Elizabeth Warren’s Got a Plan for That!

by Thanh Le

Senator Elizabeth Warren, the first woman to represent Massachusetts in the US Senate, officially launched her presidential campaign on February 9th, 2019. Senator Warren has been dominating the Democratic primary debate stages, which should come as no surprise considering she was a debate champion in high school and won a debate scholarship to GWU at 16 years old. Most recently, her impressive debate performance in Las Vegas gave a huge boost to the campaign’s fundraising efforts and a considerable rise in the national poll. Though Warren has yet to come out on top in the past three voting states and is now in fourth place in terms of delegates, her campaign could carry the momentum of the recent surge into Super Tuesday where 1,300 delegates will be up for grabs.

The “Warren for President” official website https://elizabethwarren.com serves as the digital platform where all constituents can learn about the campaign plans and the candidate’s story, as well as how to get involved and organized to support Warren in the primary and general election. I noticed when searching for the website that the campaign paid for Google Ads so that the official page comes up as the first result at the top whenever there’s a search of terms related to Warren. The headline’s customized versions include “Working For The Middle Class” and “End Corruption In Washington” which reflect the core messages of Warren’s campaign.

The first landing page of the website, even before reaching the main page, is an immediate call-to-action “Can you chip in?.” The message has changed slightly today to reflect a new update that is the latest CBS national poll “Elizabeth in second!” before asking supporters to chip in. The page that follows then greets visitors with the official campaign slogan “Dream big, fight hard, and win,” emphasizing the grassroots movement, and a simple suggestion to “Stay in touch,” asking for contact information - email address and zip code. The “Donate” buttons are very prominent both with the top-of-the-page banner and end-of-the-page nudge. The campaign marks reaching out and speaking to voters a high priority but only requires quite low commitment, as “Start making call” redirecting to a complete walk-through toolkit where you can make calls from your home or anywhere with Internet access. The “Find an event near you” section offers the chance to get more involved with higher commitment, such as canvass, rally, meet-and-greet, outreach, community events, and so on.

The campaign offers a good mix of opportunities for institutional and entrepreneurial engagement. Inside the “Help elect Elizabeth Warren” page is the comprehensive toolkit with extensive details on how advocates can get involved with Team Warren and be part of the movement. Whether it is contacting voters, hosting an event, or organizing the community, Team Warren provides step-by-step instructions and detailed materials. Supporters are also encouraged to create their own event plans and submit them to the campaign for approval. In short, the campaign gives supporters the basic tools and guidelines, and they can pick and choose what to do with it.

Warren’s campaign is known for their substantial amount of comprehensive plans and detailed proposals - “I have a plan for that” even becomes the unofficial slogan. The extensive plans and fact squad not only reflect Warren’s progressive records but also demonstrate how she’s more than qualified and prepared to hold the highest office in the land. As president, Warren will get things done and her leadership will make a “big, structural change.” “Meet Elizabeth” tells the story of her humble upbringing and incredible journey to become a law professor and US Senator because “America invested in kids like her.” It presents her as a progressive champion but also reflects the disappearing American middle-class - making the “story of self” becomes the “story of us.”

Supporters can apply to join the community of fellow progressives in support of Warren’s presidential candidacy at “All in for Warren.” However, there is virtually no link on the website directing to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Warren has a great following on all of these platforms and it will be useful to direct visitors there so they can connect, show support, and spread the words on social media. Besides, the campaign has a lot of creative and interesting merchandises but they are not very visible or featured in any innovative way on the website. To sum up, the “Warren for President” official website did a great job overall of providing a digital platform for constituents to learn more about and get engaged with the grassroots movement, but there are a few missed opportunities that they could have used better.

Fun fact: A TikTok featuring a hilarious “recap” of Elizabeth Warren’s stellar performance at the last debate went viral this weekend. The clip ends with this quip “Join me at Elizabeth-Warren-dot-you-just-got-knocked-the-fuck-out-dot-org… Lizzy out!”. This address is now registered and redirects to Elizabeth Warren's official campaign website.

Amy Klobuchar- Facebook Page

Candidate: Amy Klobuchar

Platform: Facebook

There is clear indication that presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar wants her campaign to appear authentic and grassroots. In her “about” page on Facebook, they use the words “homegrown campaign.” The campaign wants Klobuchar to seem like a down-to-earth, authentic, Midwestern candidate. The problem is, that is all the Facebook page says about her. They have an intense, steady feed of clips from debates, links, and short posts that are likely also tweeted out.

            Their demographic seems to match what we know about Facebook. The engagement on the page is mainly from people who are middle age or older. There doesn’t seem to be much engagement from young people. That being said, this seems to be more of a platform for very professional posts from the campaign. There isn’t any engagement with supporters from the official Facebook page, as far as I can tell.

            There are a couple calls to action on the page. The main, and most obvious, call to action is to vote for Klobuchar in the upcoming primaries. The only other major call to action is to “join us” at the official website. There are invitations to events and rallies, but there isn’t a major call for social justice or change. The main message of the Klobuchar campaign, according to the Facebook page, is that if you don’t like Trump, you might like her. I’m not meaning to discredit her policy points or agenda, but that is how the Facebook comes across. One post reads, “Trump’s worst nightmare is that the people in the middle, the people who are tired of the mudslinging and the name-calling, will have a place to call home this November.”

            The platform is definitely just encouraging people to plainly follow instructions. There is no creative engagement on the platform. It is about as institutional as it could get. It does not seem like it is encouraged either. There is engagement, but most of it is just negative comments about Klobuchar. Even a professional Santa Claus came after her. 

It does not seem like the Klobuchar campaign is trying to engage with people in any meaningful way that would build up leaders in her community of supporters or rally people behind her in any particular way. If the most you can do is go to her website and try to figure out engagement there, the platform is surely lacking.

            They are not using Facebook in any new or innovative way. I would have liked to see them use the platform as a sort of forum for engagement, where Klobuchar could engage with people directly and have conversations with supporters. Instead, the way the Facebook is structured, you end up seeing more comments about how bad she is than actual posts by Klobuchar. The comments call her out for not being the midwestern grassroots leader that she is trying to portray. There are fears on the page that she is just another Washington insider doing whatever she can to get elected. While I take issue with those sentiments for any candidate, this Facebook page is not doing anything to quell those concerns.

Elizabeth Warren on Facebook by Kelila Rotto

The last presidential election in 2016 made it clear how influential social media, especially Facebook, can be in politics. While it’s now clear that people were influenced by Russian interference on Facebook, the fact that much of it was done on this platform says a lot about how Facebook influences people’s opinions.  

Although Facebook doesn’t seem to be as important in this election, only a fool would discount this platform after 2016. About seven-in-ten U.S. adults, that is 69 percent of people, use Facebook. While younger audiences are not likely to engage on this social platform, older audiences are probably still looking on Facebook. People will visit Facebook just to take a look around, but if you can get someone to commit to liking a candidate’s page, you have an audience that will automatically see your posts and can amplify the messaging.

Elizabeth Warren’s Facebook banner is a video with key images and words to draw in the audience and get them excited. It has phrases such as “Dream Big” and “Fight Hard”, but a key is seeing the word “Grassroots” which gives the credit back to the people who are at the bottom. Most of the imagery includes Warren interacting with audiences and hugging people. This shows the campaign as including individuals and giving credit to the person looking at the page. But this is not left without a call for action. On the bottom right of the banner there is an easy ask for the viewer. All it says is “text fight to 24477”. It’s simple, but that is why it is perfect as the first thing you see.

Additionally, most of the messaging on Warren’s Facebook page focuses on the effect of every person who pitches in fighting side by side. Very few posts use a first person “I” or refer to “my plan”. Instead, they focus on the community and what Warren’s supporters can do together.

The pinned post, the first post anyone who clicks on this page would see, is thanking supporters. This gives credit to those who donated for “building this campaign” or “a movement”. It is inspiring as the first thing as it is clear that the campaign has far exceeded the original goal. As a new supporter or an old supporter, the Facebook page seems to be about keeping up momentum and making those who follow Warren feel good about how they have helped contribute.

Warren’s campaign is using this platform for two distinct purposes. Firstly, about half of the posts seem to be informational. Whether this be a video or a link to an article which shows Elizabeth Warren’s values and campaign promises. This in itself may be a type of ask because posting is kind of a way of asking people to read the post or watch the video. Many other posts ask for donations but only a small amount like $2 which almost anyone can give. But they are sure to ask in the context of what this donation is fighting for.

Because of the platform, Facebook does not tend to be entrepreneurial in the type of engagement it encourages. While it allows for two-way communication and encourages conversation from the audience, this page is run in Elizabeth Warren’s name and does not allows for others to create their own posts, people can only comment on posts created by the campaign.

However, it should be noted that this is only Warren’s “personal” account. There is another account where the audience can be more participatory and make their own posts in order to contribute. Interestingly enough, these two accounts work together as a whole. One to give information and ask for a donation, and another account designed to create more interaction and even build a community through the participation on the page.

#TeamWarren Fights back by: Maria Briquet

Elizabeth Warren’s Instagram campaign defines as a “people-powered grassroots movement”. The campaign is built around the idea of fighting back. In most of her posts, Warren appears very approachable and human-like. She even published an Instagram live several weeks ago drinking a beer to showcase how ‘down to earth” the candidate is.

The campaign encourages community engagement and seeks an emotional connection between Warren and her followers by posting sentimental stories on the platform. The most persuasive technique used in the campaign is covering the issues that affect some of her supporters, posting concrete examples and connecting these to her presidential promises and emphasizes their importance. For instance,  the importance of universal health care, the housing crisis, protecting families’ economy, and many others. The campaign also uses celebrities, like John Legend, to increase popularity and social media outreach.

The campaign focuses on people who are “in a fight”. This involves everyone who’s struggling or has struggled and wants to speak up for themselves. Minorities are the campaign’s main target audience. In the account, it is repeated continuously how her policies will improve the injustices that have affected these groups. An example of this is the candidate's take on legalizing Marihuana and how this issue has affected black and Latino communities. Moreover, the candidate also seeks to represent women and intends to do this with her hashtag #WomenWithWarren. The campaign refers to female empowerment and the importance of being the first female president.
On another note, the campaign mentions President Trump in several posts and emphasizes his poor political choices and the terror he evokes (that's why she's fearlessly fighting back). In this way, the campaign’s target is also people who're against Trump’s ideals and share Warren’s opinions towards him.
The campaign has a major call to action presence. A good number of posts encourage followers to donate money to the campaign through the link in the bio. She maintains her donation number at $2. If you click the candidate’s link on the bio it leads you to a page where you can donate, volunteer and/or get involved with the campaign. The link also has a stay in touch section where you can add your contact information to stay updated with the campaign.
The campaign’s goals based on the Instagram account are simple: to get more people to believe in her as a presidential figure and to raise more money for the campaign. The campaign encourages supporters to follow instructions. They’re asked to listen to her ideas, learn more about them on her website and, are asked to donate to the campaign if it speaks to them. The campaign doesn't encourage creative actions from supporters, however, it does mention personal stories shared with the candidate.
Warren’s campaign focuses on leadership. As mentioned above, her take on the campaign is to fight back and not settle. To make everyone a fighter. She tries to build a community, the #TeamWarren. A community that’s not afraid to speak up and won’t settle for a mediocre government. She uses her life story to build the profile of a strong female fighter. By self-exceeding and becoming a senator regardless of her situation, Warren tries to appeal to a community that wants to achieve greatness even though they find themselves in challenging situations at the moment. Based on the comments on her pictures, you can see this technique has been successful and has built a large community of followers who feel identified with her story and political ideals.
The campaign doesn’t use any innovative strategies and sticks to the basic tools the platform has to offer. I think the campaign could improve by encouraging her followers to engage in more creative ways, as her Instagram engagement rates have been decreasing the past months.

Joe Biden Presidential Campaign 2020

Presidential candidate, Joe Biden has become one of the few favorites for the democratic nomination. One way in which his overall following has accumulated would be through the use of his overall campaign; with a large percentage of his campaign being pushed out through his social media channels. One specific example would be his Twitter account, with a whopping 4.1 million following. The social media campaign seems to have an emphasis on “Text Join to 30330” as a means of donating towards his campaign. With a somewhat daily update on his Twitter account, Biden’s correspondents have done an interesting job at presenting him in the best light possible. The main goal with any presidential candidates social media account is to bring about attention to their campaign to a larger audience, and this is exactly what Biden intends to do.

When going over the specifics, the campaign does not seem to target a specific target audience, rather he seems to be trying to appeal to the American people as a whole. This can be seen as a downside as there is no specific key target audience which makes engagement much more difficult. The overall call to action seems to focus on “Text Join to 30330” as a means of showing one’s support towards Biden. This is something that is even put in parenthesis after his name on Twitter, which brings this to be the key call to action; a means of asking for donations and, in turn, support from the American people. There seems to be more of an institutional approach when regarding engagement on his social media channels. Specifically Twitter, Biden seems to only be stating information as a means for his followers to comprehend. There is no engagement with his followers, as other presidential candidates are doing. This straightforward approach may also be a missed opportunity mainly because it shows him in a “dry” way. By having no true engagement with his supporters, or even answering their questions, he seems to come off in a quite boring way. Although, he does try to offset this by making posts showing how he does receive much support from potential voters. However, this does in turn show his leadership as a potential president. The campaign is intended to show him as a “right fit” for the next president of the United States, and does so by either stating everything he intends to do as future president or shares how he is doing in particular states. Additionally, many tweets seem to be direct attacks at President Donald Trump as a means of bringing together a community of those who are against the Trump presidency and want a change. The overall campaign does not really seem to use innovative tactics which seem to be quite a missed opportunity. By using Twitter, there can be the use of more videos and engaging tags to bring in the attention of potential voters. Additionally, his feed seems to either be just typed information or links to videos or webpages. This can be made so much more immersive through the use of more videos, live streams, images, and overall engagement polls with potential voters. Using the creative options Twitter has to offer would be a great way to bring attention towards his campaign, especially with younger audiences.

Elizabeth Warren's Instagram

by Sarah Graver

For this assignment, I decided to look at Elizabeth Warren's Instagram page, which she has an impressive 2.2 million followers on. The only candidate who has more followers than her on the platform, unsurprisingly, is Bernie Sanders. Most of the other candidates still in the race have yet to surpass one million followers, which I do not believe to be a coincidence. Warren's Instagram showcases her reach and connection to younger, more progressive voters through being serious and direct, while also employing social media strategies and having a little bit of fun on her Instagram.

Her posts seem targeted most towards a collective group that values the structural change she is proposing, in addition to women and girls. A huge point that a handful of her posts make such as this one is that is it possible for a woman to become president, and this fact is bigger than just her as a candidate, as she shows through speaking to young girls about how they can become president one day. Outside of that, most of her captions use the pronoun 'we', which fosters a community within her supporters. Warren's posts don't often relate directly to one issue, but ones that do get a post dedicated to them include the legalization of marijuana, mass incarceration, and affordable housing. All three of these issues have roots in institutionalized racism, so perhaps she is trying to speak to people of color with those posts.

Most of the calls to action in the posts simply encourage people to donate (or 'chip in') to her campaign. Usually, she asks for $2, appealing to people who cannot afford to make big donations by acknowledging that no donation is too small. Another kind of call to action deals with telling voters in specific states to go caucus or vote, posted the day of, such as this post on the day of the Nevada caucuses. This leads me to say that this campaign mostly relies on institutional engagement, perhaps a reaction from her fundraising slowing down a few weeks ago.

The sentiment Warren's Instagram creates positions herself as a true grassroots, dependable, for-the-people leader. Many of her captions mention a "fight" that she, and we, are taking on together in the face of this election. Several posts use video clips of her delivering meaningful, powerful, inspiring messages, along with featuring community members that deal with issues that Warren wants to fix. 

There are several aspects to Warren's Instagram page that I see to be innovative. Her use of highlights is effective; they are all relevant, important, and there aren't so many that they make her profile look clogged. In her highlights, she has one dedicated to her dog Bailey, which points to how Warren isn't all serious when it comes to her social media. The videos dedicated to specific people and families are a super powerful tool for establishing emotional connections with voters who may sympathize with similar issues, and they come across as very genuine.

There is mostly a nice balance between photos, infographics, videos, and IGTV posts, but her feed sometimes appears clutter after debates, when she posts several videos from the debate that all appear the same due to their composition. Her branding and stylizing are consistent which is obviously super important. I think the only thing I would tweak on her page is to stop posting clips from the same event so close together because they can flood people's feeds and become an annoyance. At the time of writing this post, about a half-hour after the debate ended, there are nine clips from the debate posted on her Instagram. To me, this seems a bit excessive but I understand they are just trying to get as many views as possible in this critical time before Super Tuesday. Other than that, I think she could also benefit from some more creative calls to action outside of asking for donations, like asking people to comment about something important to them, sharing posts with a friend, or beyond that.

Bloomberg's Meh Tweeting

(I can't seem fix the formatting, but here's a no picture gdoc version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GT_7a_WdQgvx7jripLNVzAzuhM_n4oyuWEW-YMshMCU/edit?usp=sharing) I don’t have to tell you who Mike Bloomberg is. After a late entry into the 2020 presidential race, he’s eager to do it himself — by paying millions to be featured in every digital and traditional medium there is. Literally, his spending has made the news, and he’s the top self-funded spending presidential candidate. Ever. Even Trump, notorious for his self-funded campaign, spent 331 million less than Bloomberg. 

So we know he’s killing it with paid media, but what about organic media? Specifically, Twitter. Twitter is a micro-blogging social network ideal for having real conversations and showcasing a candidate’s voice unlike other platforms like Facebook. 

Not About Me, It’s About Them

Bloomberg often positions himself as the only candidate who can beat Trump, and that doesn't change much on Twitter.

The above graph is divided into Tweets shared between February 18 and February 25 that attack Trump, attack Bernie, discuss policy, emphasize his history as a mayor or otherwise, and other. 

This graph isn’t an entirely accurate count of Bloomberg’s Tweets. Some Tweets qualified in multiple categories, and Tweets that attacked Bernie/Trump while still discussing policy were categorized under Bernie/Trump. Retweets and repeated Tweets were not counted. Still, there’s a clear pattern. Above anything else, Bloomberg attacks his #1 opponents. 

Bloomberg’s anti-Trump and anti-Bernie dialogue also offers a clear glimpse into his target audience. While every candidate is hating on Trump (and also each other), Bloomberg often Tweets that a extreme left socialist can’t beat Trump, and he’s the only man who can. So he’s targeting moderate voters and Democratic voters who are afraid leftist policies won’t get Trump out of office. 

Rise Up

Every candidate wants your vote come the primaries — and come November. But what else is Bloomberg asking? His Twitter does support a range of call to actions, including registering to vote, knocking on doors, and checking out his website. Even just watching a rally.

None of these are revolutionary actions, but he does offer a variety which allow lower and higher thresholds of participation from his target audience. It’s absolutely institutional engagement. Bloomberg’s speaking to moderate and afraid Democrats, and he isn’t asking for anything out-of-the-box. 

What is perhaps more revolutionary — or maybe just plain interesting — is Bloomberg’s attempts to reach out to non-white voters, especially Black and Hispanic voters. Some of his posts are translations of earlier posts in Spanish, targeting Spanish speakers. Nearly all of his video content with multiple people feature at least one if not more Black or Hispanic person.

Sometimes, they’re even the focus. He features Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a former Black mayor who supports him. Similarly, he highlights an interview with Malia Cohen about the fight against tobacco. It’s a smart move. Bernie has shown us how important the non-white vote can be, and it might not be too late for Bloomberg to gain non-white support.

Resume Review

Remember the “history” category in that bar graph? Bloomberg may not favor it as much as attacking Trump and Bernie, but he shares plenty of content showcasing his past experience as a mayor of New York and how this can translate to an effective presidency. 

This isn’t unlike Trump’s own political narrative during the 2016 election. Trump presented himself as “not the traditional politician” and a “self-made man” despite being a billionaire. Much like Trump, Bloomberg also demonstrates the same self-starter qualities that America voted for once before. 

Bloomberg’s storytelling technique isn’t new, but it’s pretty successful. As a “self-made man,” he understands the drive of the American dream. As a former mayor, he has the experience governing and knowledge of politics that Trump does not. He’s the perfect middle man. 

Where Bloomberg is less successful is building a community. Where Twitter is a conversational forum, many of his Tweets are one-way or sound right out of one of his advertisements. Even when he tries to start a conversation with another candidate, he sounds artificial and rehearsed by saying “care to explain, Bernie” twice on two different issues. To me, this is a huge missed opportunity, especially on Twitter. 

He’s shared his story. But for voters to really know him, he also has to share his voice.