Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Marketing identifies and satisfies customer needs. Political marketing identifies and satisfies voter/citizen needs. How could politicians know who their voters are and how do these voters behave? How could politicians find out what are their voter needs? What could facilitate politicians’ process to satisfy these needs? Despite several studies attempting to answer these questions, no attention was given to propose social media as the main bridge between a politician and a voter/citizen. Using correlation analysis, the researcher builds a simple framework by examining the relationship between the use of social media and each one of the following political factors that may directly relate to the bridge construction: a) the effect of social media on “Learning” about voters; b) the effect of social media on “Adapting” to voter needs, and, c) the effect of social media on “Innovating” ideas/proposals to satisfy voter needs. Data were collected from ninety-one Council members of U.S. Local Governments. The results of the study show that social media has a statistical relatively strong positive relationship with “Learning”, a statistical moderately high positive relationship with “Adaptation”, and a statistical moderately positive relationship with “Innovation” (LAIn). Not only in theory but in practice also, LAIn Model provides the opportunity for elected politicians and political candidates to build on social media with an aim to identify their voter needs and effectively satisfy these needs. Further implications can be drawn from this study’s findings and interesting directions for future research are provided.