Obama Wins: A Powerful #Technology Lesson for Entrepreneurs

Republican or Democrat, business owners must recognize Obama's victory was a win for technology and delivers a poignant lesson in harnessing the latest tools and tactics.

Whether you like Obama's politics or not you have to respect his ability to run a campaign. Here's how Obama won using technology and the latest marketing strategy as a force multiplier to become the Darth Vader or Jedi Knight of politics, depending on which side of the fence you are on…

1. Tracking Users on the Web
Both Romney and Obama used tracking tools on the web to find out more about their prospects, understand their motivators, and target messages to them. Obama just did a lot more of it, with 76 tracking tools on his site, which is even more than what Best Buy uses. On the downside Romney supporters might wonder if that data will be used to punish them down the road.

2. Internet Phone Services & Cloud Computing
Perhaps most significantly the Obama campaign mobilized an army of street level promoters and armed them with mobile technology and remote call center tools. They gave people a mission to make them feel like they belonged, matched scripts and call lists to remote callers, and connected their network with cloud computing.

Note that they did this mostly using open source software and managed to eliminate the expense and wasted time associated with field offices.

3. Integrated Social Media
Obama has always captured attention for his Tweets and this year he boasted 33 million Facebook "likes" versus just 2 million last time around and almost three times what Romney has. However, the Obama camp also hired a chief integration and innovation officer who recognized in his own words that a Facebook "like" is "just the first rung on a ladder of engagement". It is just one part of connecting and social needs to be fully integrated into a new breed of social enterprise.

Most importantly the big take away for all business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs is that you can achieve anything, against any odds if you take the time to truly understand your prospects, have the right strategy and harness the latest technology and communication tools.