Reaching Inward Not Outward: Marketing via the Internet at the UK 2010 General Election

Abstract

The Internet has been to date used as a space for simple promotion by political parties; websites present an opportunity for the delivery of non-mediated communication directly to the online audience and nothing more. However, new patterns in usage during campaigns, particularly that of Barack Obama, aided by the technological innovations that fall under the umbrella of Web 2.0, offer new models of online political communication. Through an analysis of the websites and linked online presences of six parties that stood across the UK at the 2010 General Election, we find a dual strategy for Internet campaigning emerging. The persuasive traditions of electioneering remain a feature; however, the key emergent function is one of internal marketing to party supporters and activists. Large sections of party websites are being dedicated to harnessing supporters and converting them to being donators, promoters, and campaigners both online and offline. This suggests that the Internet is increasingly embedded within election communication and online communication strategies are becoming a feature of most of the parties' marketing communication mix.

KEYWORDS:

• elections
• Internet
• online campaigning
• UK politics
• Web 2.0

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Darren G. Lilleker

Darren G. Lilleker is a senior academic in the Media School, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom. His research interests lie with the impacts of new technologies on political campaigning and their fit within marketing strategies. He has published widely on political communication and political marketing and is author of Key Concepts in Political Communication (Sage 2007).

Nigel A. Jackson

Nigel A. Jackson is reader in Persuasion and Communication at Plymouth University, Plymouth, United Kingdom. His key research interest is how political actors communicate both during and outwith of election campaigns, especially using the Internet and public relations. He is joint author with Darren Lilleker for Campaigning, Elections and the Internet: US, UK, Germany and France (Routledge 2011), Promoting and Marketing Events (Wiley 2013), and currently co-authoring the fifth edition of Politics: The Basics.