Trump’s Snapchat Strategy: A Comedy of Errors?
So, here we are in Washington. The political landscape is shifting faster than you can say “You’re fired!” Former President Donald Trump is barking up the young voter tree for his 2024 campaign. But there’s a little hiccup — or shall we say, a colossal blunder — in this social media saga. You see, Trump hasn’t bought a single ad on Snapchat! That’s like trying to catch a train without a ticket, my friends.
Meanwhile, on the flip side, we have Vice President Kamala Harris rolling out the Snapchat red carpet, spending more than $5.3 million on ads! I mean, come on! At this rate, she’s probably going to start selling Trump-themed plushies on Snapchat next. You can hear her now: “Do your homework and no, I’m not talking about algebra!” Apparently, her campaigns feature some bops set to the snazzy tune of Beyoncé’s “Freedom.” Who knew politics could be this funky?
Now let’s not gloss over the obvious. Trump’s absence from Snapchat is linked to a bit of a grudge match with Snap. The ugly breakup occurred after the Capitol insurrection when Trump’s account was given the ol’ boot. Imagine being thrown off your favorite dance floor! Snapchat says no way to Trump’s personal posts, but they’re open for political ads — as long as they’re fact-checked. Talk about a party that’s end up being quite exclusive!
With the election in a tight race, both campaigns are scrambling to win over the elusive millennial and Gen Z voters. Kyle Tharp, a former Democratic strategist, suggests that it’s high time they “use every means they have” to reel in these digital fish. A wise observation, wouldn’t you say? Even President Biden, before exiting the race faster than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, spent $1.5 million on Snapchat ads. That’s some serious social media currency, right there!
Even with over 100 million users in the U.S., most of whom are ready to cast their votes, one must wonder if any of them are really buying into Trump’s new methods. He’s engaging younger folks through interviews with trendy online personalities like the Nelk Boys. That’s like your dad trying to fit in by talking to your friends about TikTok dances.
Yet, here’s the kicker: despite the allure of Snapchat among youthful types, it’s not the gold mine candidates wish it were. Only a fraction of political ad spend hits Snapchat—it’s more of a cherry on top rather than the sundae. The big bucks flow into platforms like Facebook and Google, where both Trump and Harris intend to spend millions trying to ensure they get more than just tumbleweeds rolling through their campaigns.
Let’s also consider the numbers from the Pew Research Center. About 51% of Snapchat users lean left—hardly the base Trump wants to court! And with women making up a whopping 60% of the platform’s user base, one can imagine a silent prayer to the Tinder gods from Trump’s camp. They say polling shows that women largely root for Harris. Fellas, you might be in the wrong alley!
So what does it mean, really? As the battle rages on, this all boils down to one distinctive fact: Trump’s strategy of thumbing his nose at Snapchat could either be genius or downright foolish. Either way, it looks like the platform might just become a battleground for political souls as the election rolls around.
In conclusion, my dear friends, let’s grab the popcorn. It appears we’re in for an entertaining ride. The question remains—will Trump break down and pay for that Snapchat ad space before he inadvertently hands over the Twitchy crown to Kamala? Stay tuned—it won’t be boring!
WASHINGTON.- Former President Donald Trump has made the appeal to young voters, particularly younger men, a public pillar of his 2024 campaign. But a notable problem is that it is not present on a platform that uses a large number of them.
Trump has not purchased a single ad on Snapchat, in effect handing over the popular digital messaging platform to Vice President Kamala Harris, whose campaign has invested more than $5.3 million in ads on it. according to company reports.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED: Trump increases threats to his adversaries
Harris has taken advantage of that unopposed space to highlight the anti-abortion record of Trump and present yourself as a candidate for the future. Several of its advertisements are set to music with the lively rhythm of its theme song, the anthem of Beyoncé “Freedom”. Others are billed as “back-to-school homework” urging college-age voters to do their homework on Trump’s right-wing policies.
The former president’s reluctance to invest money in Snapchat (a radical turn from his previous campaigns) is explained by the long-standing feud with Snap, his holding company with offices in California, which banned Trump’s personal account shortly after the invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Unlike other prominent platforms, Snap has not lifted the ban imposed on Trump’s personal account, which has drawn angry criticism from his campaign team. Although it does not allow Trump to make personal posts, the company has indicated that it is willing to sell political ads to his campaign, which must undergo internal fact-checking.
With the election tied, both the Trump and Harris campaigns have stepped up their efforts to connect with Gen Z voters and millennials who check their news on social media instead of traditional news outlets and don’t know They will still go to the polls in 2024. Convincing those voters to go to vote could help the side that succeeds achieve a victory.
“If young voters are as important a demographic as both campaigns say they are, then they should be using every means they have available to hook them,” said Kyle Tharp, a former Democratic strategist who now writes a digital politics newsletter called FWIW. ““Snapchat seems like an obvious choice.” Before dropping out of the race, President Joe Biden spent about $1.5 million on ads on Snapchat.
Snap claims it has more than 100 million users in the United States, about 80 percent of whom are at least 18 years old and therefore eligible to vote. The platform has a higher percentage of users under 30 years old than other major technology applications.
Either way, Snapchat is not the main battleground where campaigns fight for young voters. The scale of political spending on Snapchat pales in comparison to spending on other tech platforms like Facebook and Google, into which both presidential campaigns plan to invest tens of millions of dollars. Additionally, the gap between Trump and Harris on Snapchat also reflects a more pronounced disparity in digital advertising: Harris has spent significantly more than Trump on online ads because her fundraising efforts have been more productive than his.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Harris is spending her campaign funds unnecessarily.
“A bunch of silly Snapchat ads aren’t going to make up for the fact that their terrible economic policies robbed young people of the American dream.”opined Leavitt.
Additionally, he emphasized that Trump is seeking to engage in dialogue with younger voters through a series of interviews with popular online personalities, such as the Nelk Boys and “Bussin’ With the Boys,” as well as organic videos on TikTok. Trump, who had previously resisted participating in TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, signed up for the platform this year.
However, some digital strategists consider Snapchat to be an important tool because people use it to communicate with their friends, making it a more personal platform than some of its competitors.
The platform, created in 2011, allows users to send messages that disappear. The style of ephemeral communication soon caught the interest of college and high school students, who sometimes used it to exchange racy photos and memes.
Since then, the company has demonstrated a strong ability to reach Americans interested in politics. In 2020, it reported that it had worked collaboratively with the nonpartisan group TurboVote to register about 1.2 million people to vote. TikTok, another popular app with many young users, does not allow political ads, so Snapchat appears to be the ideal place to influence millennial and Gen Z voters.
“In contrast to Trump, who apparently is only willing to talk to voters in his base and who help him feel good about himself, we don’t want to give up any ground in building a broad and diverse coalition, so we talked directly with the voters who will decide these elections”said Seth Schuster, spokesperson for the Harris campaign.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: Duel between billionaires: Elon Musk campaigns for Donald Trump and Mark Cuban for Kamala Harris
Despite the popularity of Snapchat among young people, its user base is by no means a liberal monolith. About 51 percent of its users identify as Democrats or claim to have a preference for that ideology, while only 41 percent prefer Republicans, according to a recent study by the Research Center Pew.
The largest platforms, such as Facebook y YouTubethey lean more to the right, making them more favorable terrain for Trump. Additionally, the Pew study revealed that 60 percent of Snapchat users are women, which is another disadvantage for Trump. Polls show large numbers of young women support Harris.
