with followers.
  • Beck – I really like all of the social media links but the links should look consistent. Use icons or use text but the mixing of both does not look professional. Also the front page is WAY to long. It takes forever to scroll to the bottom of that and other pages on the website.
  • Arness – The social media links should be on the front page (not just the contact us page). Also, you have a YouTube channel…list it as well. You have not posted a tweet since May…might be a good time to starting using that account if you are going to list it on the website.

A significant factor in evaluating online outreach is looking at follower engagement. In November I am focusing my reviews on Facebook engagement. Here are the numbers for the candidates over the past week:

Notes:

• Only two candidates active over the past week: Beck and Faddis.
• Beck wins this area of evaluation with around 1,100 user engagements in 7 posts.
• It was nice to see Faddis so active on Facebook. I would note they should be careful not to “overpost” on this platform as it could lead to followers unfollowing or “hiding” your posts from their timeline.
• Would be great to see Hoyer and Arness post something in the near future.

Online Outreach Leaders in this race: The Democrats. As this is my first look I am going to hold off on picking one outright leader but without question the Democratic candidates hold a significant advantage in followers and engagement based on this evaluation. As more tracking data becomes available, I will eventually choose an outright technology outreach leader.
Scott E