Do you need to be on TikTok?
Should my campaign have an official Reddit account?
Do people still use Facebook?
What social media networks does my campaign need to be on?
I hear these types of questions all the time from campaigns and candidates, and I don’t think there’s really a one-size-fits-all answer.
Producing high-quality social media content can take a lot of time and energy. Social media networks are constantly evolving and changing. And by the time you read this, your answer could be totally different.
That being said, I do have a framework for making these decisions and deciding where to focus your time and effort.
Skip to the end if you want the TL;DR plan I’d use for a political campaign today – but keep in mind that these things can change very quickly!
Here are the questions you need to ask yourself:
What do you hope to get out of your social media campaign efforts?
Answering this question will help you answer every other question after it.
If your priority is general awareness, you might consider focusing on paid advertising.
If your goal is to motivate and identify supporters, you might focus on building audiences on Facebook and X.
If your goal is to reach young voters, you might want to focus on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
If you want to do it all, you have to ask yourself this next question.
How much time, energy, and budget do you have to focus on social media campaigns?
If you’re working on a national campaign with a large budget, you can do it all – provided you’re willing to hire and work with a team with expertise across a variety of social media platforms.
But if you’re working on a local nomination or campaign, or a targeted advocacy campaign, you might want to ask yourself additional questions about your audience and where you should focus your effort.
Who is your target audience?
If you’re trying to influence legislators or reach the news, X might be the right platform for you.
But if you’re trying to reach the general voting public, Facebook and Instagram might be a better fit.
If you want to reach Gen Z voters, think about TikTok.
What type of content do you like to produce?
If you’re a good writer and hate being on camera, X and Facebook might be your best bet.
If you’re a performer and want to produce videos, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok might be better fits.
You are allowed to play to your strengths and focus on what you’re good at, and what you prefer to do!
Depth or Width?
You can, of course, take any piece of social media content and tweak it and post it to every platform.
This is not always a recipe for success.
If you do not have the time, energy, and resources to do every single social media platform, that’s okay!
Instead of taking a wide approach and hitting every platform, you can take a deeper approach to really nailing content on one or two platforms.
For example, many journalists have huge followings on X for their writing, but on Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok? Zilch. This is common for legislators as well.
If you’re a really strong writer like Michelle Rempel Garner, you might be able to build a huge following on Substack for a newsletter.
If you’re a great public speaker and enjoy being on camera, you might start a podcast like Nate Erskine-Smith.
If you like making memes and taking a lighter look at politics, you might be able to build a large following on Facebook like Canada Proud.
There are many, many different paths to social media success.
What social media platforms should I consider using?
This list will change often, but in 2024, here’s what I’d recommend considering:
YouTube – The absolute best network for reaching regular people – but not always the place people expect to find political content.
Facebook – Great for reaching voters and regular people, and still the best platform for list building.
X – X, formerly known as Twitter, markets itself as the global town square. This is the best place to talk to politicians, media, and engage with a highly active community of political influencers.
Instagram – Another great channel for reaching normal people, especially millennials – with the focus being on video and photo content
TikTok – Despite having a bad reputation in the political world, political content is rampant on TikTok. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both gave up self-imposed TikTok bans because the power to reach young voters was simply too great. This is a great place to reach young voters fast.
Reddit – Reddit is great because it has so many unique “subreddits” – communities with specific interests. There’s likely a subreddit for your city, for your area of policy interest, full of people who might care about your campaign or cause.
LinkedIn – LinkedIn can be a great place to connect with your own personal network and professional networks. This isn’t a great place to reach the general public, but it can help you reach out to people you already know for help with your campaign. It can also be a useful resource to find other campaign professionals and vendors to help your campaign.
Substack – Substack is a newsletter and blogging tool that can be useful for anyone who likes to write, but doesn’t necessarily want to have their own website or build their own set of tools for a newsletter.
This is not an exhaustive list, but if you think I’ve missed anything, send me a note on X or LinkedIn!
My gameplan for 2024 and beyond
There are many different paths to success with digital marketing, but if I were starting from scratch and building a campaign or advocacy group today, I would focus on video.
YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram – video has exploded on these platforms, and X and Facebook are both trying to emulate their success.
Short-form video in particular, is quick and easy to produce, and you can crosspost to all major platforms with ease.
And if you want to get better at producing video for your campaign, here are 3 Tips for Better Video for Political and Advocacy Campaigns.