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#Election2016: Social Media On Steroids
November 8, 2016
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We all know social has a powerful influence due to more and more people getting their news and information from platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Snap.
And political figures have figured out the quickest way to get attention is to post or tweet.
During Election 2016 - we watched various candidates spar. But the biggest one played out on June 9th with the most retweeted tweets of the election coming from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as seen below:
And while more of that one on one wrangling played out on Twitter - the candidates were also busy on other platforms like Facebook.
Below are the most shared posts from each party:
When you look back to how much social was used this election - it's pretty profound to see how its use has grown.
The 2008 election was coined the first social media election, but that was mostly due to Obama's team buying Facebook and Twitter ads. It was a first.
The 2012 election got a little more interesting on social but only because the snark and the memes began disrupting political campaigns.
I'm sure you remember this:
USA Today put it best about Election 2016, "Social media on steroids, with higher engagement than anyone has ever seen."
The interplay has grown sharply, and so has the dependence of social by Millennials to stay informed.
It should be no surprise that the greatest age range naming social media as their most helpful source for learning about the presidential election are 18- to 29-year olds.
Pew Internet found over a third of 18- to 29-year-olds use social to keep up.
Social media drops to 15% for 30- to 49-year-olds and 5% for 50- to 64-year-olds.
And as I think of radio and its use (sometimes lack thereof) with social - those numbers are spot on
There seems to be this generational divide among how much creativity is allotted to these platforms.
Some think it's all about the "mothership," (the FM/AM) stick, and nothing else. Others (often Millennials) are alarmed by that leadership.
They know where news consumption is growing; where politicians are interacting with voters; where headlines are often created: on social.
No matter your personal feelings of social - this election should be another reality call for anyone serving an audience in media.
The mothership should always come first -but it's time to create a hierarchy of attention for social and be spectacular where it matters.
You don't need to be everywhere, but you need to be where you can create and measure meaningful impact on the brand's strength.
After all, it's brand strength that drives the bottom line.
When we're not where the audience is - we're giving them permission to form loyalties elsewhere.
And radio has too much to offer to just give away the audience.
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