WASHINGTON D.C, Sept. 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SociallyMined (http://www.SociallyMined.com), a boutique agency leveraging social media data and analytics has announced the release of a new series of insights into key congressional races leading up to the mid-term elections. “SocialBuzz: Road to the Dome” will release key data and social trends on select new races each week.
In Southwest Ohio, 20-year veteran and committee Chairman Steve Chabot is facing a serious challenge from relatively unknown 35-year old Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval. Ohio’s first district saw Donald Trump win by 7 points in 2016. SociallyMined is seeing signs that the incumbent may be in more trouble than it appears. Social media data is illustrating this Ohio contest could be one of the nation’s best barometers in the mid-term referendum on the president.
The main problem for Congressman Chabot is the lack of enthusiasm about his candidacy. While Chabot leads Pureval in social media followers and mentions, he significantly trails in reach and engagement. For example, using Chabot’s official account, he has 15,000 more followers on Twitter, but Pureval’s reach is 250% more than Chabot. Another sign of positive momentum for Pureval is that despite trailing Chabot in social media mentions for most of the calendar year, in the last 7 days he has more than doubled Chabot’s output, 3054 - 1255.
More troubling for Chabot is the overall sentiment of the chatter on social media. Of his mentions, 70% are considered “negative” about the congressman, with only 2% registering as “positive.” Pureval’s negative sentiment is only 38% “negative” and 21% “positive.” To put this in perspective, neighboring GOP Congressman Bill Johnson’s numbers are only 12% “negative” and 40% “positive.”
“From a data and analytics perspective, this contest is similar to the recent MA-7 race, which saw Ayana Pressley handily defeat 10 term Congressman Mike Capuano in the Democratic primary”, stated Matt Anthes, CEO of SociallyMined. “Our data predicted a Pressley win and our analytics are showing us that both Chabot and Capuano had a similar social footprint at this point in their respective races. In today’s political climate, all politics is social and our data shows us this is a race to keep an eye on.”
Finally, when analyzing the race, SociallyMined used machine learning algorithms to apply its proprietary Impax Score to both candidates. The score evaluates deep social network patterns, which include real engagement vs. automated engagement, social amplification, targeted reach, as well as a myriad of other data points, trends and patterns. SociallyMined’s algorithms assigned both candidates an overall Impax Score; Chabot scored a 12 out of 100, while Pureval received a 63 out of 100.
“Our proprietary Impax score is a true indicator of one’s social engagement, reach, and amplification as it relates to their online influencer footprint,” Anthes explained. “In layman’s terms, we utilize custom designed algorithms to analyze and weigh engagement, reach and amplification, along with number of followers and sentiment for each brand or individual. The higher the score, the greater the potential impact for the individual or brand. In this case, Pureval is excellent at engagement, despite his lower follower numbers, but also expands his community through diverse platforms and relevant messaging. Chabot, while having a large number of followers, would be incorrect in calling them a community as a large number produce negative sentiment.” One key data point speaks for itself - Congressman Chabot has less than a 1% engagement rate on his social media posts while Pureval has 7x that rate.
Regardless of what happens at the ballot box this November, it is clear that Pureval is making the most of his social media exposure. It’s clear from our data that Chabot’s message online, similar to Mike Capuano’s, is stale and not connecting with his target audience. Unfortunately for Chabot, poor messaging and lack of engagement is impacting his online perception and electability. Unless Chabot changes his methods quickly and aggressively, it may ultimately be a lesson learned too late.
For information on the above feel free to email us at info@sociallymined.com, or sign up here for additional information.
About SociallyMined
SociallyMined (www.sociallymined.com) is a boutique data-driven digital agency who leverages data and analytics to understand what people are saying online and employs a creative approach to reaching an audience efficiently and effectively, providing quantifiable results and reports along the way to track progress. SociallyMined services incorporate cutting-edge technologies designed for Fortune 500 brands, utilizing big data and analytics to track relevant sentiment and behavior, while providing a strategy to influence the sentiment and direct it towards a predetermined outcome. Their analytic solutions are integrated into their other services which focus on advocacy and politics and include influencer marketing, native advertising, mobile marketing with geofencing, interactive videos, and more, providing a customized strategic campaign for their clients generating high engagement with a relevant audience. In addition, they offer diverse traditional services which include web design, social media campaigns, and video production.
SociallyMined’s political division offers the ability understand a candidate’s social audience and then create ways to target a specific sub-audience who have relevant interests and followers within a desired demographic and/or psychographic profile. This includes generating content, identifying the potential audience, pushing out the content to them, and engaging them in creating a community for a candidate that can then be retargeted repeatedly as the campaign grows – all while providing reports to track impact.
The SociallyMined team is comprised of industry leaders with experience dealing directly with brands, entertainment, political candidates, non-profits, governments, brands, and entertainment. SociallyMined understands your audience and ensures your message is being heard by those influencers and decision makers that can affect change and make an impact for brands, issue-advocacy, and individual campaigns. You can also follow us on Twitter here, or LinkedIn here.
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