Former Vice President and potential 2020 Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden, boasts an Instagram following of 1.4 million, the third most followed presidential candidate behind President Donald Trump (17.9 million) and Elizabeth Warren (2.2 million). The account has decent engagement, averaging about 30,000 likes and 600 comments per post with the exception of a few outliers of well-performing posts with hundreds of thousands of likes and several hundred comments. Most of the posts include anti-Trump rhetoric and copy that promotes his intentions and policy is elected into office. The presidential candidate does an excellent job of utilizing all of Instagram’s features including IGTV, in-story links, location tags and gifs.
A large portion of Biden’s posts are centered on the betterment of black and Latinx American communities with many photos being of the candidate with people of color. Additionally, the candidate’s posts are geared towards younger audiences such as millennials and Generation Z based on the celebrity endorsements that appeal to these audiences. Such endorsements include former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke and comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key featuring humorous or informal text on the posts.
The most prominent and most frequent calls to action on the social media page are to donate to Biden’s campaign and to vote. The link on Biden’s Instagram bio currently directs users the donation page of this website but older posts reference the link directing users to a website to confirm their polling location. This made the calls to action accessible and simple for the audience to execute. Furthermore, these calls to action are direct. While the audience is encouraged and prompted to take initiative as Biden supporters, the social media page does not provoke creativity on the platform with institutional engagement.
Biden’s Instagram page has an emphasis on portraying him as a leader and uses his past experiences and homelife to project his image as a likable and qualified candidate. The page also uses issues Biden advocates for, anti-Trump posts and frequent usage of “we” language to build a sense of unity amongst followers. Community is also cultivated through interactive engagement such as post copy that encourages discussion (ex. “show us how you support Biden during tonight’s #DemDebate.”) Outside of successful social media strategies and tactics, the Biden Instagram page does not use any one innovative approach to promote the presidential campaign.
Overall, the Joe Biden Instagram page is well run with nicely executed media and copy. However, the campaign could enlist several additional methods to further engage its audiences. The campaign could ask supporters to become more involved in grassroots and organization efforts. There could have also been more social media coverage at rallies with an organizer doing an Instagram takeover with live coverage at an event. Despite this, the 2020 Presidential campaign for Joe Biden on Instagram appears successful and well managed.
