I am Here to Help! But First Let Me Take a Selfie

Nothing like a good ol’ tragedy to use towards a campaign. While many people to genuinely care about helping people after a tragedy, there is no reason a candidate should let a photo op of them helping or reaching out to people in need go to waste. This being the case we see Carson’s social media team didn’t delay posting a picture after he went to Jordan to meet with Syrian refugees.

Would You Like a Candidate with That?

A great way to connect with voters is to do something that makes yourself appear to be on the same level as them. This last week Jeb Bush decided to do this by going and talking to each customer that came through the drive thru line at a Dunkin Donuts in New Hampshire. While it is not a traditional grassroots campaign move, it is certainly something that those voters will not forget.

Name Dropping

Instagram has proven multiple times to be a very good place to name drop. Whether it is a religious leader, a political legend, or a country singer, showing others who supports you is a benefit to all candidates. Instagram allows an easy way for candidates like Donald Trump to show off their friends.

Social Media on Social Media

What better way to promote your new social media account than your other social media account? That is exactly what Bernie Sanders did, using his Instagram account to show his follows that he now also has a Snapchat account. In this picture we see that a total of 33,767 people “liked” this photo. That means that a guaranteed number of over 33 thousand people saw his new Snapchat account, and there is no telling how many of those people then added his Snapchat. Just another benefit of social media in the political world.

Hightlight Reel

Social media such as Instagram has proven to be a great way for voters to keep up with the news in the political world. While it is no replacement for actual news outlets, it does give voters a “highlight reel” of some news. Here we see Ben Carson showing his followers the latest poll that shows himself ahead of Trump in the Maryland polls.

Guess Who I Am Friends With

We have already discussed 2^nd parties using social media to voice their opinion on policy or political issues, and now we are moving to look at those who use their personal accounts to show their support for an individual. So far in this election, Katy Perry has been very outspoken in her support for Hilary Clinton’s presidential nomination. This last week Perry did a small concert for those attending Hilary’s event in Iowa. While this was sure to bring in fans that may not have already supported Clinton, Perry showed her support of Clinton to even more people through a simple Instagram post. Katy Perry posted a selfie of herself and Hilary at the event captioned “I am with her.” Along with a picture of her freshly done nails showing off Clinton’s campaign logo. The moment she posted these, millions of Instagram users who follow Perry had their personal news feed filled with Hilary Clinton’s campaign. Comparing Clinton’s 431 thousand followers to Perry’s 30.2 million followers, Hilary could not have hoped to be able to reach as many potential voters as Perry did in that 2 seconds it took to upload a photo.

Wait, Who Are You?

With any major election we start with a primary where candidates from the same party run against each other to try and get the coveted party nomination. Leading up to a primary election there is usually one or two candidates that really stand out and are most well known, and then there are the others. These other candidates are lesser known, usually don’t have the same level of name recognition, and many constituents may not even know they are running. Social media tools like Instagram allow these candidates get their name out in the public’s view to tell or remind them that they are running and serious about trying to get the nomination. With the Democratic debate happening tonight many of these kinds of candidates are posting so that their name begins to be better associated with the thought of a Democratic nominee. Today Lincoln Chafee’s posted a photo of himself with his pre-debate “essentials”  and in the comments we see a user say he did not even know that Chafee was running. Because of this picture the Chafee posted another voter now knows that come election time Chafee will be an option.