Social media influencer Donald Trump has turned Twitter’s platform into his own personal megaphone.
Whether it’s related to his full-time job of polishing his personal brand as a ranting angry white man, or sending occasional messages related to his part-time job as President of the United States, nobody dominates the daily Twitter conversation like Trump.
Which leads to the question on the minds of all budding would-be influencers (which at last count is … everyone): What lessons can Trump teach me about building my own brand on Twitter?
Fortunately, data visualization startup Zegami has looked into the heart of Trump’s Twitter darkness in a new report. The company scoured more than 40,000 Trump tweets from July 2009 to August 28, 2019.
June 5th: The AI Audit in NYC
Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
Here are five takeways that could one day make you a star of everybody’s favorite cesspool of hate, racism, and misogyny:
1. Consistency: During the decade studied, Trump tweeted an average of 10.67 times a day. But for the months from May 25, 2019 to August 27, 2019, he bumped that up to 19.54 times a day. To paraphrase that famous line from Glengarry Glen Ross: Always be tweeting. Consider getting this printed on an inspirational poster to hang on the wall of whatever co-working space or Starbucks you favor to help push back the crushing sense that you are alone in this word.
2. Don’t sleep: Sleep is a lie that our parents tell us. It turns out, you don’t need it. Trump posted 14.6% of his tweets between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. And look at him! Calm and collected always. If you are sleeping, you are losing. Winners tweet all hours of the day.
3. Forget creativity: Only lightweights sit around thinking, “Oh, what clever thing could I tweet about now? Is there a witty riposte or zinger I can insert into someone’s 82-part-threaded Tweetstorm?” Get over yourself. Rather than being original, just keep tweeting the same thing over and over, like Trump. For instance, in a three month period this summer, he tweeted 105 times about China and the trade war, and 26 times about his good friends at the Federal Reserve. He also name-dropped pal Hilary Clinton 32 times.
4. Toot your own horn: Trump’s favorite person to tweet about is … Trump. Trump has mentioned Trump 225 times so far in 2019, with Obama getting just 59 nods, followed by God with 22; “wife” got a Twitter shoutout 11 times.
5. Go mobile: Tweeting from a laptop or desktop is so very 2015. Get out from that desk and step out into the wild, particularly if you are preparing to rage-tweet. Of the 1,800 tweets that Trump posted from May to August this year, 98% were sent from his iPhone, where he seemingly managed to disable spellcheck. This allows for a spontaneity and lack of precision that endears him to his followers and totally owns the libs who are super uptight elitists and too hung up on things like grammar and spelling.
“Donald Trump is clearly a prolific force on Twitter, and as he has faced up to growing challenges in recent weeks, he has dramatically increased his use of this social media channel,” said Samuel Conway, CEO and cofounder of Zegami, in a statement that accompanies the report. “Analyzing his Twitter data and spotting trends and patterns visually gives us an insightful view into how he thinks and what motivates him.”
With those 5 easy-to-follow lessons, you can now unleash your inner whatever and pursue your dream of using social media to divide a nation. Or at least get some free swag from brands.
