iCrossing's VP of corporate strategy explains that social media sites are increasingly visible in, and important to, political search results.

The 2008 presidential campaign has been widely touted as the first "YouTube election," and by providing candidates with an essentially free channel and unlimited airtime, the online video-sharing site has certainly emerged as a political force to reckon with. Yet the latest report in iCrossing's ongoing "How America Searches" series suggests that voters are going well beyond video-sharing sites like YouTube. Working with research partner Opinion Research Corporation, we learned that voters are embracing everything from traditional news sites to a range of social media sites (including blogs, network sites like MySpace and Wikipedia-like online resources) to candidates' own websites to get information about presidential candidates and political issues alike. So calling the 2008 contest the first "internet election" would be a more apt characterization.

With the election still more than a year away and the candidate field still extremely broad, focusing on the impact of search and social media on the political arena may seem a bit premature. But the fact is, from the brand perspective (in this case, the candidates themselves), voters who research their next president online are no different than consumers who research their next flat-screen TV purchase (although one hopes the next president is worthy of a bit more consideration). The principle of being visible or being found when and where interested voters are looking is of utmost importance, not unlike the situation that arises when consumers are looking for a product or service: they either find one brand or they find a competitor.

As might be expected, we found all of the current declared or likely candidates ranking in natural search results for their own names and some buying their competitors' names in paid search. But the real surprise is that currently, very few of the candidates are visible in either natural or paid search for issue-based terms. Instead, social media sites -- and by this, I mean a broad range encompassing blogs, video-sharing sites, social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook and collaborative online encyclopedias like Wikipedia -- appear to dominate the natural and paid search landscape for political issue-related topics. This suggests that social media sites not only have built a significant store of relevant content (that has been optimized for search) but also are spending money to gain visibility and market share around topics in which internet users have expressed widespread interest in utilizing these sites for election-related research.

The lesson to be learned here transcends politics. As the internet evolves into more of a participation-based social network, useful information -- such as articles, opinions, news and video and audio files about products and services (in the politician's case, positions on relevant issues) -- will become an increasingly vital ingredient in a website's overall success. Particularly in light of Google's recent move to "Universal" search, campaign planners and marketers alike need to ensure that brands and their sites are optimized for a broad range of web searches for content. Generally speaking, the more useful and interesting the content is, the more successful a website will be. Fresh content brings repeat visitors and increases the odds that other users and website owners will want to share that content with their visitors, groups or friends. For candidates, as for other brands, a core benefit of encouraging social networking activities will be increased search visibility.

The presidential campaign is the political equivalent of the Super Bowl, the biggest, baddest and most expensive marketing push there is. Candidates should approach their collateral with the same goal as any smart marketer: getting their message in front of customers at their point of interest. The net result of our research is that the web presents politicians and other brands with a growing array of opportunities to do just that.

Noah Elkin, Ph.D., is vice president of corporate strategy at iCrossing. Read full bio.