Come for the politics, stay for the trolling
Doomscroll 10.22.23
Hello again and happy Sunday. This week’s newsletter is going to be a little different. I’ve been busy this week with a big ‘ol family wedding that I had to travel for and well, the doomscrolling wasn’t as extensive as it normally is. But! I didn’t want to leave you all hanging this fair Sunday evening, so I still put together some links and things I thought you’d find interesting. Enjoy and stay tuned for a return to our usual programming next week!
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question! I’m not often surprised at results, tbh, but this week I am! A full 57% of you said you don’t consider ID’ing the sender in a P2P message to be a best practice! That’s right. More than half of you don’t think it’s important to start a P2P message with “Hi, it’s Bobby from the [insert campaign/org/etc]”. Color me surprised! Genuinely.
I know, I know. After complaining about the number of texts I get on a weekly basis that don’t mention UP FRONT who’s talking to me, I should have seen this coming. But now I am clear-eyed. I have identified the perpetrators and they are all readers of Doomscroll! I kid, I kid. Anyway, even more interesting is that 57% of you also said that you don’t ID yourself because you found that not doing so actually improved the performance of the text. And there you have it. Basically the lesson I’ve learned here today is that this pet peeve of mine is a personal problem between myself and the Lord. And yes, I will take care of it. Here are some of the comments I got:
Depends on content. For surveys or generic stuff - wont id. If its important well id
If you’re getting a p2p message it’s likely prospecting so it is better to talk generic and get a conversion on the issue as opposed to the person. When someone becomes a lead / donates you can then introduce them to the sender who, we now know, has similar opinions on topics.
I think you can mix it up. However, if you are not identifying yourself in the message, I would make sure to identify yourself on the WR page you put together. It's one thing to change up tactics to get folks to click, but make sure it's still clear who they are donating to.
Often times gets more clicks (probably out of curiosity) --> more conversions
Ok, so this week’s One Question is…about the Biden Campaign’s decision to get on Truth Social (more on that below). I was pretty impressed by the move, but maybe I’m being overly generous. Maybe, maybe not. But my gut reaction was “wow, epic troll,” and then I stuck a fork in an electrical socket to restart my brain.
We’ll see how long they stay active on the platform. I don’t believe for one second this is anything more than an earned media play; the Biden campaign doesn’t seriously expect to win over hearts and minds on a social media platform run by Devin Nunes. But yes, I also spent some serious time inwardly lamenting that once again, a Democrat campaign team is getting all kinds of media love and internet kudos simply for launching an account on a social media platform. Literally that never happens for Republicans. HMU and tell me I’m wrong.
2024 Roundup
Tim Scott’s Super PAC started the week by announcing it was canceling a bunch of TV ad buys. Read about it here (if you haven’t already).
Nikki Haley Super PAC SFA Fund Inc released a new ad supporting her candidacy, with a theme of “strength, not chaos.” Watch it here.
The RNC announced the 3rd presidential primary debate with be in Miami on November 8, and hosted by NBC. Get more deets here.
Chris Christie Super PAC, Tell It Like It Is PAC, dropped a new ad hitting Trump for his comments on Hezbollah. Watch it here.
Never Back Down PAC released an ad hitting Nikki Haley for sounding like she wants the U.S. to accept refugees from Gaza. Watch it here.
The Haley campaign released a new video tagging Ron DeSantis as “desperate.” Watch it here.
Industry Watch
Morning Consult: People like Facebook more now that it’s less newsy
Referrals driven by Facebook to top news sites in August 2023 was over 80% lower than it was in August 2020, per Similarweb. Campbell Brown, who led Facebook’s big push into news, announced last week she is stepping down from her Meta post in another public sign of this shift.
De-emphasizing news has helped Facebook win back consumers. Morning Consult Brand Intelligence data shows that net favorability of Facebook among all adults, Democrats and Republicans has steadily increased since 2021.
Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk’s X courts political advertisers ahead of a contentious election year
Social-media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has begun aggressively pitching political advertisers after owner Elon Musk reversed a previous ban on political ads this year.
The shift comes ahead of a 2023-2024 election cycle in which candidates and advocacy groups will spend an estimated $10.2 billion, topping the previous record of $9.02 billion set in 2019-2020, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Some $1.2 billion of the current cycle’s total will go to digital platforms, AdImpact estimates.
X is looking to turn around the revenue decline it has suffered since Musk’s takeover and subsequent changes to the platform, which prompted many brands to pull their ads. But the price cuts spurred by the loss of big advertisers have become a key part of X’s pitch, political buyers say.
NBC News: How the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times went mainstream and made millions
Funded through aggressive online and real-world marketing campaigns and big-money conservative donors, The Epoch Times now boasts to be the country’s fourth-largest newspaper by subscriber count. (Unlike most major newspapers, The Epoch Times isn't audited by the two major independent collectors of circulation data.) The nonprofit has amassed a fortune, growing its revenue by a staggering 685% in two years, to $122 million in 2021, according to the group’s most recent tax records.
Campaigns & Elections: The gender gap in political giving
It’s a difficult fundraising environment at the moment even for top-tier candidates, but one strategy that could help campaigns grow their donor bases is targeting more contributions from women.
That’s because female donors continue to lag behind men in their financial support of candidates and office holders in America.
“The persistence of inequality surprises me,” said Kira Sanbonmatsu, a researcher at Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) and author of a newly released report titled “The Donor Gap: Raising Women’s Political Voices.”
The Grapevine
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav scary movie? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
I know I’m not the first one to talk about this, but this is an epic troll by the Biden Campaign. Per Fox News:
The Biden campaign is launching an account on former President Trump’s Truth Social, Fox News Digital has learned.
Biden campaign officials told Fox News Digital that they are joining Truth Social for the purpose of "meeting voters where they are."
"Republicans can’t even agree on a Speaker of the House, so clearly, not every Republican thinks the same," a Biden campaign official told Fox News Digital.
Apparently, it only took a few days for Team Biden’s following to surpass Team Trump’s (although the Donald’s personal account still has the most followers).
Anyway, I’m officially declaring 2024 the Trolling Election. In light of the fact that no one wants news on social media anymore and we’re all entertainment addicts, I’m predicting a very serious campaign season in which serious candidates debate Big Ideas and treat each other with dignity and respect while they make their case to voters.
Just kidding. We’re all just gonna troll the heck out of each other.
From the other side of the tracks:
Struggling with engagement? We’ve all been there. I thought this blog post from Hootsuite had some helpful tips. Just ignore the Hootsuite sales pitch (or don’t, if you’re in the market!)
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!