Social media changed politics throughout the whole world. Thanks to the usage of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the way that presidential campaigns are run has drastically changed, as well as how Americans interact with their elected officials.
These platforms allows politicians to publish all sorts of content, news, and opinions to a wide audience. Those who build up a successful audience can broadcast to millions of people in an instant. As a result, their campaigns will be able to carefully manage the images of the candidates themselves based on the analtytics. In real time and at no additional cost, of course.
Social media has played a huge role in changing politics in the United States of America and throughout the world. What are the biggest changes?
Politicians Can Make Political Ads at Low Cost
It is common now for political campaigns to come up with commercials prior to releasing them on platforms such as YouTube. Advertising on these platforms costs nothing additional beyond making the commercial. A political campaign that produces a commercial for television or radio has to pay for air time, and the costs can add up quickly.
Many journalists these days will take the time to write about campaign advertisements that are released on YouTube, which helps to reach a much broader audience. This is something that also costs nothing to the politicians who decide to go this route.
Social Media Provides Free Analytics About Constituents
Many people follow their favorite politicians or the elected officials of their area on social media. This helps constituents keep updated with news and events. The campaigns are then able to view all sorts of analytics about their constituents, and adjust their image accordingly. Additionally, politicians can then customize messages that they send out based solely on demographics provided by analytics options.. This means is that one campaign could determine that a specific message could be appropriate for voters who are under 30 years of age, while another could be more appropriate for voters who are over 50 years of age.
Politicians Can Get Direct Feedback
Politicians who use social media to ask for feedback from their constituents can be good. However, it can also cause a lot of negativity or bad press depending on how the politicians themselves choose to respond. Typically, some politicians hire staffers specifically to monitor their social media accounts so that they can watch for negative responses and get rid of anything that could be viewed as being unflattering. However, this type of move can often be seen as being defensive or restricting freedom of speech.
A well-run campaign takes the time to engage members of the public regardless of how positive or negative the feedback from them may be. The best are able to respond calmly and appropriately in the image of the politician.
Politicians Now Have Direct Access to Constituents
A politician having direct access to constituents is a powerful tool, but one that has its downsides. Oftentimes, a politician’s image will be handled by a public relations professional solely for the reason that allowing the politician themselves to handle things on their own can sometimes lead to them getting into some sort of embarrassing controversy. These should always be handled with care, but especially during an election year.
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