What Every Marketer Can Learn From Politicians On Social Media

0:00I don't know how people don't get this. The Obama win and the Trump win, eight years apart, happened because of social media. The 2008 Facebook execution that the Obama campaign did is historic, and the preview to 2016 Trump Twitter. Social media has the attention of the end consumer at a scale that our society continues, even now, to underestimate, and those who know how to create, communicate, and execute on it win. Does hope work on social? Of course it does. How do you think I have 40 million followers? Well, I think it does. Me too. There's only two extremes. There's hope, which is hard. Right.

0:41Love and hope and optimism is hard. Fear and negativity and cynicism is easy and lazy. Yes, hope works. The problem is most people aren't talented enough for hope. How do you think this election is going to play out on social? Who's winning right now? I mean, look, America's 50-50. Who's winning? Both, neither. It depends on how you want to look at it. I think what's most important is when you think about what they did yesterday, I think for the people that are watching this program, I'm stunned that Washington, D.C. is sometimes ahead of Madison Avenue. I think the real punchline is that Fortune 500 companies are grossly under-investing in influencer marketing, and it's wild to see that the candidates are starting to and the White House is starting to understand the power of it because these humans are media outlets, no different than CNBC.

1:37You know, your platform, my platform, your platform. So I think, how is it going to play out? I think it's going to play out. I think we're so polarized, people are going to vote the way they're going to vote. They're not going to have an influencer change their mind. But I think the business impact is huge. But what do you think of the idea of a campaign reaching out to influencers to use them and to leverage them, if you will, in these campaigns, including potentially, and I don't know the truth of it, you may actually know more about it, there's some sort of, it's almost an accusation or speculation among some influencers that some of these campaigns are going to start paying the influencers on their behalf.

2:12I mean, as long as they're disclosing that, like they're supposed to do on everything, right? If this water pays an influencer, they're putting hashtag ad. FTC's pretty clear on this. Again. And I don't know if that's happening. You're starting to see some influencers talk about that. I mean, shouldn't it shouldn't they? Wouldn't it be worse if they didn't pay them in a weird way or if they would? I don't know. It's a very interesting issue. I think it's I think it's less of an issue and more of a dawn of starting to understand that at the end of the day, attention is the punchline. Back to the format we're on now and presidential elections.

2:47If you go into your history books, kids, the JFK-Nixon debate played out very differently on radio than it did on television. I don't know how people don't get this. The Obama win and the Trump win, eight years apart, happened because of social media. The reason that people continue to be confused... But not the Obama win, but the Trump win. Do we have social media in 08? Of course. If you go break down... Barely. Not barely. The 2008 Facebook execution that the Obama campaign did is historic, and the preview to 2016 Trump Twitter. Social media has the attention of the end consumer at a scale that our society continues even now to underestimate, and those who know how to create, communicate, and execute on it win.

3:34Which platforms do you think are winning? Meaning, so, Donald Trump going on X the other night with Musk. How much influence does that have versus whatever you think he's doing or she's doing now on TikTok or Instagram? I think both campaigns are grossly under-executing on LinkedIn and Facebook. Interesting. LinkedIn. Uh-huh. TikTok, as we all know, kids talk but don't vote. I'm a businessman. This is just practical to me. I think both campaigns are getting caught up in the same thing that Fortune 500 companies are getting caught up in. They're going to the cool place. But wait a minute. You just said that Facebook in 08 and 20...

4:17You could have said at the time, it's just the kids. The kids' votes don't matter. But they evidently mattered. So shouldn't you go to the hot new thing now? There's some good validity to what you're saying there. But in 08, it was such momentum and such a different time. Such a unique campaign. Plus, kids only vote during times of hope. Kids vote when there's hope and optimism. There's no hope and optimism in the air right now. Let there be no confusion. There is nothing but fear being weaponized. There's no hope in the air. So that's one. I think Harris is trying to be a whole candidate. I think even...

4:52The problem is, I respect that, and that's a great call, but I think it's got to be contextual. If you look at 2024's version of Hope, it looks very different than 16 years ago and definitely different than Clinton and JFK. Yeah, we're in a very different place. But I do want to say this. Facebook is grossly underpriced organic reach. That's the other thing. Unlike spending a fortune on a television commercial or a billboard, When you know how to do content on social, as a business, as an entrepreneur, and as a candidate, you get reach for free. Well, it's expensive now. I mean, you do it organically, but if you do ads, it's really gotten expensive.

5:29It's dramatically cheaper than every other medium in the world. Google, AdWords, television, print. It's not. It's more than free, but the price of the CPMs is dramatically underpriced. And there's another thing. All of this is based on reach. How many people can you reach? Social media, because of the way the news feed works, you don't know that the next picture or video is an ad. When I watch CNBC, when you're like, all right, we'll see you after this, I know an ad's coming. When I look at, I'm on my phone when I'm in the car, I don't see the billboard. More social media ads are actually consumed on their reach than the potential reach of every other medium, and their CPMs are lower.

6:08So I would argue it's underpriced. that's above and beyond the fact that organic reach is free. Can I ask you just a different question about this hope idea for a second? Yeah, please. Does hope work on social? Of course it does. How do you think I have 40 million followers? Well, I think it does. Me too. There's only two extremes. There's hope, which is hard. Right. Love and hope and optimism is hard. Fear and negativity and cynicism is easy and lazy. Yes, hope works. The problem is most people aren't talented enough for hope. Well, that's that. But that's what I was going to say. So it becomes this sort of, you know, train wreck.

6:48You know, everybody's, you know, rubbernecking. And that becomes societal accountability. Before we blame the candidates and social media and our parents, I actually think it's time for everyone to instead of pointing fingers to point thumbs. If you are leaning into cynicism and negativity, that's your fault.