During the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama demonstrated the power of social networking sites for achieving results in politics, and Sarah Palin has made headlines through her Facebook status updates. In campaigning terms, web 2.0 is perhaps the internet age's biggest gift to candidates and politicians, with Facebook currently offering the largest platform.

Clever politicians have realised that Facebook can be used to muster a battalion that can be led into battle. Facebook supporters can be converted into volunteers, energised to recruit new members and motivated to spread messages. The medium also allows politicians to engage with the public in a direct, unfiltered and personal way - something the public craves.

Most candidates and politicians that have an active presence on Facebook have built a following with fans and offer regular status updates and news releases. With a bit of ingenuity, politicians (mainly in the US) are finding more ways to maximise Facebook, both for engaging and expanding their supporter bases.

Go visualPhotos and videos attract attention, so it is worth making use of them on Facebook. Bill Clinton regularly posts photos on his page from his trips around the world and many candidates change their profile pictures frequently to reflect particular themes or events during a campaign.

Video clips offer interest on the page and a free platform to delivery an unedited message. Clips of recorded media interviews, footage of speeches or events, and campaign videos are all appropriate.

In Maryland, the candidate for Governor announced his running mate in a video posted on Facebook. Similarly, a member of Congress used his page to announce that he was officially running for re-election. In both cases, these tactics attracted media attention, drove traffic to the page and gave supporters the privilege of being the first to know.

One candidate in the US even used a free service called www.GabCast.com to record an audio clip, which was easily linked to a status update so that supporters could play the clip when it popped up on their newsfeeds. Thousands listened.

Organise and invitePoliticians are using Facebook to drive attendance to rallies, fundraisers and speeches. Other campaign activity counts as an ‘event' too, and candidates are issuing Facebook event invitations to watch or listen to media interviews.

Grow the fan baseMany think of Facebook as a way to gather existing supporters. It is. But it also presents incredible opportunities to recruit new supporters, and in the last year many candidates have aggressively grown their supporter bases using Facebook.By running advertising campaignsvia Facebook Ads, it is possible to identify and target people by geographic location and values fairly precisely. Facebook Ads are targeted at self-identified supporters of specific keywords (compared to Google Ads which are targeted to search or content keywords on specific sites). The adverts drive potential new supporters to a candidate's site and grow the supporter base.

A second successful tactic is to publicise that the campaign is trying to achieve a specific numerical fan goal. This supporter ‘push' engages fans directly and encourages them to invite their friends to become fans. That quickly and exponentially increases the number of supporters. In the Virginia race for Governor last autumn, Bob McDonnell's successful campaign doubled its number of supporters within a week by using this tactic.

Finally, Facebook Connect is another tool to gather new supporters. By loading Facebook Connect on a campaign's website, anyone who logs in shares their name, email address and list of friends with the campaign, opening up a new source of potential supporters. One Washington think tank launched an issue-related page with Facebook Connect and added more than 8,000 fans to its Facebook page in 24 hours.

Here to stay

Since the 2008 US election, when social media burst onto the political scene, the Republicans have unexpectedly taken the lead in its use. As a result, many believe they may have an advantage in the November midterms. And traffic to the Facebook pages of members of the House of Representatives has now surpassed traffic to their official government websites.

Facebook now has a permanent place in the political process. Though it may be a frivolous pastime for most of us, it is a powerful tool for candidates, especially those who are willing to be creative.