[1]Belleville mayoral candidate Bill Glisky is embracing both social media and traditional print advertising. He’s pictured here speaking with supporters at his campaign launch party Sept. 17. (Photo by Amanda Lorbetski)
By Amanda Lorbetski [2]
BELLEVILLE – Three Belleville mayoral candidates [3] are taking three different approaches when it comes to incorporating social media into their election campaigns.
Mitch Heimpel is managing the campaign for Belleville mayoral candidate Bill Glisky [4]. He said Glisky’s journalism background [5] meant that connecting with voters on social media was obvious.
“The reason we’ve been social-media heavy so far is just it’s inexpensive and it’s a way to reach a different demographic of voters.”
Aaron Bell [6], former communications coordinator for the City of Belleville [7], is managing two campaigns in this election – Taso Christopher [8] for mayor and Garnet Thompson [9] for re-election on council.
“Taso [8] wasn’t really on social media at all before, so I’m working with him on that,” said Bell. “He was almost an instant convert, though. He very quickly saw that this is a great opportunity to talk to people.”
But not all candidates are registering for social media accounts. Anne Burnett is Pat Culhane [10]‘s sister and campaign manager. She says her goal is to get Culhane’s face in as many places around the community as possible.
“We get more comments at the office and from people, you know, on the streets, from what they’re seeing.”
Whether it’s screen-to-screen or face-to-face, Belleville mayoral candidates are trying to connect with voters more than ever in this election.
Listen below for the full radio story aired on 91X FM [11] on Sept. 25.
http://www.qnetnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/social-media-election-wrapper-amanda-lorbetski-sept-25.mp3 [12]