A BuzzFeed Boost?

Late last week, the Ontario Liberals publicized a BuzzFeed post about their leader, Kathleen Wynne, entitled: The Top 20 Reasons Why Kathleen Wynne Rocks. For the uninitiated, BuzzFeed is a pop culture aggregator, posting daily lists and articles about cats, celebrities and everything in between.

So, the provincial Liberals have used that canvass to paint a picture of Wynne as “one of the most – if not the most – fabulous political leaders in Canada.” While it certainly won’t win the election, I think it is a fairly smart exercise. Here’s four reasons why:

  • Going where the fish are: BuzzFeed’s typical visitor is likely the same kind of individual that they are targeting: educated, culturally aware, older (but not too old) and female. A great match.
  • Familiarity: BuzzFeed’s “listicles” are well known. Using such a format is easy for most people to consume and understand, especially those who are not political but may be open to voting for the Liberal Leader and Premier.
  • A human side: These points really touch on the human side of Wynne, as opposed to her role as a politician. While it does mix in a fair amount of policy geared towards the aforementioned BuzzFeed crowd, it also talks about her footwear (Converse), taking selfies and her hula hoop skills.
  • Highly Visual: Each of the 20 points comes with a photo to illustrate the point being made. This allows a lot of information to be communicated quickly and easily.

With over 5,000 views thus far, the article was well circulated. The only issue I have with the tactic is that there is no easy way to convert interest to activism. Yes, the team was smart enough to include the campaign URL, but a reader would still need to cut and paste the URL, click on volunteer, etc, etc.

But in terms of targeting new audiences and properly re-purposing factoids about Wynne specifically for that purpose, it was a job well done.

What do you think?

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