Barbara Nonas
Given that Donald Trump today has more than five-and-a-half million “Likes” on Facebook, I decided to check out McConney and his strategy. In a rare public event hosted by marketing website The Drum, McConney, whose title is Director of New Media, spoke to a small industry crowd about his social media strategy.
There’s no question that his tactics are, to put it mildly, working. The numbers speak for themselves: in five years McConney increased Trump’s Twitter followers from 300,000 to over six million and his YouTube presence from nothing to a dedicated channel with more than 20 million views. His Instagram account has close to one million followers.
1. Be authentic. (Or at least make it look that way.) To give Trump’s social videos an authentic feel, McConney keeps the production values low–he doesn’t use professional lighting, a set, or camera equipment. He has Trump speak directly into the camera from his (messy) desk. Social videos need to look like a friend made them–not like a slickly-produced TV spot.
2. Give your fans what they want. In Trump’s case that means controversy–the more outrageous the content, the better.
3. Tweet multiple times on a daily basis. Content should be spontaneous, not canned. Trump and McConney tweet 20-30 times a day.
4. Don’t post on Facebook more than three times a day. If you do, the posts will get lost.
5. Make videos short and direct. That’s the only way to break through the cluttered media environment. Trump’s 15-second political videos on Instagram get so much media attention that he doesn’t need to buy ads.
6. Be part of the action–especially action that’s trending. Trump doesn’t just stick to politics. He live-tweets major pop culture events like the Oscars.
7. House all your content on one dedicated YouTube channel. Create a library of everything related to your brand. In Trump’s case, that extends from professional videos of his real estate properties to his daughter’s shopping advice to his scrappy political Instagram ads.
8. Spark engagement on a new platform by tying content to a major media event. The first time Trump used Vine, it was to tell Anthony Weiner to stay off Vine. He used Periscope for the first time to announce his candidacy for president.
9. Experiment. Try new platforms and different kinds of content. The beauty of social media is that you’ll instantly see whether your attempts are soaring or sinking.
10. Move fast and stay lean. McConney posts content almost instantly; he doesn’t need to go through a lengthy approval process. He shows it to only one person: Trump.