Attention candidates who don’t regularly update their Facebook page or who simply don’t have one, social media matters!  Yeah, you might have heard this before, but seriously folks, you need to integrate social media into your campaign.  Just look at this recent CNN article highlighting the candidates who won in Tuesday’s primary.  Each candidate, from Christine O’Donnell and Vince Gray to Carl Paladino and Kelly Ayotte had more Facebook fans than their opponent.

Now that I’ve hopefully sold you, I’m guessing that you might have a few questions about how to effectively use Facebook on the campaign trail.  Don’t fret, as I’ve put together a few pointers below that should come in handy.

1.)  Have someone on your campaign designated to solely handle Facebook activities.  As in scheduling events, this should NOT be the candidate.  Instead find a volunteer or someone on your staff who is comfortable with social media and can take charge in setting up your account and keeping it regularly updated.

2.)  Get a contact within Facebook.  The person handling your Facebook account should establish a contact inside the company for any immediate support that your campaign will need.  For example, if you see fake fan pages or accounts, you can immediately contact the Facebook team and ask them to delete these pages and move fans over to the official page.

3.)  Plan strategic updates for supporters.  Frequently campaigns will have a Facebook page but don’t have a plan for drawing in new supporters/fans and worst yet, never post new materials. If you are holding events and talking about the issues on the campaign trail, supporters should be made aware of these activities on your Facebook page.

4.)  Monitor your page.  Facebook pages have discussion tabs that allow followers to post comments about your campaign.  This is a great way to engage your supporters, however, you should monitor these comments on a daily basis.  For example, if hate messages appear, someone should delete them.

5.)  Consider purchasing Facebook ads.  A great way to target and increase the numbers of fans on Facebook is by purchasing ads.  If you have the resources available on your campaign to do this, I’d highly recommend it.  Facebook ads allow you to focus on a variety of aspects such as age, location, gender, interests and connections (pages).  In order to save advertising costs, tighten your targeting.