Social marketing is a relatively recent art form. It is often known as Web 2.0 and it involves the interaction of the people involved, hence its social aspect. Both 2008 presidential candidates from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party respectively have thrown themselves into the online social arena for the 2008 elections. How have they each fared so far?

To be honest, in the early days at least, most of the 2008 presidential candidates seemed to embrace the social aspect of online political marketing because that's what they thought they were supposed to do, rather than realizing that it's a great and really effective way to reach the younger voter on their own terms.

Looking at both of the 2008 presidential candidates left standing, Barack Obama and John McCain, just how easy is it to find them in social media circles?

Taking each one's respective web site as a starting point is very revealing. Scrolling down the Barack Obama site you will find an awareness of the need for social marketing in today's political marketing efforts near the bottom of the main page on the right-hand side. The headline says "Obama Everywhere" and it lists: Facebook (/barackobama), MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Twitter, Eventful, Linkedin, BlackPlanet, Faithbase, Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, AsianAve, and DNC Partybuilder.

These are 16 social media sites that include most of the expected top ones like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. The list also has a few lesser known, but obviously well chosen sites such as, BlackPlanet, the largest online African-American social site on the Internet. Interestingly, the tag cloud on the front page of BlackPlanet listing the most searched for keywords include Beyonce, boys and baseball with no mention of Barack Obama.

The main page of John McCain's web site is puzzling. There does not appear to be any mention of any social sites. With the 2008 election still needing each candidate's full attention, this seems to be a serious oversight. However, upon closer examination there is a link for "Blog." Rolling the mouse over this link causes a drop-down box to appear with three more options. The middle one is "Spread The Word."

Clicking on this link you are taken to a page that lists, among other things, "Red State." This is a "...leading online political community..." It focuses on the political scene in America from the conservative viewpoint. In other words, McCain's political marketing presence here is a bit like preaching to the already converted.

There's also a listing for "Daily Kos," which is a liberal online community and again from a political point of view. There's no mention of Facebook, YouTube or Twitter where all the young voters hang out. This, I feel, is a serious mistake from a social awareness point of view. There is McCainSpace - a kind of McCain online community, but it will never have the reach that the big name social sites can exert on undecided voters.

McCain does have a presence on Facebook. You can find him on Twitter (/johnmccain), YouTube and MySpace too, as well as most of the others. The 2008 presidential candidates are really pretty similar in their online political marketing in that respect. However, Barack Obama has astutely listed all his social media sites right on the front page of his web site; John McCain has not, and that makes a big difference.

Who is best at social marketing of the 2008 presidential candidates? It has to be Barack Obama who understands how to leverage and advertise his social presence from his main web site with a simple list of the 16 social sites you can find him on. What say you?