The Tweet Heard Round The Twitterverse
TLDR: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has become a Twitter trend and has generated multiple national headlines for his city recruiting efforts by responding to a single tweet by @zebulgar.
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A prime mover is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary cause or "mover" of certain events in the universe (or all events in the universe if referring to
"The Prime Mover").
A prime mover is when the first domino that topples over knocks over a second domino, initiating a succession of events where domino's are falling infinitely until there are no dominos left to topple over. A concept similarly compared to the Butterfly Effect.
Remember the opening shot of the battles of Lexington and Concord on
April 19, 1775, which initiated the events for the American Revolutionary War that led to the creation of the United States of America?
Luckily for us, the tweet I'm referring to did not began a series of events that lead to a war with an exodus of people leaving a forsaken land to find the promised land of freedom, hope, and better housing. Or is it?
The Great Exodus of Silicon Valley
Avery Hartman put it so eloquently in Business Insider,
"The Silicon Valley exodus is real. Since the onset of the pandemic, billionaires, venture capitalists, and even major tech firms like HP and Oracle have started to flee the Bay Area. ... The pandemic may have spurred a migration away from the West Coast, but the writing has been on the wall as far back as 2017..."
Avery mentions the exodus "shouldn't be surprising โ it's the culmination of a culture clash that has been brewing in the tech industry for years".
The reasons for the mass departure of San Francisco is up to your own interpretation. Many individuals from different backgrounds and industries all share their perspectives on Twitter and Clubhouse.
For every exodus, there's always a Moses. A leader who sees pass the current frustrations of people, seeking and finding the new hope.
Our story shares about a leader who didn't receive a vision from a burning bush, but an innovative mayor who's actively leveraging the power of Twitter.
The First Domino
Delian Asparouhov, co-founder of Varda Space and Village Idiot at Founders Fund, unintentionally gave Miami Mayor Francis Suarez the 'alley oop' for a slam dunk tweet igniting a series of events amplifying the Silicon Valley Exodus narrative while also inviting all to visit Miami to learn of it's milk and honey.
The alley oop:
The slam dunk that has generated 2.3 million organic impressions alone:
Before this tweet, I had no idea who the Miami Mayor was. By simply being personable, witty, and active on social media, Mayor Francis was able to jump on a trend generating him wide-spread attention and recognition.
But he didn't just jump on a trend. He became the trend.
Since Francis's "How can I help?" tweet on December 4th, he's accepted hundreds of media interviews, zoom interviews, Instagram Live interviews, podcast interviews, and meetings with journalists, VC's, influencers, CEO's, employees of companies, and anyone on Twitter. He replies often to tweets and will even engage in conversation in the DM's.
The Miami Mayor's use of Twitter is a masterclass in personal branding but ultimately city branding as the figure head for the city.
Why?
By being so accessible to almost any Twitter user and by sharing his Twitter metrics, he's inviting us into his trendy recruitment campaign of making Miami an innovative tech hub. Additionally, through his interviews, we can clearly see how personally passionate he is about this campaign and from this transparency, we feel like he's invited us to join him in his personal mission.
And all I have to do is follow him on Twitter? I'm in!
The Power of Twitter
Mayor Francis sharing his 28 day Twitter summary:
- 22.9M Impressions (1,177% increase)
- 999K Profile visits (3,002% increase)
- 17K Mentions (825% increase)
- 15,794 New Followers
The beauty of Mayor Francis's campaign as Twitter user Chris Berry put it,
"It's organic, viral, and made possible only on Twitter. The platform of choice for tech and entrepreneurs. It didn't cost millions of dollars. All it took was a Mayor who seized an opportunity and ran with it."
Jessica Bursztynsky wrote for CNBC how Mayor Suarez is using Twitter to "build the next Silicon valley".
"Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was leaving lunch at tech billionaire Peter Thielโs house and on his way back to City Hall when he got a text from an unknown number.
Spoiler alert: the unknown number was David Beckham.
Continuing to carry his momentum in 2021, Mayor Francis is now using Clubhouse to cultivate deeper relationships with those who are interested to hear from him.
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Biggest takeaways for Mayor's?
- Actively use social media to listen to your current and targeted constituents.
- Engage in conversation organically. Tweet like a human. Mayor Francis would never have cultivated any of this attention if all his Tweets are published by Buffer.
- Be your own media agency. Mayor Francis has generated far more PR attention by being so accessible to anyone with a podcast, Instagram Live interview, Zoom interview, or an article.
I'm 22, living in Indianapolis, Indiana working as a VP of Marketing for a tech startup that went from 12 to 90 employees in 2020. I love my city. But for the first time in my life, I'm considering the possibility of moving to Miami in the future.
If I don't become a resident of the city, I'm a raving fan of the city and it's Mayor even if I live over 1,000 miles away.