It’s no secret that social media is the cornerstone of any successful campaign. The right tweet at the right moment can be more powerful than dozens of successful interviews across a multitude of media outlets.
The godfather of this strategy is of course President Trump, who demonstrated that the right comment at the right time can be the difference between being President and being a failed reality TV star. The difficulty of course lies in the timing.
While a successful tweet can launch a campaign into the stratosphere, the wrong message at the wrong time can prove as fatal as a blade between the ribs for any candidate.
At K2 we’ve spent significant time understanding how to create success in the social media market, and we know how to steer any campaign through the high risk, high reward social media climate. Obviously, there’s no shortage of news reaching our smartphones every day. According to research performed by Pew Research Center in 2022, the top social networks for news are Twitter or “X” (53%), Facebook (44%), Reddit (37%), and TikTok isn’t far behind.
While “X” isn’t a perfect news source, more often than not, we are reading breaking news on our phones through social media or news alerts before we see it on television or our computer screens. Knowing that, it’s imperative that campaigns work to find opportunities to break through social media for fundraising, engaging with the public, getting people’s temperature on hot topics in the news, or simply keeping your voters updated on what’s happening on the trail.
Remember, it’s highly unlikely that all your followers are interested in politics, so keep content engaging and messaging geared towards what you want to get out to voters to think about your candidate during the campaign.
-Brittany Yanick