Election Day is rapidly approaching. Throughout this election cycle, there have been new marketing and digital communications tactics that could change and influence the way we think about digital marketing. Let’s take a look at a few of the trends from this election that are reshaping digital marketing communications.
Social Media: The Focal Point
According to socialmediaweek.org, 73% of Americans are now on social media, a number that continues to grow, making social media more important than ever. In a study done by Pew Research Center, as of July, 24% of adults say they have turned to the social media posts of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for news and information about the election. Consequently, social media is now the number one source of where voters are getting information about this election. Whether it’s Trump on Twitter or Snapchat with Hillary, any of the information you could ever want (and lots that you really don’t want) can be found on the social networks.
Online Targeting
Voters are being targeted less through candidates’ websites and more so through their online presence and interactions. Only 15% of adults say they have turned to candidates’ websites or emails for election information. Social media has expanded in its capabilities to market to specific demographics based on voter’s social media profiles, people they follow and their likes and activity. Facebook’s targeted ads feature allows for users to completely customize who they want to target based on age, gender and even interests. As a result, these targeting methods are the focus rather than a campaign website with pages devoted to various demographics.
Artificial Intelligence
According to John Stauffer, there has been a change in the way reactions to debates are being measured. Through artificial intelligence, technology is used to calculate reactions online to help determine how well a candidate has performed.
All of these trends are drastically changing the way political campaigns are shaped and marketed digitally. It is very possible that the way candidates have used these strategies will determine the outcome of elections this year. What do you think, do you agree?
