Digital Campaign: Joe Biden’s Strategy for the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election

The year 2020 was arguably a lucky year for Joe Biden. Biden defeated Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election. Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, set a record by winning the highest number of votes—or the popular vote—in the history of U.S. presidential elections.

Biden’s success in winning more than 74 million votes from the people of the “Land of Uncle Sam” certainly required a special campaign strategy, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign adapted by leveraging digital technology to ensure it ran more efficiently and reached its target audience effectively.

Digital Campaign: How to Campaign in Today’s World

The presence of digital platforms such as social media certainly offers many conveniences, one of which is in conducting presidential election campaigns. Biden’s team, which has recently begun using social media, has also found it easier to campaign, given that social media can reach a wider audience.

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, approximately seven out of ten Americans currently use social media to connect with one another, read the news, share information, and seek entertainment. Given these statistics, combined with the less-than-ideal conditions for in-person political campaigning, it’s no surprise that both U.S. presidential candidates are aggressively campaigning through digital platforms in their bid to become the 46th President of the United States.

Technological advancements have made many things easier, particularly when it comes to socializing through social media platforms. Politicians’ decision to use social media as a medium to communicate their vision and mission to all citizens is a wise choice. This is because people now spend more time engaging with their devices than meeting face-to-face.

Influencers as Tools for Presidential Campaign Communication

Biden’s digital campaign strategy has grown exponentially. One of the most significant digital strategies devised by the former U.S. vice president’s campaign team was to invite influencers to host live streams on their personal Instagram accounts alongside Joe Biden, during which they could ask anything they wanted regarding Biden’s views and the policies he would implement if elected.

The Biden-Harris campaign team took the initiative to engage the services of the agency “Village Marketing” to help manage their partnerships with influencers on social media.

Some of the influencers who have participated in the Biden digital campaign include actress and talk show host Keke Palmer, Jerry Harris from the Netflix series “Cheer,” YouTuber Bethany Mota, and dancer Allison Holker. Through these influencers, Biden has reached more than 20 million people, most of whom likely would not have seen content about the Biden-Harris campaign had it not been shared through the influencers’ social media accounts.

The influencers’ participation in the Biden-Harris digital campaign was voluntary and did not imply that they were publicly endorsing Biden-Harris. This strategy was solely intended to engage with influencers as individuals who possess credibility and a specific audience, with the hope that the influencers’ followers would feel more familiar with Biden and become aware of his vision and mission as a presidential candidate.

The influencers chosen by Joe Biden as a means to connect more closely with the American people successfully helped Biden reach the “White House.” This proves that the power of influencers in the social media era is highly influential. The public places greater trust in information conveyed by influencers.

Written by Savira & Cinthya, PR Interns at Media Buffet