A panel of young political digital media operatives discussed the changing media landscape in a webinar Tuesday.
Celia Bote, the managing director at political firm Targeted Victory, was joined by Emma Hollar, the former deputy digital director for Bob Casey’s 2024 Senate campaign, Brenna Parker, the former digital director for Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Ethan Lynne, a political communication student, to discuss how political candidates and elected officials can reach young voters through digital platforms. The event was moderated by Oren Shur, an adjunct professor of media and public affairs, and was hosted by the School of Media & Public Affairs in partnership with the trade magazine Campaigns & Elections.
The panelists agreed that in order for politicians to reach young voters they must use digital channels, like social media and streaming services frequently and in a timely manner. Parker said when she worked for former President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020, the campaign was focused on posting a large quantity and variety of content on social media at all hours of the day in order to reach a wide audience.
“We had five different mediums for what one message was going to be,” Parker said. “So we had to make sure that we had a photo, a graphic, plain text post, if it was a video or a link.”
Parker said if campaigns chose the correct influencers, they could help tell stories online about the work politicians are doing more effectively. She said Buttigieg was able to partner with various influencers around the country to share information about transportation infrastructure investments through nontraditional outlets, like podcasts.
“So much of it is trying to make sure that you are placing your principal in a situation or a piece of content that makes, one, sense for your message and what you’re trying to get done but also for their audience on their channel,” Parker said.
Hollar said some Democratic campaigns in past election cycles “missed the moment” by having long approval processes for what could be posted online, which reduced their content output. While other campaigns and activists were posting constantly, she said she had to wait up to 12 hours for approval from senior officials on a post, which could cause the campaign to miss “the moment.”
“Democratic messaging is a lot more stricter than I think Republicans have, I think the right is a lot more off the cuff,” Hollar said. “I think we tend to be more polished, and I think that is something we are reckoning with.”
The panelists said prioritizing a candidate’s authenticity in political communication is particularly important in order to reach younger generations. Lynne cited multiple politicians who post their own content directly to social media without the involvement of a team, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Vice President J.D. Vance, who Lynne said get content out “so much faster” and come across as more authentic than others don’t personally interact with their constituents online.
Bote said “instant gratification” appeals to younger generations online and that they are largely uninterested in traditional media platforms, like cable television. She said much of the political advertising content that she made for campaigns and ballot initiatives in 2024 was oriented toward new platforms and formats, like GIFs and memes.
“We were making memes and we were making GIFs,” Bote said. “We were making six-second videos based on trending content, not necessarily the plug-and-play of ‘here are your core messaging tenets, let’s go make them into a 30-second TV ad.’”
Bote said she has a “negative view” of campaigns or elected officials that partnered with online influencers because social media users who see content curated by algorithms tend to push users toward influencers who are already tailored to their viewpoints.
“I think that an influencer is never going to be the person who sways a swing voter or helps somebody make up their mind because you’re sort of already in that algorithm already,” Bote said.
Bote said students who are interested in becoming digital media political operatives should try to learn from others who are doing the work well, no matter their partisan affiliation.
“Always be open to learning something new, and acknowledge that people across the aisle or your neighbors or your coworkers or people who have been doing this as long as you or not as long as you could be better at this than you, and that’s the best thing about this field is it always changes,” Bote said. “People change, tech change, whatever else and that you get better by learning from each other.”
