Long before President Trump ran for office he had a profound effect on the national media through his use of Twitter and social media. He is the first President to speak his mind freely in such a public forum. This has created a new force for the world in regard to Social Media Marketing. His words, rants, or opinions can be seen at any time and by anyone with an Internet connection. Many people even follow his streams directly, getting instant updates of these opinions and thoughts. Is this the wave of the future, will more presidents, leaders, and dictators take to social media marketing platforms to promote their beliefs as a strategy? It makes sense to a degree since President Trump currently has 28M followers on Twitter. That is a lot of marketing power! He currently ranks #42 in the Twitter stratosphere of popularity. Interestingly enough, Ex-President Barrack Obama is #3 with 87M behind only Katy Perry 97M, and Justin Bieber 93M (Twittercounter.com). With a few swipes of his thumbs President Trump is able to reach an audience that is larger than the highest rated television show typically drawing 12-15M viewers. His tweets have been correlated to a drop in the S&P 500 healthcare index by .54% causing losses for large pharmaceutical manufacturers. After a tweet about Lockheed Martin’s cost overruns, the company’s stock dropped 2.1%.

Without any controls, the President can type anything at any time. Currently there are no controls on what he is saying or doing in Social Media. Along with the tweets about healthcare he has verbally attacked individuals who oppose him, along with news media and companies.

There is seemingly no limit to what the President might say through social media at this point. Ultimately we are yet to see a major effect from any of these social media postings, but as long as the President has a following he will have a platform to market his opinions openly. If this begins to have a tangible influence on people, companies, and politics, the world will begin to change through Social Media marketing more than it ever has or ever was possible. Many companies turn to Social Media to spread its word, so it only makes sense that any individual with enough followers could have enough influence to create change or wreak havoc!

Image sources: Twitter.com

John Weissgerber is an MBA student in the Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University, where he majors in International Business. He can be reached at jw1922@nova.edu