The GOP campaign has been continually heating up, and that's good news for marketers. Every day, candidates are experimenting with their digital strategy, and as a recent study from Pew Research finds, digital strategies are becoming more important for presidential candidates.

So let's take a look at top GOP candidates' digital strategies, which tools they're using, and how their wins (or epic fails) might be relevant to your business.

I've rank-ordered six GOP candidates according to their digital marketing strategy.

No. 6: Jeb Bush

By venturing onto platforms like Snapchat and Instagram for the first time, Jeb Bush shows us that it's never too late to try to give your own spin to new tech... Or is it?

Jeb has made some halfhearted efforts to get behind new technology, announcing his candidacy through Snapchat and promoting his PAC (political action committee) on Instagram. Both accounts haven't been factors since, however.

On the campaign trail, Jeb staffers are tightlipped about his digital strategy. Jeb has been running his campaign much like his governorship: nose-to-the-grindstone, get-it-done with no muss and no fuss over the petty details.

As for results generated, Bush's presence on social media has been tepid at best, highlighted by his 363K Twitter followers to date.

But there's more to the story.

Bush's social media strategy seems to "move quietly and stealthily"—gathering funding from industry, insiders, and organizations, only to possibly plow ahead and leave his competitors baffled in the dust. Bush isn't about the hype: he's laser-focused on his day-to-day goals—not flame wars or other distraction. If you look at his Twitter account, for instance, every post maps to a specific aspect of his campaign. Example themes include education, "behind the scenes," and efficiency in government.

Jeb Bush takeaway: Social media, especially on Twitter, isn't the place to be overly sensible and pragmatic.

Jeb's social content centering on core values and themes, although praiseworthy, can be reminiscent of companies' using social media to share corporate mission statements. Instead, opt for content that evokes emotion—make people cry, laugh, or get angry.

Bush's Twitter feed shows us the consequences of a lukewarm persona. His Twitter strategy isn't particularly strong—it's just there. It's not controversial or overly loved.

To determine your ideal persona, look at your specific marketing goals: If you're aiming to become president of the US, for instance, you absolutely want to stick to the core pillars and themes of your campaign, but you'll need a social media persona that connects with your audience, too.

The bottom line? In addition to paying attention to the content that you're sharing on social media, be attentive to the overall impression you're setting.

No. 5: Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio has positioned himself as a "candidate of the people." His strategy? Keep a low profile and don't get embroiled in the debates that are knocking other candidates off course.

But when you're running a digital campaign as a presidential candidate, low profiles are impossible to maintain.

His persona has followed him on to social media: he has clearly positioned himself as a man who identified with his people—and he finds ways to reinforce this subtle messaging in his social media strategy.

Case in point: just take a look at Rubio's Twitter stream. Browse through the first 20 tweets, and you'll see at least 10 retweets featuring comments from his community. It's this approach that has helped grow his following close to 1M people.

Marco Rubio takeaways: Use your community for your social media content. It's easy for marketers to forget this simple yet powerful approach to reaching audiences. Put the megaphone aside, and listen to your audience. It's a subtle gesture with a strong storytelling force behind it.

How do you choose the right community tweets to feature on your own page? In Rubio's case, every retweet does two things: (1) showcases Rubio's community and (2) relates back to his personal brand as a 'candidate of the people.'

The takeaway? When retweeting, focus on your community's story while prioritizing the story about your brand, too.

No. 4: Carly Fiorina

Analysts are keeping a close eye on numbers and words surrounding Fiorina's campaign—from word clouds to social media mentions, she's the longshot that just won't quit.

And here's why: She knows what she wants from social media, and she goes after it.

Despite the looming specter of some 40,000 Hewlett-Packard layoffs and her failed 2010 campaign run, Carly Fiorina does many things right.

The secret behind her successful public image? Her openness and willingness to answer questions with her community—and she's using new social media technology to further these objectives.

For an example, take a look at the Q&As that Fiorina has conducted on Periscope. Yes, her team deals with comment trolls. And, yes, her team needed to sift through volumes of irrelevant questions to get to the good ones. But "Fiorina's priority to actually reply to comments on social media makes her stand out in her own way. Even if it's her team answering questions, it has the appearance of her not being above the 'common people,'" says Tanner Page, who analyzes social platforms at Workcrowd.

Carly Fiorina takeaways: Take the time to answer questions on social media. Fiorina seems to be doing this the best. Few other candidates, if any, actually take the time to respond to comments on their social media feeds.

Use niche, real-time streaming platforms such as Periscope, and answer questions in real time. It's a definite push out of most marketers' comfort zones, but it's a powerful way to communicate that empathetic, human connection.

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Ranking GOP Presidential Candidates According to Digital Strategy

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Jeremy Page

Jeremy Page is an Internet entrepreneur and the founder of CompanyReviews.

LinkedIn: Jeremy Page