Answers to these 2 discussion posts
Each answer has to be between 200 and 250 words. please answer like you are talking to someone, and give your opinion. also, you should mention that you agree or disagree with what’s in the discussion posts.
Here is the first discussion post: In today’s world, every individual can have access to the internet and social media. Therefore, candidates must use this to their advantage to campaign to the voters of all ages about themselves. Also, they can promote information or flaws about their opponent. Pew Research stated that 72% of Americans use some type of social media (2019). However, issues can arise when it comes to determining what is valid information. There is not a time where I do not log onto my social media without seeing different views and opinions about who someone voted for and why their candidate is better than the other. I am all for expressing opinions and thoughts about the election, but there must be a common concept of being respectful of everyone’s views.
From a marketing aspect, social media is the place to advertise and be involved on all platforms. The concept of marketing is to emphasize an organization-wide customer orientation with the objective of achieving long-run profits, which is to win the election (Marshall, Johnston, 2019, p. 10). By being present on Facebook, the older population is more likely to be targeted. Twitter can attract and speak volumes to those of the younger generations. President Donald Trump was active on his social media, during the election, and he marketed the thoughts and actions on his campaign frequently. However, higher authorities and citizens did not agree with his bluntness and willingness to speak out, which led to his Twitter account to become suspended. President Trump used his platform to connect to people and market his policies, even if some voters were against him. On the other hand, the opposing candidate, Joe Biden, did not market vigorously via social media like President Trump. Mr. Biden went the alternative route and chose to speak out via rallies and debates and stray away from using the social media platform.
Each candidate had their way of advertising their policies and campaigning for votes. Still today, there is great debate on all social media platforms between republican and democrat voters defending their candidate of choice. Therefore, the marketing strategy is democrats and republicans speaking out about different policies that each candidate is promoting and implementing is an encouraging way for citizens to use their American right to vote. Even if the words or pictures are false, there will be attention drawn to the information being shared and attract voters to engage in the candidate’s posts that are shared.
and here is the second one:
During the pandemic and the craziness of the election, it has changed the way we live, think and socialise has completely changed. During this time businesses have changed the way they think towards their customers because of the way we have adapted our lives for the virus and people’s views. Marketers must adapt their messages to reflect the on-the-ground realities while staying true to the brand’s values. But social media has changed the game, allowing incumbents and newcomers alike to speak directly to constituents on everything from policy to what they had for dinner. Barack Obama was the first presidential candidate to use the medium, which was still nascent during his 2008 bid, and Donald Trump takes to Twitter almost daily to express himself without the filter of traditional media (Wharton2020). The 2012 presidential election cycle is widely considered as the first election cycle to heavily incorporate and rely on the use of social media in strategic marketing (Newman 2016). While Romney had a presence among various social media platforms, Obama was the first to dive into the world of social media campaigning, with profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and YouTube. Not only did Obama use these profiles to relay his platform to the voting public, but he used it to interact with those following, gaining response and interest through online communication (Warton 2016).
During the elections, many marketing activities that significantly impact the outcomes (Chung & Zang, 2015). On the one hand, we have the presidential candidates who spent millions of dollars on their marketing campaigns. However, on the other hand, we also have the voters themselves who can spread information. Especially marketing research is important for presidential candidates. Presidential candidates try to understand customer behaviour, which helps them predict their preferences. With political polling, which serves as a snapshot in time to predict future results, they can see which states need more attention (Duboff, 2019). With the use of marketing, where presidential candidates try to create value for the voters with, for example, advertisements, they try to persuade the voters to vote for them during the elections.
Furthermore, marketing research means collecting much data and analyzing the opportunities within that data (Marshall & Johnston, 2018). When presidential candidates see that some regions need better education, they can mention this in their political campaign to gain the voter’s trust in this specific state. Presidential candidates can pay targeted attention to voter’s wellbeing, which will increase their reputation. The use of purpose marketing, where presidential candidates pay attention to voter’s health and wellbeing, will influence voters (Marshall & Johnston, 2018).
