Donald Trump: The Most Digitally Savvy Candidate
Call it the workings of a digital genius or just coincidence, but Donald Trump has not only maintained his status as one of the frontrunners in the GOP presidential field; he’s also cemented himself as the most digitally savvy candidate.
“You can disagree with him or agree with him, but regardless he appears genuine for who he is” Tripp Donnelly, the CEO and founder of RepEquity, a reputation management firm, tells FOXBusiness.com.
Out of all the presidential candidates from both parties, Trump has the most Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) followers with a whopping 6.04 million, trouncing the other GOP candidates. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is a distant second in the Republican field with just over a million followers.
“He has a consistency of message across all media” says Donnelly.
Trump has managed to keep the authenticity of his voice across social media, television appearances and speeches. “Inside the beltway, political figures get into trouble because they’ve outsourced that type of narrative or personal tone to someone on their staff” says Donnelly.
He noted that people trust the social media ecosystem more if it sounds authentic. And authenticity is Trump’s specialty, whether he’s tweeting about celebrity breakups or accusing fellow candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of fraud.
Everyone knows I am right that Robert Pattinson should dump Kristen Stewart. In a couple of years, he will thank me. Be smart, Robert.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2012
The State of Iowa should disqualify Ted Cruz from the most recent election on the basis that he cheated- a total fraud!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
Another way that Trump has succeeded is speaking in the same way that people use search engines like Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). When Trump uses raw phrases like “banning Muslims,” this is how people search online. Other candidates speak in nuanced, polished statements, according to Donnelly, which don’t translate well into search engines.
Donnelly says that when people search for issues like immigration, they’re typing in “illegal immigrants,” not “undocumented residents.” Given that Trump uses those same phrases, search engine results for those topics usually lead to Trump’s page, relative to the other presidential candidates, according to Donnelly.
So is Trump doing this all on purpose? Donnelly thinks it’s just the perfect storm for The Donald.