There is no doubt that President Trump has proven to be a MASTER of using Twitter to communicate. Instead of press conferences and press releases he sends out tweets at 10 AM after watching Fox and Friends and reading The New York Times. However, will the new “Tweeter in Chief” actually buy the struggling social media platform? He says he has the money, the influence and the support. Go for it @realDonaldTrump (or @POTUS)!
Twitter Wars: Obama vs. Trump
If he doesn’t buy Twitter, he has at least given current and future politicians a road map on how to use social media to dominate the airwaves…and get elected. Someone needs to buy Twitter to save the fledgling company. In the meantime, here are some things politicians can do to cement their place in political history books (without having to buy Twitter).
- Find an Account – First things first: open a Twitter account. If you have the bandwidth, personnel and resources (like Former President Obama – @POTUS44) to manage a presence on Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube then go for it! If you don’t, then start with Twitter. This is where conversations occur. People and brands send tweets back and forth with customer complaints, compliments and news of what is happening across the planet. Even though he didn’t’t buy Twitter (yet), President Trump first had to open an account.
- Find Your Audience – All of the major news sources, large brands (70%) and many of your constituents are already on Twitter. When you first get on, you’ll need someone with whom to tweet. Start following friends and family. Next follow your coworkers, colleagues, clients and competitors. For news and information, follow your local news stations and national networks (@CNN and @FOXNEWS). This will develop the audience of people with whom you are speaking and provide content to share. President Trump didn’t buy twitter, but rapidly built an audience by finding the right people with whom to converse.
- Find Your Timing – You don’t have to tweet 15 times a day (even President Trump doesn’t do that), but you should consistently tweet. Make sure there is always something you have to say to your audience. It doesn’t have to be profound. Share a statistic or fact your audience may be interested in. A good rhythm is 3 – 5 tweets per day. People don’t want to follow someone who tweets 10 times one day and is then silent for 1 – 2 weeks.
Trump Wins Social Media
- Find Your Voice – Have some fun on Twitter! Candidate Trump didn’t do things the way everyone else did them on Twitter. Whether people or loved or hated him, people knew Trump for what he said. His creative use of social media and Twitter saved his campaign billions of dollars in free advertising.
- Find Your Content (aka: Brand) – Content is going to be KING. Even as a candidate, Trump said things on Twitter that would make Larry Flint squeamish. This will help you develop and maintain your brand. You can RT (retweet) content from others or just comment on something someone else said. Trump did a marvelous job of responding to the media by calling them liars and saying their stories are “fake news.” The result: people always wanted to find out what he was going to say next.
There is no doubt that someone needs to buy Twitter. Even if President Trump doesn’t buy them, Verizon, Google or a foreign company will swing in, drop some cash and help the world share their voice. Whoever chooses to buy Twitter will have a huge undertaking. I just hope they remember to include the #TweeterinChief (I LOVE that hashtag).
Scientifically Speaking, of course…
