TGIO: Thank Goodness It’s Over. This past election was one of the most contentious, hard fought elections, ever. Before you roll up your eyes in disgust, let me tell you that as a Canadian I didn’t have a horse in the race. But, as a marketer, social media expert, I watched closely, taking copious amounts of notes.
Why? Well, I have worked as a social media consultant to political parties on both sides of the aisle in both Canada and USA. I have a vested interest in cutting edge use of social media because I pick up all kinds of tips and techniques simply by observing.
Regardless which party and which candidate you supported, cutting through all the emotions and rhetoric, this last campaign has some extremely valuable lessons regarding the use of social media. I will be revealing a secret weapon that many dry cleaners could, and should be deploying in their marketing efforts. I haven’t seen anyone else writing about this topic (yet), so you will be amongst the first to learn about this.
Like him or not, President Elect Donald Trump had stumbled upon, either inadvertently or on purpose, onto one of the most effective ways of rallying his supporters and educating potential voters with his values, opinions and statements during his campaign. I’m referring to Donald J. Trump’s Twitter account .
Donald Trump has 14.2 million followers on his Twitter feed. With one Tweet, he can reach an amazing block of people, media and voters. Think of that power!
Back in the days of Abraham Lincoln, a politician would literally go stumping, wandering their constituency climbing up and standing on tree stumps in order to address a crowd. Today, one person sitting at a keyboard using one or all of the social media channels, can literally reach millions of people with just one post, or more if a post goes viral.
This is the secret weapon you need to know about, the power of one person sitting at a keyboard, typing and posting.
The Internet has become a great amplifier as well as a great equalizer. One person is just as powerful as multinational corporations with millions of dollars and thousands of employees behind them, and one person can reach millions, perhaps billions with one post.
Love him or hate him, Donald Trump used his Twitter account in a way no other politician before him has. He would Tweet a message, even at 3:00 o’clock in the morning, reaching millions of people and then sit back and watch as reaction came rolling in. We all have heard about politicians living inside a bubble distant from the very people they are supposed be working for. Social media and its very reactionary way removes that filter between the people and the politicians. In addition to the amazing power of ‘one to many’ communication, there is the just as powerful ‘many to one’ feedback. One post, controversial or not, and literally millions of people can react and voice their opinion. All one has to do is read the comments and replies to get direct ‘voice of the people’ feedback.
I listened to the Republican Party leader state ‘Donald Trump heard a voice that no one else had heard,’ I completely understood how Donald Trump could hear that voice, it was the same technique I’d advised many another politician (and dry cleaner) to listen for by putting oneself out there with posts containing opinions, thoughts and policies, and then sit back and read the comments that come back to you from people responding, engaging with you. The information you will receive is vastly superior to any information you’d receive from a pollster, a consultant and political advisors.
Millions and millions of people and businesses have social media accounts, but so very few USE social media in the way I’ve just revealed to you. It takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of risk, it takes a lot of skill, and it takes a lot of guts to use social media ‘the right way.’ I don’t know at what point Donald Trump handed over his social media account to his aides, or did he share access to the account making posts himself and then aides making posts on his behalf? And that again demonstrates another brilliant secret technique, hire great staff that mirror your techniques and style, hire folks that are so good people can’t tell the difference between the owner of the account and the staff when managing your online profile.
It is yet to be seen if President Elect Donald Trump will get to keep his Twitter account. Just like when staff and aides took away President Obama’s Blackberry as a security measure for the nation as well as security for the President. It will be interesting if The Prez Donald will insist on keeping his direct access to the people. But one thing is for sure, The Donald has definitely demonstrated the power of one person deploying social media as an effective tool for communication (for political use, or for business).
The bubble has been burst, and the media filter has been bypassed. It’s now completely up to you to emulate, imitate and copy these techniques for your use, in your personal life, political life and your business.
