On the verge of our country picking its next President of the United States, one candidate has truly taken advantage of how he uses the internet to spread his message of change.  Closely watching this revolutionary online movement is Barack20.com, a Web 2.0 marketing concept created by Social CRM Expert Brent Leary and Online Business Development Expert David Bullock. The concept was formed out of the positive reaction Leary received from his Black Enterprise article, Barack Obama’s Lesson in Social Media. Leary then joined forces with Bullock in producing a webinar of the same name. The webinar was not promoted to many but the response from those fortunate to catch it was significant.

Leary and Bullock propose that Barack Obama’s success with social media provides best practice strategies that can be employed by small businesses. Leary states:

“Our hope is to help small business people learn how social media can positively impact their efforts by taking a close look at how the Obama campaign used Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other tools to engage millions of people.” Hence Barack20.com is born.

Leary and Bullock have no affiliation with Barack Obama, or the Obama campaign. The webinar, and their transcript of the original conversation, focuses solely on how the Obama campaign used social media to engage people at the grassroots level in order to win millions of votes and break political fundraising records. Bullock states:

“The idea is simple: digging deeper and showing true to life examples on how to really use social media to connect, engage and develop meaningful business relationships that create profitable connections for the business owner. In the end, transactions don’t occur without relationships. Social media bridges that gap.”

One thing is for sure, Barack Obama has made history both politically and technologically in his bid to become the first African-American President of the United States. All Barack20.com wants to do is educate small businesses on this social media marketing concept and have them apply it to their own businesses. I for one look forward to Brent and David’s next webinar scheduled for August 19, 2008, and in the meantime I’m noting how I can apply and put Obama’s Web 2.0 marketing strategies to the test.