Like many, I spent election night glued to the TV and my phone (twitter). I think I enjoyed surfing twitter a lot more than the news channels, the information was faster and better, and there is always someone making me laugh. During the evening I decided to venture onto each candidates twitter account (I had not followed either of them) and I was absolutely dumbstruck by the contrast between their two approaches. One of the candidates was doing an excellent job of calling people to action with clear, specific tweets, and the other was just tweeting out stump speech lines with no clear direction or call to action. Obama won the Presidency on Tuesday, and I think at least a small part of that reason was his excellent twitter strategy.

What did Obama do right on Twitter that Romney did wrong? Well, lets take a look at examples from November 6th.

Specific calls to action are critical and get people to respond. Generic statements get read, nodded at, and then left for the next tweet. Examples:

Obama – Iowa, spread the word: Your polls close at 9pm CT, and you can vote as long as you’re in line by then. #StayInLine

Notice that his information is specific and the call to action is to vote or #stayinline. Simple and effective.

Romney – A brighter future is out there waiting for us. Let’s choose it today.http://mi.tt/SRAiv9

His followers read this post, agreed with him about it, and did nothing else.

Ask for a ReTweet. Followers are called followers for a reason, they want to follow, interact, and to a degree do what you say. So why not ask for a Retweet when it really matters? Examples:

Obama – RT if you’re on #TeamObama tonight.

Simple, clear, and you can bet that a TON of people did that, helping to get the word out.

Romeny – If you are ready for real change, vote tomorrow for the kind of leadership that these times demand http://mi.tt/UtXKer

I’m sure this got ReTweeted by some, but imagine the pull this would have had if it had said this, “If you are ready for real change, RT this and vote tomorrow for the kind of leadership that these times demand!”

Say “Thank You”. Followers love to be acknowledged and thanked. Examples:

Obama – This happened because of you. Thank you.

Several times Obama said “thank you” even before winning.

Romney – Together we can bring real change to this country. Help get out the vote: http://mi.tt/SlJtAi

This is the most acknowledgement that Romney gave his followers, saying they were doing it “together”.

Post Tweets that are slightly unusual, making readers pause for a moment to read them. Examples:

Obama – Step 1: Pick up your phone. Step 2: Call voters in key states. Step 3: Help win this election. http://OFA.BO/n4yxCZ , pic.twitter.com/e4EEio8y

By starting the tweet with “Step 1” it makes the reader wonder, “what are these steps for?” and then they read the whole tweet.

Romney – This is it. Make sure you vote today. Find your polling location:http://mi.tt/UtXKer  pic.twitter.com/azS2chbB

This was the most “stand out” start for Romney. Its ok, but he needed a lot more.

Twitter Background Design that further engages supporters.

Obama’s twitter page has a very simple design, but on the left side fo the page he gives you lots more ways to engage the campaign on twitter. This is critical.

Romney’s twitter page looks great, but doesn’t tell you any additional information if you want to follow more people or get more involved.

I may not be an expert on campaigning for president, but I do know social media, and when it comes to twitter engagement and strategy Obama put a whoopin on Romney. If this is a microcosm of a larger difference in their campaigning strategies (and I suspect it is) then this helps to explain Obama’s win on Tuesday. People want to be engaged and compelled to action, people want to be a part of something larger than themselves. Obama’s twitter strategy accomplished that, Romney’s did not.

photo credit: Alexia Tsotsis, Writer, TechCrunch, Brett Hurt, Founder & CEO, Bazaarvoice, & Mikkel Svane, CEO, Zendesk @ LeWeb 11 Les Docks-8889 via photopin (license)