#TwitterDC event: Lessons from #Election2012 and best practices for 2013

This week, our Washington Twitter team convened a #TwitterDC event for advertisers, associations, issue advocacy groups, nonprofits and agencies to share lessons learned from the U.S. presidential election. With red, white and blue decorations for the upcoming Inaugural parade visible from the windows, over 100 attendees gathered at the Ronald Reagan building on Pennsylvania Avenue for a recap of the #TwitterElection and a look forward at ways advertisers – inside the Beltway and beyond – can use Twitter to succeed in 2013.

 Twitter’s Mindy Finn (@mindyfinn) kicked off the event with an overview of how the presidential campaigns used Twitter. She shared how the narrative of the campaign was driven largely by Twitter. In this election, rapid response for the first time became real-time response and persuasion messages were delivered to voters on their phones as they waited in line to cast their ballots. Her four key takeaways from the election:

1. Listen to the community by monitoring Twitter conversations.

2. Build your community by growing your followers in a targeted way.

3. Engage the community with compelling content and real-time interaction.

4. Move the community with effective persuasion and clear calls to action.

 Jenna Golden (@jigolden) explained how savvy organizations use Twitter to drive advocacy and earned media. She highlighted the effective use of strong calls to action, rich media, live-tweeting during events and celebrity spokespeople by prominent organizations like @AmericasPower, @CEA, @ClimateReality, @NYCBevChoices and others.

 As someone who has helped grow our team in DC, I was excited to provide a sneak peek into the Twitter 2013 product roadmap. I highlighted four ways to increase engagement with target audiences: Twitter Cards which deliver rich media experiences, in-Tweet brand surveys to test message effectiveness, instant replays within Tweets and the growing integration between Twitter & TV.

 The event concluded with a panel discussion featuring a diverse set of clients: Ericka Andersen (@ErickaAndersen) of the Heritage Foundation, Tina Anthony (@TinaCAnthony) of the Consumer Electronics Association, Andrew Fimka (@AndrewFimka) at Story Partners and Amy McLean (@MyWirelessorg) from CTIA.z

Amy explained that following the success of a small test campaign, Twitter has become a part of every Beltway insider media campaign her team runs. Ericka noted that Heritage has found success leveraging conversation around pop culture events like the Golden Globes and TV show The Walking Dead (think lame-duck Congress comparisons.)

Andrew touched on Twitter’s powerful mobile penetration: 60% of Twitter users access the platform via mobile device. He said recent Promoted Tweets campaign on behalf of @VoteforEnergy resulted in a significant uptick in mobile traffic to the campaign’s website. Tina summed it up nicely with three simple words, “Twitter Ads work!” As the President said during one Twitter chat: “That’s what I’m talking about!”

 #Election2012 may be over but Twitter’s growth and influence continues on. I like to think we are now living in the #TwitterRepublic.

Posted by
Peter Greenberger (@pgreenberger)
Director of Political Ad Sales