During this past presidential
campaign social media was a key tool in reaching the younger generations of
audience. Hillary did have her own website that can be accessed to push through
donations and read about what she had planned to do if she were to be elected. She
ran the usual pages such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. She also lightly
touch on Snapchat but didn’t keep up with it much. Towards the end of the
campaign she did have one final act on social media to gain more support from
the younger voters by participating in the “MannequinChallenge” where
participants freeze and pretend to be a mannequin during the Rae Sremmurd song “Black
Beatles”. This was done a little too late but I’m sure it gained her a few naïve
voters who were just of age to vote and liked the song.
Twitter was Clinton's best
way of getting her thoughts and messages out as well as keeping her supporters
up to date with where she was and what she was accomplishing. That along with
some personal Facebook uses such as announcing her time with her granddaughter and
all. Her major set back with Twitter of course was Donald Trump. Trump ran the
show when it came to this social media platform. Although he wasn’t necessarily
“good” with it and said some less intellectual things, He dominated in this
area by gaining publicity as well as keeping up with his “Tweets” at what
seemed like a daily bases. This didn’t stop Clinton from attempting to gain
some spotlight. Her major stunt was tweeting directly at Trump and telling him
to delete his Twitter account.
Strengths:
By sending that direct
tweet to Trump she was able to gain some publicity for such as small comedic act.
But her best posts came from when she would talk about her granddaughter. This
showed she was very family oriented, all the posts about how she went to see
her daughter as well as the grandchild. This display of affection showed that
she did have some emotions since her speeches indicated otherwise.
Weaknesses:
Going up against Trump on
Twitter was the wrong move since he pretty much owned that domain with his
Tweets. He had by far a better presence on Twitter, and most people rejected
Clinton' attempt to dethrone Trump from this social media platform. Trying That
Mannequin Challenge really didn’t help her if in fact it might have discredited
her since it was so poorly timed and the fad itself was almost over.
Opportunities:
Instead of trying to
reach out through social media for the younger generations she should have
focused more on a more middle aged audience. They are the foundation of voters.
Most millennials don’t even vote, (personally maybe half of my friends did) so I’m
sure reaching out to us was almost a wasted effort. Most of the older
generations are much more educated on the topics being discussed as well. This
would have been a better strategy for Clinton to take.
This is a very well organized blog with a lot of good information. The fact that she participated in the challenge was a very smart move. Because it was able to gain her a lot of popularity and positive press coverage. I disagree with you that twitter was the best way of communicating with supporters. She used Facebook in the most resourceful way, which made it her most effective weapon. Also, I believe if she had utilized other social media more she could have created a larger audience. Trump largely ruled twitter throughout the election season, so this took way it’s effectiveness for Clinton.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that her "Delete your account" Tweet was Clinton's ultimate stunt in the campaign and possibly most effective. However, I believe that the Mannequin Challenge Tweet was more than ineffective and rather hurtful to indifferent voters who are looking for the more Presidential candidate. Overall a great blog post!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I would mention is that you never added a threats part to the SWOT analysis. I don't know if this was on purpose or if you forgot to add it. Like Aaron I loved the "Delete your account" part of Clintons tweet. While I get what you are saying with that millennials vote, it might be helpful to include statistics of how many millennials vote rather than just saying half of my friends don't vote. Other than that, you did a great job!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points made by Aaron. The "Delete you account" tweet was definitely well played and beneficial. However, Hillary participating in the Mannequin Challenge was pushing it for me. It felt forced and it was obvious she only did it to appeal to younger voters. I believe this was ineffective because I don't believe something such as the Mannequin Challenge would win votes from anyone. The challenge does not address any political issues and just seems to attempt to use a social media trend as a political tool. Overall I agree with your SWOT analysis though, well done!
ReplyDeleteI think that during this campaign the two candidates needed to take different approaches to promote themselves. Trump has won over twitter and is most well known for his presence on the social media site. I think, like you said, Hillary should have tried different efforts rather than twitter to build more social media presence. She appealed to younger generations but should have focused on the voters that mattered more. Over all I think that her being a politician most of her life probably resulted in her having boundaries of what she would say and the things she would do on social media.
ReplyDelete