We might all remember how US President Obama proved the importance and power of Social Media in his 2008 presidential campaign against Senator McCain.
He was able to secure 55 million US dollars in one month from campaigning through Social Media channels. Simultaneously, Senator McCain was only able to secure 11 million during the same period using traditional methods.
The New Obama Twitter Account Smart Activation
Although Obama has always been an active and prominent figure on Social Media since then with almost 60 million followers on Twitter, yet he was still able to surprise us and draw our attention to his new official government account, @POTUS (President of the United States)
Welcome @POTUS, the official government account of the President of the United States.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 18, 2015
Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 18, 2015
His new account shattered the record for the fastest time to reach one million followers on Twitter (Which was previously held by Robert Downey Jr. at 23 hours and 22 minutes back in April 2014), after his new verified account reached the figure in less than five hours.
The new account is different in that tweets come exclusively from Obama and not through his team to serves as a method of engagement directly with the American people.
Obama proves again and again that Social Media is all about being Human. It doesn’t matter if the account belongs to the President of the United States or even the CIA (remember the unique and funny first tweet?); engagement on Social Media should always remain H2H (Human to Human)
We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.
— CIA (@CIA) June 6, 2014
Obama displayed this same sense of humor and H2H interaction in his 3rd tweet in reply to Bill Clinton:
Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS! One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) May 18, 2015
Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS?
— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 18, 2015
Obama refers to the new @FLOTUS account, the official “First Lady of the United States” account, which “should” go to Bill Clinton if his wife Hillary Clinton becomes the next president.
This comic and witty reply shows that being funny is one guaranteed way to get engagement over social media, even if it is an official account.
Obama also shows that paying attention to small things can behave a far stronger impact than staying official and replying only to important stuff… (Regardless of agreeing or disagreeing on the context of Gay marriage). The focus here is on the engagement reply.
@POTUS A letter from my 5 year old niece. Right out of the mouths of babes! pic.twitter.com/Q8Sovz8eEL
— Dr Z (@DrFahmida) May 22, 2015
.@DrFahmida tell your niece I really like her letter. Couldn't agree more!
— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 22, 2015
@POTUS I will let her know you tweeted her back!
— Dr Z (@DrFahmida) May 22, 2015
Note that @DrFahmida’s account is a small account with only 406 followers, yet Obama took the time to reply and smartly put a period “.” at the start of his tweet to let all his followers see the tweet.
The last word of advice is to stay Human when you’re on Social Media; it doesn’t matter if you’re the United States president or the CIA or any other official account; being Human always wins.
