I read a small piece that was talking about how President Bush got elected over 8 years ago. It was about bounce and bounce time by Dave Jones General. He was talking about what political analyst Carl Rove said, that when he was the campaign manager for President Bush, they new their bounce time was about 4 days. When their campaign team put out any piece of information they knew it would linger in the minds and hearts of people for 4 days or so. He later went on to explain how today’s rules have drastically changed. He said the bounce time, today is about 1 hour!
8 or more years ago the internet was Cakhia there. Cell (mobile) phones were there. But these very same gadgets have evolved dramatically that they have changed the whole information game. Today we have all kinds of sources of information, with people becoming their own source of information. New technology such as Twitter, YouTube, FaceBook, RSS, Mix It, SMS, name it have all come onto the face of the world. The internet has not only increased its reach but it has been moved to cell phones. Radio and TV stations are streaming on cell phones, internet and on anything that you can think about. What is even more amazing is that most of this content is free and it is by citizen journalist. You and me. That is how much things have changed.
The Obama team realized the changes that had taken place and took advantage. They realized the need of openness, relationship building and management, citizen participation and above all that the bounce time has changed to 1 hour. That is the time any information you put out remaining in the hearts of your target audience. They did not put out information on hourly basis. This is of course stupid and will lead to over burdening your target audience. But they ensured that their message was there in as many forms as possible on a daily basis. Whoever tried to look and utilized any information out lay format, you got a message from the Obama team. The results are there for all of us to appreciate, friends and foes.
Staying in front of your football fans with information and being part of their daily life is more and more crucial today because of the declining bounce time. No information about their beloved team is trivial. If you tap into the various methods of putting out information you can not run out of what to give. The idea is to run the club openly and give out those small snippets of information that can not be got else where. Give them a platform to talk to each other, around and about the team they love. That is what will reduce bounce time between your team and the fans. That is what will ensure that good and bad information is known by your fans before it gets out to main stream information outlets. If your fans are always in front of the information curve, it will cement your relationship with them. You will have got yourself fan evangelists. People trust and are more responsive to people they know and are close to. Putting out information constantly will make your team be part of their daily life they will learn to trust you, because you are part of their lives. They will therefore be more responsive. This will help your fan base grow geometrically as people will freely invite others they know to join.