Election Results: Social Media is the Winner
Election Ads are OVER! Image Courtesy of MSNBC Now. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL 2012
One thing is for sure. Social Media won the 2012 U.S. Elections!
It’s hard to think back to 8 years ago and how differently those U.S. elections went amongst the people around the world. Where as it would take you days or months to really learn what your friends, family members, business associates and customers think about a win or a loss, now we know is seconds. With just 140 characters we can learn what celebrities are thinking about as the results roll in. Oh yes. Social Media is the winner for this year’s elections.
Although this area is growing, there are still people on the fence on how vital social media can be for branding and communicating to the public. For those of you still hesitant on if your company should be more active on or even pay attention to social media, I hope this blog with a few statistics will help to finally push you into properly adding this tool to your marketing campaign. If this is you, please take a look around you or simply in the words below. The public has spoken. They have chosen to declare social media as being a big part of their lives.
Hyper-Messaging
Let’s start with Twitter and the power of a good image. The picture below of the President of the United States and his wife hugging was retweeted more than 300,000 times (as mentioned last night by NBC) beating the record previously held by Super Tweeter, Justin Bieber. November 6th was also a 20 Million Tweet record for Election Day. This made Tuesday the most tweeted about event in U.S. political history according to Twitter.
Presiden Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in an embrace was tweeted by the President’s Twitter account. The picture seen around the Twitterverse. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL. 2012
Press Record on the Video Camera
Abigael Evans shedded tears and displayed what many Americans were feeling. No more Ads. Photo Courtesy of NPR. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL 2012.
Million Puppet March 2012. Photo Courtesy of Nicholas Kamm/CNN.com/Getty Images. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL 2012.
There is just no denying social media played a huge role in this year’s elections for the presidential, senate and amendment races. People, whether they want to admit it or not, were influenced or emotionally charged by their peers’ status posts and images related to voting. This is ultimately a good time to stand back and look at the role of social media for your business or non-profit organization. This is the time to decide what is the best thing to share or monitor via social media sites. Clearly social media is the winner this year, but are you winning at it? Well, that post is for another day.
What are your thoughts on the effects of social media this year on the elections and how it can impact a business. Has it impacted yours? Share your thoughts on today’s post. You may appear in a future article.
(Please note this is not a post to deter anyone from a completely rounded marketing plan. Don’t forget social media is not the only aspect of branding your business.)
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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.
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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.
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I always love reading your blogs Ebony – such a wealth of information, lots of learning opportunities and you always seem to make me smile – lots of love from the Classy Gal
Thanks for reading and for your feedback Karen. Your comment just made me smile Classy Gal!
You really got it right again Ebony. Social Media was a shining star this year. Social Media is a marriage….for better or for worse. It is a way to connect personally, gain branding and clients for your business and get anything and everything to be seen globally.
The one thing I found disturbing this year was the complete loss of “social media etiquette” and the distinctly biased and hateful postings, the likes of which I have never seen before. It’s like anything else that puts us out in front of the world for all to see, use it well and wisely and it is a tremendous tool, abuse it and use it as a weapon and it is going to come back to hit you hard.
It reminds me of what broadcast and newsprint media were in the past….one bad remark, one “bad photo moment” one wrong radio message and lots of people will see and hear it…now however, the impact is magnified exponentially.
The upside of social media engagement this year was the tremendous rallying of voter participation and that to me was spectacular, even thrilling. It is definitely a voice for people everywhere where there once was none.
You rock Ebony and keep these blogs coming!
Brenda Ellison-MyInfoSnap
I could not agree more with you. Etiquette is needed on social media. People think a monitor and keyboard is a tool to bypass how to speak to one another.
Perhaps we need a guest post from you on the topic. Let’s chat!
I agree Social Media was the winner & sadly those of us that were inundated with the political rants of others were the losers. I had to hide half my friend list lol If businesses have not realized the true value of Social Media, hopefully this election will show them that the people have no issues speaking. If they are not using social media, it won’t matter because their customers are. The good, the bad & the ugly will be posted with or without their participation. I agree with MyinfoSnap, etiquette completely went out the window. I learned a lot more about people than I wanted to, including who can & cannot have a constructive conversation without resorting to name calling. Awesome post as usual Ebony.
Thanks for reading Kellie! “The good, the bad and the ugly.” That pretty much sums it up!