How do you create buzz!!??

I still want to talk about the Republican lieutenant governor's race, but first I want to talk about something that has been eating at me -- how do you create buzz? I guess everyone wants to know that, but it seems particularly important to political neophytes trying to generate some excitement about their campaigns.

The less well known you are and the less political experience you have, the more you need buzz, which brings us back to the Republic governor's race in Mississippi. I pick the Republican governor's race because it is interesting on a couple of different levels.

The acknowledged front-runner, Lt.Gov. Phil Bryant, is a veteran of three state-wide campaigns and a number of local ones. He knows the Republican party from the inside. He knows the people. He knows all the stuff that experienced politicians know because they learned their lessons running for office and working with the state and local parties. Phil is the only Republican running for governor with statewide campaign experience.

His chief opponent -- although not his only opponent -- is Dave Dennis. I included this website if you want to see all of the Republican candidates http://www.politics1.com/ms.htm. Dave is a businessman from the Coast with no experience as a political candidate. In addition, he and his wife grew up in Alabama, and they are graduates of Auburn University, which is located in Alabama. I mention these to show that he doesn't have those home grown networks that most successful statewide politicians have in Mississippi. The Coast may as well be Texas or even "somewhere up North" in the eyes of the rest state. Dave has been a successful businessman and well connected with the Republican Party, but he has to overcome that "outsider and from the Coast" label first.

It is not impossible. Kirk Fordice was a native of Memphis and was educated at Purdue, but he defeated a sitting Democratic governor when being a Democrat in Mississippi was worth something.

What does all this have to do with internet pr? If Dave is going to catch Phil Bryant, he is going to have to create some buzz. Dave's good news is that he has a pretty good presence on the internet, and he is in a good position to take advantage if he can make something happen. In addition, Phil seems to have only an obligatory presence on the web. He seems to have relinquished those voters and those venues to Dave. The bad news -- for Dave, at least -- is that Dave doesn't appear to have figured out how best to use the internet and/or he doesn't have anyone on his campaign staff saavy enough or creative enough to take advantage of Phil's absence in social media and to come up with some creative internet pr idea, aka the escaped cobra in New York.

So what is Dave not doing on the internet that he should? He is not addressing questions. He seems only to be announcing events/appearances in his campaign on Twitter and Facebook, and he seems to be speaking only to people who already like him and already are supporting him. Look at his Twitter postings. http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23dd4g On the Facebook page, a young African American preacher asked about Dave's stand on education. No response.  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/DaveDennisForGovernor?sk=wall. That doesn't give voters a reason to follow Dave instead of Phil. It doesn't give the state's African Americans a reason to move to the Republican Party. It may be only one item, but people notice. I did.

Of course, Phil doesn't respond to questions, either, although he has a Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/DaveDennisForGovernor?sk=wall#!/pages/Phil-Bryant/149191811767085?sk=wall  He also has taken heat on Twitter and in blogs on his stands, which I have not seen him answer. But as I said, Phil has already surrendered most of the internet to Dave, and he is the front runner.

Dave needs buzz, and I don't think he is going to get any until he understands that social media is about dialog and connections.

Phil apparently doesn't care. Dave apparently doesn't understand. I think it is worse for Dave because Dave can't afford to misunderstand anything. What do you think?