Utilizing the Digital Landscape: Joe Biden and the 2020 Election
- Nov 7, 2021
- 7 min read
The use of social media is critical to being able to reach an audience today, no matter what the industry is. This is why is it so important for people with an influence, especially politicians, to know the ins and outs of digital marketing through the use of social media — so as to be able to connect with potential voters and meet people where they are.
A COVID-19 Reality
The global pandemic has continually pushed more and more of our daily activities to the online realm, and election campaigns were and still are not an exception. Needless to say, the pandemic has forced candidates to stray from their usual campaign tactics and to restrategize to adapt their rallying and canvassing to work within a social media context.
That said, social media in particular upheld an additional degree of reach and power in 2020 compared to earlier presidential elections.
Just as all the other 2020 presidential candidates, Joe Biden had to adjust his campaign strategy to the new COVID-19 reality.
“Vice President Biden and Trump have very different challenges right now. Trump needs to hold his base...and Vice President Biden needs to define and in a lot of ways introduce himself to you new voters, and potential supporters.”
- Tara McGowan, former digital director for the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA
A New Approach
This new focus on digital organizing meant that beyond the politician themself, candidate volunteers likewise had to work new digital tools and/or learn how to brand a persona onto the digital scape.
Hundreds of Biden volunteers participated in a training program wholly focused on digital organizing to bolster Biden's message.
A Biden volunteer in northwest Ohio by the name of Ryan Wright was a participant in the training and said that the campaign was centered around conversion and rebranding. Wright explained that the volunteers who would normally be door-knockers and phone bankers were taught to be digital organizers who made contact with people in their respective neighborhoods and communities.
"We're just trying to see how folks are, right? That's a big piece of it too."
- Ryan Wright, Biden volunteer
Let's Talk Stats
Competing against Twitter-savvy Donald Trump meant that Joe Biden was immediately at a disadvantage in the social media-focused presidential race.
Comparing Joe Biden's initial reach with Trump, it was noticeably much smaller.
The numbers are clear. Trump accumulated far more followers than Biden on ALL 3 social networks.
However, the statistics don't say it all.
While Trump attracts followers, Biden attracts engagement.
During the 2020 Election, Biden had an Instagram high engagement rate of 3.9% compared to that of profiles of a similar size. On the other hand, Trump only had an average 1.5%. On Twitter, Biden’s 6.56% engagement was over 7 times higher than Trump’s low 0.90% rate.
According to Awario, Joe Biden has been mentioned over 2.2 million times on social media since June 1 through the use of these main hashtags:
However, one might wonder why Biden's engagement on social media was so high. The answer is likely is his messaging and branding.
Reaching the Masses
During the 2020 Presidential Election period, Biden's campaign staff focused on highlighting messages of love and positivity.
All across Biden's social media platforms, Biden's posts were carefully curated to highlight the candidate's various positive qualities.
Alternatively, Trump's campaign videos made a point of focusing on the disadvantages of his opponents. Biden's campaign however suspended the use of any negative advertisements against his opponent.
Along these same lines, Biden's campaign ads also focused on showing Biden's sympathetic side.
As such, his program involved the telling of personal stories and an overall showing of him in a positive light.
In one example, this heartbreaking Iowa healthcare ad campaign was centered around the story of the car accident that took the lives of Biden's wife and daughter and left his two sons injured. Here, he emphasizes how our existing healthcare system was able to help his sons.
These advertisements had a clear strategy, but that was not without a budget and extensive research involved.
The Democratic candidate's team spent roughly around $60 million on digital advertisements, $9 million of which included Facebook ads.
On Facebook, Biden focused his attention on targeting an older demographic — those aged 45 and above. This was a smart move: as the elderly are more likely to vote, but also because younger audiences tend to ignore Facebook in favor of other social media platforms.
According to Bully Pulpit Interactive, the Democratic communications firm, this strategy directly translated to results. Roughly half of Biden's audience was in the 45–64 age range, and an estimated 32.7% even reached users aged 65 and up.
Biden’s campaign also targeted women at a ratio of roughly 3:2 – so for every $2 they spent on men, they spent $3 on women.
This spending reflects the Democratic Party’s gender dynamics, as women are much more likely to identify as Democrats than as a Republican.
Using All His Resources
Given his relatively small pool of followers compared to his opponent, Biden had to use all the platforms and channels readily available to him to quickly and efficiently spread his message.
Biden's primary platforms included:
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Cameo, and Reddit
But in addition to using his own social media platforms, being "digitally omnipresent" meant a focus on utilizing the existing digital power of celebrities and influencers to reach broader audiences.
"He can appeal to very different fan bases; celebrity supporters like them can bring the campaign's message to nontraditional and nonpolitical outlets that might otherwise be disinclined to get into the weeds of an election -- sports-talk radio, Top 40 stations, and gossip sites."
- Lis Smith, social media strategist
Here are just some celebrities who have endorsed Joe Biden for President.
Taylor Swift.
Taylor has been relatively open about her political views. She has consistently bashed Trump and made her support for Biden and Harris obvious after sharing this photo of baked cookies.
Cher.
Cher has always been public and forward with her political views on Twitter. This tweet puts that in no uncertain terms as she encourages her fans to vote for Biden and Harris.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.
As a registered independent with centrist ideologies, the Rock made a rare political statement to endorse Biden and Harris, with the star even sitting down to interview the pair on video.
ROLE OF INFLUENCERS
According to Village Marketing, which ran the influencer campaign, influencers were able to act like "small-scale press conferences" to youth voters.
These influencers involved in the campaign could be divided into several categories:
Celebrities (Ariana Grande, Dwayne Johnson, etc.)
Internet macro-influencers with several hundred million followers (usually lifestyle bloggers or content producers)
Micro- and nano-influencers who spoke to specific communities
Big left-wing meme pages
One of the formats Biden's team developed was to allow influencers' followers to learn more about the candidate.
The format looks a little something like this.
Either an influencer interviews a member of Biden's team or Biden is casually sat at home while an influencer asks him any open-ended questions that allow Biden to talk off-the-cuff about the particular subject. These interviews were often streamed on Instagram Live, but they also ended up appearing on other platforms like Facebook and YouTube. The events were meant to be kept concise, with the conversations planned to be as short as 20 minutes. Both the campaign and celebrities promoted the event beforehand, as well.
The goal is simple. Just engage with influencers, people who have credibility with particular audiences, and get those influencers’ audiences to start thinking about Biden.
Of course, Biden’s outreach goes beyond mainstream apps as well.
Biden meets Twitch.
Though Biden himself is not an active user of the live streaming platform Twitch, he is in fact a huge proponent of infrastructure and Amtrak.
On Twitch, there is an entire community who just watches train streams — which usually involves cameras on the back of a train and an overall low-key atmosphere.
Set to undertake a train tour between Ohio and Pennsylvania, Biden's team launched a new streaming channel called "VoteJoe" and put a camera on the back of his train — with the backing soundtrack of lo-fi hip hop music — and streamed it on Twitch.
Optimized specifically to the platform, the campaign branding followed through with the delivery of an "authentic Joe Biden."
“It’s about mixing the two worlds in a way that makes sense, rather than just trying to force something on the audience.”
- Sarah Galvez, Director of Social Media and Audience Development at Biden for President
Biden meets online gaming.
In September, the campaign also debuted various Biden-Harris campaign signs in Animal Crossing, the video game that garnered extreme popularity on social media at the beginning of the pandemic.
It All Pays Off
In the case of Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign, social media allowed him to act as an 'everyman' who was able to look at the camera and relate to the American people while still being professional and articulate.
By using demographic and geographic data to reach voters with specific messages catered to their demographic group, it was no wonder that Joe Biden and his team took home the presidential victory on January 20, 2021.
"Biden certainly has been working a 'strong' online social outreach campaign this election year, but what's really captured my attention has been the power of the 'Party.'"
- technology industry analyst Josh Crandall of Netpop Research
This is mind however, one could wonder how social media might actually work against candidates in the future.
To put it simply, the future of social media could be one in which it is actually hard to know when a candidate is truly authentic because messages can be so tailored to specific audiences.
But maybe that's not a worry we need to have at the moment, and rather just something to be tackled when the time comes.
Call To Action
What things do we need to worry about NOW, though?
It's a fact that more people participate in politics by voting than by other means, but there do exist other ways to take part in politics, whether local or national.
Social media and online discussions have become one of the more popular mediums for youth to engage in thoughtful civil discourse.
Here are a few ways YOU can engage in online civil discourse:
Really focus on intention and the issues at hand. Election campaigns don't just bring up certain issues to pull in voters, these are often societal issues entire communities have to face every single day. These conversations don't just stop after voting periods and election days are over. Continue being an advocate for these issues by continually informing — whether that means sharing hashtags and resources and/or boosting organizations dedicated to the cause.
Practice setting safe boundaries for yourself. When it comes to politics, certain issues or information can be especially heavy or stressful. That said, if you notice that certain political topics are making you feel anxious, give yourself some boundaries. Try limiting what you consume by either muting certain accounts or words, or just letting others know what you're comfortable discussing.
Advocate for open and welcome discussions. When engaged in online civil discourse, it's extremely easy to find yourself in a bubble with biased information and like-minded people. Be open to hearing new perspectives and/or stories about how people are directly affected by different injustices. Beyond that, highlight what work people have already done in the community regarding the issue and magnify voices that you feel should be heard.
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