Hillary for President by way of Social Media

The Presidential campaign season is revving up, and it seems that every morning in my daily The Skimm email alert is a synopsis of a new politician declaring a Presidential bid. There may be a plethora of politicians running for President, but I have seen or read about the social media interactions and usage of few. Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign has launched a strong digital media campaign using an array of social media tools including Facebook (more than 900,000+ followers), Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat, and even Genius. This article explains the relevance of the digital influence on voters by Hillary.

“One thing you’ll notice about her social media campaign is that it’s not all about her, it’s about the average American and their stories,” “The second thing she’s done is she’s not just going on these social platforms for a one-off announcement or statement — there’s content there, sometimes several times a day.”

The tone of Hillary’s content is relaxed and inviting. Engaging with voters through new media enables Hillary to show her personality, humanizing her to be perceived as an ordinary person who is one of the people, while simultaneously controlling the message she is communicating. Social media allows Hillary to directly and immediately connect with journalists, media members, and voters instead of relying on traditional media outlets to translate her message to the voters. To further demonstrate to voters that she is just like them, Hillary posts throughout the day showing supportive fans, campaign promotional materials, or using popular hashtag themes such as #tbt. Her campaign hashtag is #Hillary2016.

As the campaign season continues to evolve, I am interested to see which other Presidential campaign candidates use the powers of new media to share, engage, and persuade voters that they are the best candidate for President. Although younger politicians have declared Presidential bids, Hillary has demonstrated effective use of new media is not reserved for the youth of America — anyone can use it to their advantage if they view it as a valuable marketing tool.