How our clients and newly elected Councillors used digital comms to their advantage

Sofia & Manolis | Monday, May 10th, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Ahsan, Saima and Mark with Ken Livingstone - from the Working for Hoe Street website

Our whole-hearted congratulations go out to newly elected Cllrs Saima Mahmud, Mark Rusling and Ahsan Khan at Hoe Street ward in Waltham Forest, London. They didn’t just get elected – they triumphed!

They came to us with a simple request. Help us reach our potential voters online and set out our policies clearly.

They were a joy to work with and early on they realised both the potential of the medium and the need for economical use of the tools available to them.

We sat down and looked at their priorities together and decided on the strategy and ethos of their on-line presence, after understanding fully their views and beliefs as candidates.

Together we designed a simple and functional website which was only the first step.
The SoMaFusion core contribution was in advising regarding style and content, discussing the nature of on-line communications and encouraging openness, brevity and clarity in their content.
We also believed firmly that tools just for the sake of having them (like twitter and facebook pages) would burden them unnecessarily without being targeted specifically to their potential voters. They believed so too and it’s nice to see that we and they were right.
Finally, we developed a wonderful relationship and saw them grow as digital communicators, presenting their views clearly, with honesty and continuity.

Our favourite post in their blog by far was their youngest campaigner – a highly representative item of their openness and good humour.

Cllrs Saima Mahmud, Mark Rusling and Ahsan Khan made it because they used digital communications not as an bolt-on but as a serious tool based on deep understanding of their ward’s issues and meaningful policies that resonated with voters.

We as SoMaFusion will never stop saying it. Without true basis, without meaningful strategy and policy your digital communications will be empty and meaningless.

We couldn’t be prouder of Cllrs Saima Mahmud, Mark Rusling and Ahsan Khan and we look forward to working with them in the future.