With many changes occurring the GOP contender landscape over the past week, with Gingrich taking the lead in polls, Herman Cain “suspending” his campaign, and Donald Trump being named as a debate moderator, below are the online digital stats on how traffic and buzz around the candidates had changed.
- Gingrich Gains Steam; Seen as Favorite in Blogosphere: After a down week following a controversial debate performance, Newt Gingrich’s online presence experienced a significant 17.8% traffic boost over the past week. Gingrich’s Facebook following also increased by more than 8% to 206,523, the largest increase of any GOP candidate, while his tonal buzz edged up by 1.4% to 73% positive. Words and phrases most commonly used to describe Gingrich show him as a favorite to win the GOP nomination online: “Contender”, “Challenge”, “Might Win”, “Seriously”.
- Romney’s Metrics Mixed as Traffic Dips while Buzz Receives Lift: Mitt Romney has been running steady in most digital categories recently, although last week his traffic dropped 16.3% to 63,722 visits.Romney’s share of the overall buzz of GOP candidates increased by over 21% in the past week, while his tonal buzz improved slightly to 68% positive. The phrases “Losing Ground” and “Needs to do Something” appear frequently to describe Romney over the past week, showing concerns that Romney should take action quickly as Gingrich seems to rising to frontrunner status.
- Paul, Bachmann, and Perry Losing Ground in Digital Race: While Gingrich and Romney’s online presence improved, Ron Paul, Michele Bachman, and Rick Perry are losing ground in the digital landscape. Bachmann’s traffic was down 7.4% and although Perry saw an increase in traffic up 13.1% to 27,468, he still hasn’t recovered to the almost 50,000 visitors prior to Thanksgiving. Also, Perry’s volume buzz experienced a more significant decline over the past week than any other GOP hopeful with a 25% decrease in percentage of total buzz. Meanwhile, the volume of buzz surrounding Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann also continues to drop, with both candidates receiving just 1% of the total buzz share among GOP hopefuls. Lastly, Bachman continues to lose Facebook fans, as well Perry now has seen a drop in Fans, an indicator of abandonment among supporters.
- Cain’s Buzz Drops as Web Traffic Explodes: Interestingly, as Herman Cain announced his plans to withdraw from the GOP race, his web traffic skyrocketed over the past week. Cain’s percentage of site visits driven by SEO increased by 444% while his percentage of site visits driven by social media increased by 254%. However, while Cain’s web traffic soared, perception of the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO became increasingly negative, with his tonal buzz dropping by 6.3% and 2,683 Facebook followers un-Like his page.
- Santorum and Huntsman Receive Lifts in Social Media: Though trailing significantly, John Huntsman’s traffic almost tripled to 21,980 and Rick Santorum’s was up 61.7% to 16,854. Behind, only Newt Gingrich, Santorum, and Huntsman experience the greatest increases in social media followings on both Facebook and Twitter over the past week. Santorum’s Facebook fans spiked by 4.2%, while his Twitter following increased by 5.6%. Meanwhile, Huntsman’s Facebook following increased by more than 7%, while his Twitter base increased by 6.8%.
- Obama Social Media Machine Picks up Speed: Once again, Barack Obama continues to build on his already significant social media presence over the past week with traffic bouncing back 25.2% to 1,542,948 visits. Obama’s Twitter following increased by 0.9% (representing an impressive 104,767 followers) bringing his total to more than 11.4 million, while his Facebook following increased slightly to over 24.2 million. These follower numbers continue to dwarf those of the GOP candidates; as well his online perception seems to be improving as his tonal buzz rating increased to 59% positive. This rating is the most positive it has been in the past month.
Questions? email: marketing@zetainteractive.com
*Data referencing Site Visits was sourced from Experian Hitwise, Inc and analyzed by Zeta Interactive.
*Data referencing social buzz is sourced from Zeta Buzz, which monitors the online media landscape. Using an algorithm, the team is able to measure the volume and tone of conversations across the social media landscape.
No related posts.
{ 1 trackback }