If you’re a social media junkie like I am, you’ve noticed the two presidential candidates’ social media strategies couldn’t be more different if they tried.
Recently, after President Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump tweeted “Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama – but nobody else does!” Within five minutes, Hillary’s social media squad fired off a tweet that has gained more than 630,000 likes and 480,000 retweets, reading “Delete your account @RealDonaldTrump.”
The Clinton team seems much more tech and digital savvy than the Trump team. For example, the former created a new app for iOS that lets people volunteer, organize rallies and set up digital headquarters to interact with other Clinton supporters online.
Although Trump’s campaign isn’t nearly on the same page, a recent analysis by 4C found that there were three times as many tweets and Facebook posts related to Trump as there were referencing Clinton.
Similarly to how we preach to our clients the importance of staying on message, it’s good to see the same idea being used on a much bigger scale. This is evident in the increased popularity of social media since the last election.
In an article by Mashable, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Associate Professor Daniel Kreiss said the speed and volume of content production is a notable shift from the 2012 election.
Although Trump’s campaign is heavy on Twitter to connect with voters, Clinton is also using non-traditional platforms, including Quora and Pinterest, to boost engagement with certain demographics.
We believe that every social media platform has a different purpose and it looks like Clinton’s camp is doing a good job testing the waters with many of them. With only a few months remaining before the final polls open, I can only imagine the tactics both candidates will use.