160 AMAZING SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS FROM THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL RACE

NOVEMBER 2012

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INTRODUCTION:
On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, Americans will vote for the 45th President of the United States. Over the course of the last 10 years, social media has drastically changed the pre-election period. Its even changed quite a bit since the 2008 election: on Election Day 2008, 1.8 million tweets were sent. Today, that number of tweets is sent every 6 minutes. Both candidates have invested in social media heavily this election, and many feel that success in social media will have a measureable impact on the outcome of the election. Weve scoured the Web and social media channels to bring you the most impressive election statistics. All in all, well share 160 mind-boggling stats around this election season. In certain instances, well provide actionable takeaways for you to apply to your own social marketing strategy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Digital Presence/4 Increased Digital Ad Spending/5 Frequently Discussed Topics/7 Growth and Engagement in Social/8 Republican National Convention (RNC)/Democratic National Convention (DNC)/11 University of Denver Presidential Debate Highlights: October 3rd/13 Centre College Vice Presidential Debate Highlights: October 11th/15 Hofstra University Presidential Debate Highlights: October 17th/16 Lynn University in Boca Raton Presidential Debate Highlights: October 22nd/17 About Voters/18 Conclusion/19 About Awareness Inc./20

ABOUT THE CANDIDATES*:

Candidate for President 21,254,754 31,250,798 35,071 253,407,036 video views

*as of October 23, 2012

Candidate for Vice President 286,306 481,406 N/A 2,123,301 video views

Candidate for President 1,559,035 10,475,150 1,912 27,528,384 video views

Candidate for Vice President 490,814 5,027,363 N/A 2,232,937 video views

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INTRODUCTION TWINDEX - TWITTER POLITICAL INDEX COOL TOOL:

This tool, a project from the Twitter Government team and powered by Topsy, tracks the daily sentiment of both candidates. The index falls on a 0-100 scale, where any score above 50 is deemed positive. A historical index shows the sentiment trends over time.

!
@LOLGOP @PaulRyanGosling @InvisibleObama @BigBirdRomney @romneysbinder

Its not just the real candidates who have garnered quite a following. Check out these popular fake parody Twitter accounts.
122,166 73,083 68,422 12,900 7,653

@BindersofWomen 1,936 @FiredBigBird 569

Source: Twitter Political Index; 10/17/12

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DIGITAL PRESENCE:
How have Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney made a name for themselves with their digital assets? How many people visited the candidates websites? Are people engaged?

UNIQUE VISITORS FOR AUGUST 2012

2.9% of American population online

6.4 MILLION FOR BARACKOBAMA.COM 3.3 MILLION FOR MITTROMNEY.COM

1.5% of American population online

Obamas official app and mobile website racked up 1.8 million unique visitors in August in the US from iPhone and Android owners.

In the first seven months of Romneys campaign, his website logged 3.25 million unique visitors, who consumed over 10,880,000 page views and 270 blog posts. This equates to 14.5 years of time spent on MittRomney.com.

Source: MittRomney.com & Technologyreview.com

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INCREASED DIGITAL AD SPENDING

Which of the candidates is spending money on digital ads? Are digital ads being used more in the 2012 election versus previous elections? Yes, and by a remarkable margin.

Since 2008, online advertising has doubled as a percentage of total campaign spending

2X

According to some sources, Romneys campaign spent upwards of $100,000 on Twitter with promoted trends including #RomneyRyan2012 and #BelieveInAmerica.

In June alone, Obama spent $4.5 million on digital advertising and text messages versus the $500,000 on digital ads spent by the Romney campaign.

7X

OBAMA

ROMNEY

Online advertising spend for the election increased 7X since 2008 ($22 million to $159 million)

As of June 2012, Obamas campaign had spent $31 million on digital ads, four times the $8.1 million Romney spent in the same time frame.

Source: Huffington Post, Hootsuite & Mashable

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INCREASED DIGITAL AD SPENDING

Expert tip:

+ $$$

Consider adding paid social and digital ads to your marketing mix. You can choose to advertise specifically to your followers friends on Facebook through tools like Sponsored Stories. Facebooks newest advertising model allows advertising to a matched list of customers and prospects.

Source: iMediaConnection.com

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FREQUENTLY DISCUSSED TOPICS

What do Obama and Romney talk about on social media? Are there discernible content themes? During the two week period of October 1-14 2012, candidates used social media to discuss:

OBAMA:
50% campaign activities 17% domestic policy

ROMNEY:
55% campaign activities 18% domestic policy

11% voters/voting 13% fundraising/volunteering

9% public record 7% fundraising/volunteering 3% personal 3% other

7% public record 1% personal 6% other

Expert Tip:
Focus on a few core themes that best tell your story. Experiment with different types of content that best engage or attract new followers, and optimize for those successful content types.

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GROWTH AND ENGAGEMENT IN SOCIAL

In this section, well explore how both candidates have grown their social reach and engagement in social channels.

ARE MALES OR FEMALES MORE ENGAGED?

OBAMA ROMNEY

43% of #Obama2012 tweets were from women, versus 32% of #Mitt2012 tweets which came from women.

HOW OLD IS THE AUDIENCE DISCUSSING THE CANDIDATES?

18-35 OBAMA
Source: Mashable & Mashable

36-55 41% 39%

55+ 18% 16%

40% 43%

ROMNEY

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GROWTH AND ENGAGEMENT IN SOCIAL HOW ACTIVE ARE THE CANDIDATES ON SOCIAL MEDIA? (FROM MAY 2012 TO OCTOBER 2012)

OBAMA: Total Posts (from May 2012 to October 2012): Fans (as of October 20, 2012): Fan Growth (since May 2012): Engagement Rate: Average Number of Shares per Post: 179 posts 30.7 million 11% 0.6% 13,400 shares

ROMNEY: 422 posts 9.1 million 80% 2.7% 4,400 shares

Obamas Twitter followers grew three times faster than his Facebook fans

FACEBOOK

Average of Tweets per Day: Followers (as of October 20, 2011): Follower Growth (since May 2011): Engagement Rate: Average Number of Retweets per Post:

14.4 tweets 20.8 million 30% 0.008% 1,100 retweets

1.7 tweets 1.3 million 60% 0.148% 1,200 retweets

TWITTER

Romneys Engagement rate is 18 times higher on Facebook than on Twitter

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GROWTH AND ENGAGEMENT IN SOCIAL

On September 17th, Romney saw a peak in Twitter mentions with 927,025. However, this peak was mostly backlash from Romneys comment around the 47%.

Expert Tip:
You may find you have more success on one social network versus another, due to your particular target audience demographics. While you may want to have a presence on multiple channels, invest the most resources where you find the greatest return.

Obamas most tweeted and Facebooked word is President

Romneys most tweeted word is @BarackObama. His most-used phrase on Facebook is President Obama.

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11

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION (RNC)/DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION (DNC)

What were the social highlights from the National Conventions - a critical time when many voters decide who they will likely vote for in the general election.

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION (DNC)

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION (RNC)

Social Platforms Integrated: Top Convention Tweeters:

10

President Obama hit nearly 53,000 tweets per minute after his speech.
Source: KATV

Michelle Obama amassed more than 22,000 tweets per minute during her speech.

Bill Clinton saw about the same amount of tweets generated as Michelle.

Mitt Romney hit 14,289 tweets per minute during his speech.

Paul Ryan saw 6,700 tweets per minute.

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12

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION (RNC)/DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION (DNC)

In the three-day Republican National Convention, more than 4 million tweets referenced the convention.

The DNC topped the RNC, garnering more than 5 million tweets by night two.

This seats taken sent Obama in response to Eastwooding, when Clint Eastwood
pointed at an empty chair and spoke of an absent Obama.

Within 20 minutes, this picture was retweeted over 5,000 times and less than three hours after its posting, it garnered a remarkable 20,000 retweets

Expert Tip:
Respond to timely and relevant events. Capitalize on pertinent news to speak to an engaged audience. Leverage popular topics to join an ongoing conversation.

Source: AdWeek

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13

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS: OCTOBER 3RD

Clocking 11.1 million comments, the first 2012 Presidential debate was the 4th most tweeted telecast of any kind behind the Grammy awards, MTV Video Music Awards and the Super Bowl.

114.44 Tweets/Minute
The Denver Presidential Debate is now the second most tweeted about event in US political history, generating 10.3 million tweets in 90 minutes. The Hofstra Presidential debate on October 17th surpassed the first debate.

26% of tweets noted Obamas debate performance was flat.

During and after the debate, 47,141 tweets mentioned Romney and the word win or winner.

In the twenty-four hours before the Presidential debate kicked-off, the event had already surpassed the sum of all four 2008 debates in terms of social mentions.
Source: Fox News & Mashable

+ + +

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UNIVERSITY OF DENVER PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS: OCTOBER 3RD

Who was the mentioned the most? What was the sentiment around each of the candidates?

TOTAL TWEETS:
Of the debate tweets, 73.6% mentioned Obama, while 26.4% mentioned Romney

ROMNEY OBAMA

SENTIMENT:

Expert Tip:
Be flexible. Romneys mention of cutting PBS funding put Big Bird on the hot seat an unexpected turn of events. Occasionally, a marketer will uncover new, organic opportunities. Empower your marketers and social media team to leverage these unplanned events.

OBAMA: ROMNEY:

22.8% 22.7%

76.9% 77.2%

TOP TOPICS FOR SOCIAL VOTERS:

22.0% conversations focused on the role of government

TOP MENTIONS:
Host Jim Lehrer with 235,913 Healthcare reform dubbed Obamacare - 143,548

48.1% of the conversations were about the economy 29.9% were about healthcare

Big Bird - 82,875 Given that it was President Obamas 20th Anniversary, he opened with a Happy Anniversary message for wife Michelle 78,780 Jobs 71,061
Source: Radian6

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15

CENTRE COLLEGE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS: OCTOBER 11TH

The first Vice Presidential debate generated 4 million tweets; 3.5 million of those were generated during the live feed.

Paul Ryan gained 90,000 Facebook Likes during the debate

250,310 Likes on Facebook 6,409 shares on Facebook 1,828 retweets over 4 hour period on Twitter 1,378 favorites on Twitter

18,763 Likes on Facebook 44,430 shares on Facebook 1,676 retweets over 5 hour period on Twitter 204 favorites on Twitter
Source: SFGATE Blog & Twitter Blog

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16

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS: OCTOBER 17TH

Racking in more tweets and Facebook discussions than the first Presidential debate (held in Denver), the Presidential debate held at Hofstra University holds the record for most talked about political event in history on social media and the 3rd among social media events of any kind, ever. The town-hall style event tipped the scales with 12.24 million comments on Twitter and Facebook during the 90-minute debate, according to Bluefin Labs.

DISTRIBUTION OF TWEETS: MEMORABLE MOMENTS INCLUDE: 1. Mitt Romneys infamous Binders full of
OBAMA: ROMNEY:

Women comment in response to a question on the wage gap. The Binders Full of Women Facebook page garnered over 281,000 Likes overnight.

52.5% 31.3% 68.7%

47.5% 18.5% 81.4%

2. The highest spike in social media mentions

came during the immigration reform question, with over 109,560 tweets per minute.

TOP TOPICS FOR SOCIAL VOTERS:

Women - 340,423 Jobs - 254,005 Lybia - 143,029 Moderator Candy Crowley - 113,202 The 47% - 77,146 Binders of Women - 47,277 Gangbangers (referenced by Obama during the immigration reform question) 11,558

3. Of the 7.2 million tweets, top topics discussed

include: 28% on the economy, 17% about taxes, and 16% around foreign policy.

Source: ignitesocialmedia.com & KWTX.com

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17

LYNN UNIVERSITY IN BOCA RATON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS: OCTOBER 22ND

The third and final debate turned out to be the least social of all with only 6.5 million tweets sent over the course of the 90-minute debate.

TOP TWITTER TOPICS:

Obama has dubbed Romneys policy Romnesia. Within 24 hours of this unveiling, #Romnesia was trending worldwide and within 48 hours, 2 Romnesia postings on Obamas Facebook page were Liked by 364,963 people and shared 57,696 times

With nearly 106,000 tweets per minute, horses and bayonets topped the charts after Obama criticized Romneys understanding of our current military operations, saying that soldiers have fewer bayonets and horses than in 1916. Romney had mentioned that the U.S. Navy has fewer ships today than we did in 1916.

54% foreign policy 20% the economy 9% terrorism 7% taxes 4% the environment 6% Other

One of the most retweeted tweets from the night came from a Boston University student, Patrick Curran. Before the debate, Curran had ~300 followers, and at the time of publication had 806 followers.

*As of October 22nd

Source: Bloomberg & Pandodaily.com

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ABOUT VOTERS
What do we know about American voters social behavior and preferences?

1 in 4 social media users with mobile phones aged 10-34 said that it is important to receive information about candidates on my mobile phone

51% of social media users will use social media to learn more about the presidential candidates for the upcoming 2012 election

88% of social media users are registered voters

Mobile Politics estimates 80 million+ voters in the US will access political information critical to their decision making process via their smartphone

38% of social media users agreed that information found on social media was as impactful to them in making a decision as traditional media

6 in 10 people expect presidential candidates to have a social media presence

Source: moneyocracy.com & Mashable

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CONCLUSION

While the 45th President will be announced on November 6th, one thing is certain ahead of the election results: Social media played an important role in amplifying the message and support of each candidate. We hope the lessons learned from studying these social campaigns will help you spice up your own marketing strategies.

RESOURCES:
BarackObama.com MittRomney.com http://www.mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2012/01/digital-numbersinfographic Facebook.com/BarackObama Facebook.com/MittRomney Mashable http://mashable.com/2012/10/02/mobile-election-2012/, http://mashable.com/2012/10/04/presidential-debate-twitter/, http://mashable.com/2012/10/02/obama-romney-social-media/, http://mashable.com/2012/06/14/obama-romney-tweets/, http://mashable.com/2012/05/01/year-political-ad/ Moneyocracy Radian6 Fox News AdWeek MIT Technology Review Huffington Post iMedia Connections Hootsuite Blog Twitter Blog KWTX KATV Infographic Archive Ignite Social Media Bloomberg Pandodaily.com

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ABOUT AWARENESS INC.

Awareness Inc. With a unique combination of technology, experience and thoughtful support, Awareness enables smart marketers to efficiently and effectively generate ROI from 100% trackable social media interactions. It is the leading provider of OnDemand Social Marketing Automation Software designed specifically to address all key aspects of social media marketing from demand generation to customer acquisition and social customer engagement. The Awareness Social Marketing Hub, the companys flagship social marketing software, is the only solution available that ties Social Prospecting, Social Scoring and Social Profile Database into one solution resulting in a detailed social marketing ROI. Awareness works with some of the worlds leading brands and marketing agencies including Major League Baseball, FOX Broadcasting, NBC Universal (Comcast SportsNet), Raidious, American Cancer Society, Tiger Woods Foundation, The Carlsberg Group, Mindjumpers, Nuance, Demandware, Trend Micro, and Computer Associates. Backed by NorthBridge Venture Partners, Awareness is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.

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160 Amazing Social Media Statistics from the 2012 Presidential Race