Labour was massively outspent online by the Conservatives but managed to produce a grassroots led, creative social media campaign. The party’s new media strategy was focused on mobilising supporters and activists and differed significantly from a more high-spend broadcast approach from the Tories. Run with a third of the staff of the 2005 election, the online campaign delivered double the outcomes of ’05 in terms of active campaigning. But how did we do it?

Back in August 2008 there was urgent concern about Labour’s lack of grasp on the implications of social media. Online activists like Jag Singh and Alex Hilton were impressed with what they’d seen in the US and wanted to import online campaigning to support the party.

Labour’s new media chief Sue Macmillan, Greg Jackson and Douglas Alexander were similarly enthused on a fact-finding trip to the US in 2008. Douglas in particular was evangelical about the way that technology could clearly galvanise supporters.

Meanwhile, a figure from the early days of New Labour sauntered into the foyer of the Radisson Hotel in Manchester at 2008’s conference. Derek Draper was due to speak at a fringe event about digital campaigning and when he dissed the topic the room became hostile; the event was best described as ‘sweary.’ Derek emerged chastened and better-informed and immediately began organising a very well attended series of bloggers’ breakfasts co-chaired by Sue Macmillan.

Without Draper’s conversion to the cause and his involvement of Lord Mandelson (who delivered cabinet involvement) the LabourList project would have had a less than easy birth. The party owes a debt of gratitude to Alex Smith whose energy, commitment and love kept the website running when Derek crashed out of the game.

The launch of LabourList gave the party more confidence online but the Conservatives still seemed miles ahead. Their online team, particularly Rishi Saha and Craig Elder were being feted in the media, they had a dedicated YouTube channel for David Cameron, they launched myconservatives.com (modelled on mybarackobama.com) and they had Ashcroft money to play with.

Labour’s 2010 election team was led by Sue Macmillan and advised by Mark Hanson on blogger and online media relations. This pairing led to the ‘change we see’ campaign which used members’ photos to show how Labour had changed public service. Campaigning from your mobile became a reality with a nifty iPhone app and the virtual phone bank, which was an invention that was quietly implemented well before the Conservatives got anywhere close to it. Hanson says that: ‘being behind in the polls and having less money to spend really gave us more space to innovate.’

Hanson does not underestimate the power of this approach: ‘the biggest obstacle was opening Labour HQ up to the idea of getting involved with people outside Victoria Street. We moved from a command and control approach to much more open engagement very quickly and were able to provide useful content to the army of members that had profile online.’

Offering local campaign tools meant that the entire election campaign focused on the activity of party members rather than the leadership, and the party learned quickly to respect the power of its members again.

While still in the ‘blue skies’ phase of development there is talk about online team’s activity moving closer to mainstream media output. Such a shift could have a big impact on the way Labour’s story is told: the party could be more direct by using media-relevant ‘infographics’ and analysis maps. Search could also be updated ensuring that the Conservatives can’t dominate Google as they have done in the past.

In times of crisis, Labour people innovate. The new generation’s digital expertise, built up in the leadership race, points (and clicks) to a bright future online.