Obama and Hillary Use Twitter For Social Networking
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Marketing Tools, Psychological Triggers, Social Media Marketing, Using Twitter February 28th, 2008
Today I got an email update from Twitter and some of the featured links they provided highlighted Twitter profiles for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The 2008 presidential contest has been probably the most interactive political event in history with videos being posted on YouTube, debates being held on CNN/YouTube, bloggers speaking out, and new forms of social media growing like crazy. So it only seems appropriate for these candidates to have Twitter pages and that those pages would say something from a marketing perspective.
I like following politics like some sort of whacked out Nascar fan so I ran over to check them out and here is what I found from a purely Internet Marketing perspective. These are only the things I noticed and not my political views so try to hang with me as I point things out. Remember, we can learn things from what others are doing and then apply what we learn to our own marketing projects.
Barack Obama’s Twitter Page
The first thing I noticed about Obama’a Twitter page is that he has over 6,700 followers and that he is following over 6,000 other Twitters. At first I was focused on the number of followers and then I realized, “Wait a minute, he’s not keeping up with 6,000+ people and running for president.”
This was the first thing I noticed, but not the last thing. More on that in a minute.
I decided to follow his Twitter and see what type of messages I would get, how often they would come in, and other little bits of information that might be interesting. What I got, almost immediately, was a message letting me know that Barak Obama was following me.
At first I didn’t understand what was going on. Why would I get a message letting me know that he was following me when I just signed up to follow him. I have my email open all the time so I know it happened immediately, or at least in under a minute.
Hillary Clinton’s Twitter Page
Next, I decided to visit Hillary Clinton’s Twitter page to see what she was up to. This time I noticed that she had just over 1,200+ followers and she was following no one.
I signed up to get Twitter updates from her and this time I didn’t receive an email telling me she was following me as I did with Obama. I even waited for a few minutes and no email message.
I can only guess that Obama’s campaign is running a Twitter script to automatically follow anyone who follows him and Hillary’s campaign is not.
Even though an automated script would not seem very sincere, there is a powerful psychological trigger going on here. By following you Obama’s campaign is trying to send the message that they understand how things work, they want to communicate, and they want to hear from you. They also have the added bonus of acquiring all the tiny twitter thumbnail faces along the side of the page which carries an element of social proof. We might think if all these people are following him then there must be something to it. There is almost a sense of community which is another psychological trigger.
On the other hand, if you look at Hillary’s Twitter page she has no faces, she is not connected to anyone (other than the one way communication with the followers she has acquired so far). We might think that she is interested in pushing information to us, but not getting information back from us. No community, no trigger.
More Triggers
The other element I noticed is that at the bottom of each Twitter sidebar is the ability to block a user or view all their followers. Because Obama has a list of people he is following on his side bar, the words “View all” appears before the words “block BarakObama”. As for Hillary, she only has the words “block HillaryClinton”. This is another trigger that is subtle but important.
Now, look at the other differences between Barack Obama’s Twitter page and Hillary Clinton’s Twitter page. He has a bright campaign background and she has a flat dark blue background. He has a campaign icon as his form of branding, she has her face. He has a light green sidebar, she has a heavy yellowish sidebar. These are all things that add up to quiet triggers that communicate a message. The message might appeal to some. It might not appeal to others, but there is a message being transfered in all of these things.
Choosing 140 Characters
Another thing I noticed is the language of the Twitter posts. Barack Obama’s posts are filled with words like encourage and friends. Most sentences start with an action word and include a place, date, and time. Every post has a clear call to action.
But on Hillary’s, most posts start out with “I” or “I’m” and while upcoming events are mentioned, there is no clear statment of place, time, or date. There is very little call to action being communicated.
As I am writing this I am thinking about how odd it is that we can be measured by as little as 140 characters. If you don’t think so, read both their Twitter pages and see what you think.
John McCain’s Twitter Page
You might be wondering what John McCain’s Twitter page looks like. Well so did I so I searched him out by name in the Twitter search bar. Honestly I don’t know if this is his official Twitter page. It could be a Twitter squatter for all I know. But since, John McCain’s campaign website doesn’t have any social media references on it, apart from his closed McCainSpace online community, I couldn’t confirm it.
But, if this is his Twitter page then he’s making no effort to even appear connected to the online crowd. This might be a good thing, it might be a bad thing. I guess it depends if the online crowd is the same crowd that shows up at the polls.
I know I’ll be looking at Twitter in a new way from now on. It’s these types of real world examples that help to highlight how an online tool can be used and how proven psychological triggers can be applied to get a message across.
What does your Twitter page say about you?
Watching and waiting,
Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com
Another Interesting Site: Politweets.com/
Related Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, psychological triggers, Social Networking, twitter
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February 28th, 2008 at 11:18 am
I think I’ll vote for McCain. Its disturbing that Obomba has that much time on his hands. hehehe
February 28th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Absolutely spot-on article about the differences between the two Democratic front-runners! I, too, signed up to follow both and I got the same email from the Obama campaign immediately telling me he was following me.
I think it shows the age differences in the two candidates as well. Hillary isn’t young enough to know about using social bookmarking on the internet as a normal activity. She’s still using the internet 1990’s style. Barak is younger and may well have personally known about and used social bookmarking before he entered the 2008 presidential campaign. As for John McCain, I’m often surprised that he has a website at all.
Whether it means any of our twitters are read by the Obama camp is another story, and they probably aren’t. It would take too much time for a whole team of people. But it’s interesting that he is branding himself and at least in a position to read what others twitter if he chooses. Maybe somebody is reading them and submitting a daily summary report to him. We won’t know. I do think he should put his photo up. That is pretty standard on twitter. Most people don’t use an avatar, they use a real photo.
Sherri
February 29th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
It’s a very interesting observation…
=)
I guess we can all learn from them, what we need to do to market ourselves as well.
Thanks for sharing!
March 4th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Fascinating side-by-side comparison. Looks like a lot of subliminals going on with the Obama campaign, along with a good, all-around psychological approach to gathering followers.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Great post and excellent insight into messaging. I decided to check out Facebook for Obama and Hillary. Again, a very subtle but different message. With Obama I could become a fan and with Hillary I could become a supporter. The subtlety of the words chosen resulted in a very different feeling/emotion for me.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
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March 31st, 2008 at 11:34 am
Susan. Glad you agree on the feel/emotion of the words. It is important to recognize these things so we can make rational decisions and not straight up emotional ones. Have you checked the numbers lately?
March 31st, 2008 at 11:38 am
Jack. Have you check the numbers lately. They are much different now.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:40 am
Life is a classroom, don’t you think? It seems that there are great things to be learned all around. I bet you have something you can tell us about today that we would all get a big benefit out of knowing.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:43 am
Sherri. You are absolutely correct about the differences. It also says something about target demographics and who they each think they can attract to win. I think that the campaign team and not the candidate is responsible for the idea, but it certainly is fitting that the younger candidate is the one with the social connection.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:44 am
BradMC. The same could be said about you (wink wink). When are you going to put out another FishWitz cartoon?
April 1st, 2008 at 9:27 am
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