Mariah Sanchez’s Post

Ways That Communication Impacted the U.S. Presidential Election Results As most folks on the losing and a few on the winning side are doing their election post-mortems, one of the factors that had an impact was the mastery of comm media by the Trump campaign. It scored a TKO in social media (SM) by connecting with impressionable and movable voters in SM places that the Democrats used to leverage. The campaign also scored some key blows in legacy media. Their win was driven by gains among undecided younger voters that the campaign targeted through a media blitz in the last months leading up to election day. The Trump campaign's use of targeted communications — identifying what resonates with these audiences, meeting them where they hang out and engaging with voices they trusted — should be a key part of the comm playbook in politics and beyond. Trump and his messages dominated most 24 hours news cycles. It left precious little "air" for the Harris campaign to breathe and get its messages out. Maybe, they wouldn't have used it even if it was available, as was evident in what some called their "no comments" approach to several key issues? Lastly, the campaign knew that Trump has long thrived in the spotlight and creating a media vacuum that drowns out and suffocates rival voices. https://lnkd.in/eTs_V__P The 2024 election made it evident that the Democratic Party faces challenges in the "culture war" due to the dominance of right-wing influencers who helped secure Trump’s reelection by leveraging SM and alternative platforms. This tactic contrasts with the Obama-era approach, when Democrats effectively used SM to reach the young, diverse audiences that aided Obama's 2008 win. While Dems have focused on traditional media, channels, and platforms, Republicans built online strength by embracing TikTok, #podcasts, and #live_streams that captured more diverse, younger, and "new to them" audiences. If they want to counter this competitive advantage, Democrats may need to engage more actively on newer platforms and adopt a bolder, more combative media presence to counter conservative narratives and regain cultural influence. #Media #SocialMedia #Culture #elections #traditionalmedia #podcasts #livestreams #advantage

Tl;dr — In our work this cycle, campaigns that leaned bigger, longer, and more consistently into content creator work, overperformed a truly terrible environment. But Democrats simply did not have the investment or infrastructure to compete with the right-wing personalities flooding people with disinformation and propaganda. To win hearts, minds, and elections, we’ll need to change that fast. So long as our movement continues to cater to the ever-shrinking legacy media consumer, the more we will cede actual voter bandwidth to the right-wing propagandaverse. I’ll never not be devastated by last Tuesday’s results. But I’ll never stop being proud of what I saw from our content creator partners. We need to make sure more people see it too. This is our take. 

This is so important. Dems turn our noses up at influencers to our own peril. We have this idea that just because traditional paid media (TV, mail, digital, radio) has the best ROI, that it's not worth investing in influencers, especially when the sticker shock hits. Build it into your budgets people--look at the data: bigger, longer, consistent. Your mail piece isn't going to win against the disinfo network. We need multi-channel approaches, and content creators are one of those channels.

Discover how social media is revolutionising political engagement in the UK! From unfiltered messages to direct voter interactions, learn how platforms like Twitter and Facebook are changing the game: https://ow.ly/tFrp50SAnZF #UKElection #SocialMedia 🗳️📱

Memes have evolved from tools of satire to badges of honor. When done right like in the Harris 2024 campaign, memes can create a wave of impressions for a generation that is hard to get to the voting booth. But a big question remains—does this meme-driven engagement translate to actual votes and higher turnout among Gen Z voters? As political campaigns increasingly embed themselves in meme culture, the potential for converting digital engagement into electoral participation will be an interesting trend to watch. #DigitalEngagement #PoliticalCampaigns #GenZ #Memes #VotingTrends #Election2024 #SocialMedia #YouthVote #PR https://lnkd.in/e9SSiE8E

Lincoln Media, a likely influence operation uncovered by ISD, is targeting US voters in three swing states by embedding political messaging across 7 websites and social media platforms. Funded by the Lincoln Media Foundation and tied to the Lincoln Club—California's oldest major conservative donor organization— the network's websites and social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok & Snap) focus on local news, prioritizing its Facebook following. Unlike larger efforts such as Metric Media, Lincoln Media’s channels only target key swing in this year’s presidential election. Their social media following is primarily driven by paid ads, highlighting their dependence on platforms like Facebook. With 1,750 ads costing over $63K, Lincoln Media has generated up to 18M impressions. This shows their reliance on paid strategies and how Meta profits from operations like this. This report uncovers how the network obscures its control, violating Facebook’s political ad disclosure policies. ISD has long tracked influence operations across the political spectrum. Our analysis shows how social media's lack of transparency leaves voters unaware of targeted inauthentic ads, making them vulnerable to misinformation. Read the full report below. https://lnkd.in/dYUVfJfq

Activating your candidate’s base to get out the vote is more important than ever in a low-turnout election. See how Atlas Influence Targeting can boost GOTV efforts for the Ohio Senate Race between Bernie Moreno (R) and Sherrod Brown (D). How it works: 1️⃣ Run Atlas ads to your candidate’s ~2,000 personal, professional, and political connections. Ask them to help get out the vote. 2️⃣ Activate your candidate's closest friends, family, colleagues, and most supportive social media followers. 3️⃣ Win. #politicaladvertising #digitaladvertising #digitaladvocacy #politics

Spoke to The Australian Financial Review's Matthew Cranston about social media spends in modern day campaigning. What political parties have realised is you can't win without a serious digital campaign budget. On-the-ground campaigning is meaningless if you cannot reinforce your message where the majority of voters get their information: their phones. No matter how much you spend on ads though there is still no substitute for creative, viral, edgy messaging and visuals. Viral social media can take off quickly and get everyone talking. Platforms like TikTok are already proving to be critical election battlegrounds with both Trump and Harris embracing it in the US (50 million daily users). TikTok does not allow for paid political ads, so candidates are required to invest in creativity to get the same number of eyes on their message.

Politicians are turning to social media to connect with younger voters like never before! From Instagram stories to TikTok videos, learn how digital strategies are shaping modern campaigns and securing votes.

Strategically Using X/Twitter to Reach Voters. Arena provides a detailed analysis on strategically leveraging X to maximize the effectiveness of your campaign initiatives. Click to discover how Arena can help you. #Politicalstrategy #Political #Republican #Conservatives https://lnkd.in/ebZXW62m