Web: Rubio's Web traffic has grown 251% across the last three months while Crist's Web traffic has grown only 44%. YouTu
DRAFT
Social Media and the 2010 US Senate Elections Proprietary Member Briefing. April 29, 2010. 6am draft. Six months before the 2010 mid-term elections, a presence on social media networks already has become a “ticket to play” for national races. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are pervasive in the political sphere, as every major candidate in this fall’s 12 toss-up Senatorial races has an account on Facebook and Twitter, and most have established YouTube channels.1 Politicians and their strategists have realized how important these tools are to running competitive races, and social media outreach is now viewed as an essential component of campaign strategy. Headline News: The Crist/Rubio Dynamic Web: Rubio’s Web traffic has grown 251% across the last three months while Crist’s Web traffic has grown only 44%. YouTube: Rubio has more than 540,000 views across 135 videos; Crist’s videos have been viewed 32,000 times. Facebook: Rubio maintains more than a 4-1 advantage on Facebook: 60,000 “likes” to 14,700 “likes”. Twitter: Rubio maintains more than a 2-1 advantage on Twitter: 11,500 followers to 5,100 followers. U.S. Senate Race Social Media Talking Points Facebook now refers nearly 20 percent of the total inbound traffic to both the National Republican Senate Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Web sites. While Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has more than 7,500 Twitter followers to challenger Sue Lowden’s (R) 1,500 Twitter followers, Lowden actually has 3x the number of Nevada residents following her.2 On Twitter, 77 percent of messages about Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) are negative, while 95 percent of messages regarding Pat Toomey (R) are positive. Over the past 3 months, Pat Toomey’s campaign website has received 8.5x more traffic than Arlen Specter’s. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has over 1.7 million Twitter followers on his personal account and almost 14,000 followers on his campaign account. Challenger J.D. Hayworth (R) has only 86 followers. Winning Strategies for Specific Social Media Platforms
Selected Races: Content of Tweets 100% Personal 80% 60% 40% Calls to Action 20% 0%
Facebook – There is a strong correlation (.836) between the frequency of posting on Facebook and the number of fans a candidate attracts. 3 Since Facebook is a destination-based social network, candidates who update their profile page regularly give fans a reason to return more frequently, resulting in higher rates of interaction and larger fan communities. Twitter – “Tweets” flow through a user’s profile fluidly, so a candidate should send updates often to catch followers at the given time they are accessing their Twitter accounts. High rates of messaging result in greater absolute numbers of followers and a greater level of follower engagement.
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YouTube - The most popular political videos are campaign advertisements and position statements crafted specifically for the Web. These average an impressive 2:20 in length, nearly five times longer than a standard campaign commercial. Videos of this length give campaigns the opportunity to engage viewers more deeply and provide them with a deeper understanding of the candidate’s platform. About the Emerging Media Research Council The Emerging Media Research Council (EMRC) is a Member-based research and advisory roundtable that offers communications executives in political and public affairs unparalleled advantage as they approach social networks, Web 2.0, and the mobile Web. We produce high-value insights on digital media that harness the collective knowledge and insights of our Washington, D.C., Member network.
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Sources Cited and Considered Toss Up Races as identified by The Cook Political Report, “2010 Senate Race Ratings,” April 22, 2010, http://www.cookpolitical.com/charts/senate/raceratings.php, accessed April 2010. 2 Senator Harry Reid maintains two Twitter accounts, one for his Senate seat (SenatorReid) and one for his re-election campaign (HarryReid). For sake of parity, we analyzed the campaign account, though Reid’s Senate account has an even lower percentage of followers that self-identify as being from Nevada (8.8%). Location is self-identified. 3 Emerging Media Research Council Analysis. 1
