Social media marketing has become a critical component of political campaigns. Here’s how social media is used in politics in 2023.
Social media and politics have been firmly entwined ever since then-candidate Barack Obama used social networks to launch a grassroots 2008 presidential campaign that engaged voters and donors in ways not seen before in federal politics.
In 2008, Obama had five million social followers spread over 15 social networks. By contrast, today, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has 8.6 million followers on Instagram alone. Donald Trump has 87.5 million Twitter followers.
No matter what you think about the role of social media in politics, it’s safe to say that it has become a critical component of political campaigns. Read on for facts, stats, and best practices for using social media in politics.
Bonus: Download Hootsuite’s annual report on government social media trends. Find out how leading government agencies are using social media, our top five recommended areas of opportunity, and more.
Social media and politics: Stats and facts
1. U.S. advertisers have spent $3.79 billion on Meta ads about “social issues, elections or politics” since May 2018
That’s as far back as data goes in the Meta Ad Library, which reveals all ad spending in this special advertising category. During that time, there have been nearly 15 million ads in this category.
Source: Meta Ad Library Report
The number-one all-time top spender is Mike Bloomberg 2020 Inc. The campaign spent more than $63 million to promote Mike Bloomberg’s Facebook Page during his presidential bid.
2. American political candidates shared nearly 14,000 Tweets per day in October 2022
That’s based on a Pew Research analysis. It looked at accounts for more than 8,000 candidates at the federal, state, and local level leading up to the midterm elections. In the 10 months leading up to the midterms, they posted nearly 3.4 million Tweets.
3. 38% of Democrats trust social media information, compared to 27% of Republicans
Overall, Americans are increasingly getting their news from social media sites (more on that later). But they still don’t trust the information they find on social to nearly the same degree as they do information sourced from more traditional media organizations.
Source: Pew Research Center
Still, Democrats and those who lean left are much more likely to trust the information they find on social media sites than are their Republican counterparts.
Republicans’ view of the impact of social media on politics and the public opinion in general is also more negative than that of Democrats. For example, 83% of Democrats say social media is an effective tool for raising public awareness about political or social issues. But only 71% of Republicans agree.
4. 23% of U.S. social media users post about political issues
On Twitter, the number is much higher: 45% of U.S. adults say they’ve Tweeted about political or social issues within the last year. And 33% of Twitter content contains some form of political content.
5. 87% of social media users in advanced economies say social has been a good thing for democracy
Overall, people say social media has the greatest positive impact on being informed about current events – both locally and around the world. The greatest perceived negative impact is the potential for misinformation.
Source: Pew Research Center
6. But 64% of Americans say social media has been bad for democracy
The United States is one of only three countries surveyed where the majority of people said social media was bad for democracy. The others were the Netherlands (54%) and France (51%).
Source: Pew Research Center
How does social media affect politics?
Social media is a source of news
Americans’ use of social media for news hit a peak during the 2020 lockdowns and has only dipped slightly since. Half of Americans either sometimes or often get their news from social.
Source: Pew Research Center Social Media and News Fact Sheet
Of course, sometimes social media is also the source of political news that ends up in more mainstream media news outlets. For example, from early 2016 until his Twitter and Facebook accounts were blocked in January 2021, it was impossible to avoid news coverage of Donald Trump’s social media posts, even if you never visited a social media site.
Social media can be a place to break news or a place to make news, depending how you use it.
Social media is a platform for political campaigns
Social media is an effective platform for campaigns to get out their message and generate campaign funds.
It’s an especially important tool for getting younger voters excited about the democratic process. 47% of 18-to-29-year-olds in the US. say social media has a positive impact on democracy, compared to only 23% of those over 50. That group of young adults includes new voters eligible to participate in elections for the first time.
Politicians and political campaigns use social media, including social media political ads, to garner attention and support even outside of election cycles. Taking a look at the Meta Ad Library reveals which social media political campaigns are running ads on Facebook and Instagram in real time.
Source: Meta Ad Library
Social media can help increase voter participation
Get out the vote (#GOTV) and voter education campaigns have become a social media staple. Since these campaigns often aim to get more younger people out to vote, social media is a natural platform.
For example, the nonprofit Represent.Us created a social campaign in which celebrities got naked to explain the intricacies of voting by mail (including the potential for disqualified “naked ballots”).
Rock The Vote has been encouraging youth voter participation since 1990. Social media has become a key pillar of their work, and in 2022 they reached more than 12 million people on social media.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
If every other major country can have paid sick leave for its people,
The United States can, too.— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 15, 2023
Or a screencap-sharable Instagram story:
Source: @voting.school
5. To get journalists’ attention, use Twitter
69% of U.S journalists say Twitter is the social media site they use most or second-most for their job. Facebook is next at 52%.
In addition, a recent academic analysis found that politics and the economy was the most common subject area in which news publications used Twitter as a source.
If you’re trying to make or break news on social media, Twitter is the place to be.
6. Use the right tone for each platform
User demographics vary significantly among the social platforms. As a result, it’s important to test your tone and messaging on each platform you plan to use.
For example, research on political social posts leading up to the 2020 U.S. election found that photos of candidates looking happy performed best on Instagram, whereas photos in which the candidates appeared calm fared best on Facebook.
Rather than posting the same content to all your social accounts, use custom cross-posting that tailors your content and messaging to each platform. Put a social media testing plan in place to refine your platform-specific strategy over time.
Save time building a smart presence—and an engaged audience—on social media with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:
- Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
- Track relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
- Stay on top of engagement with a universal inbox
- Get comprehensive performance reports and improve your strategy as needed
Book a personalized, no-pressure demo to see how Hootsuite helps governments and agencies:
→ Engage citizens
→ Manage crisis communications
→ Deliver services efficiently
Book your demo now
Book a personalized, no-pressure demo to see how Hootsuite helps governments and agencies:
→ Engage citizens
→ Manage crisis communications
→ Deliver services efficiently
Book your demo now
Source
