by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, November 12, 2015

In his two presidential runs, President Obama’s social-media strategy was on point. In 2012, he completely outdid Mitt Romney on the major social networks, when it came to likes, posts or followers. Republicans have learned their lesson and many increasingly focus their energy and money online.

According to Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings, there were around 1.2 million tweets about Tuesday’s Fox/Wall Street Journal debate within the United States. About 6 million users saw one or more of those messages.

Further data shows that about 225,000 people were tweeting and their 1.2 million tweets were seen in total around 181 million times. These are staggering numbers which fit very well with the paradigmatic shift toward online political marketing and away from traditional TV or print media.

Candidate Ted Cruz garnered the most attention on Twitter during the debate, mentioned in more than 65,500 tweets. The most tweeted about moment was also a Cruz response, when he spoke about securing the borders.

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Cruz has been incredibly successful when it comes to online interaction. He doesn’t have the followers that Donald Trump or Ben Carson command, but he has been consistently at the top of total interactions. Following the CNBC debate, he topped the list, throughout all types of social media, of candidates railing on the moderators for not addressing “substantive issues.”

Social media is also a great way to drive interest in a campaign and get voters to enter the marketing funnel for donating to a candidate. Cruz excels here as well, having an app specifically dedicated to his campaign. His supporters can earn points for sharing and liking certain posts and for inviting friends to the “Cruz Crew.”

His grassroots fundraising totals are a clear sign that this strategy has weight to it. Having raised $26.6 million (excluding PACs and other groups), as of Oct. 28, he checks in at second behind Ben Carson. He has been extremely successful raising money, despite polling around 10%, miles behind Carson.

The statement that the 2016 election will be won online has been floating around in political commentary. President Obama definitely took advantage of social media to rally a group of young apathetic voters that helped him win. More candidates are using his example and building on it.

We will start seeing the merits of these tactics come February 1, 2016, the date of the Iowa caucus.