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 Her tweet announcing her candidacy notched almost 90,000 retweets by
the end of the day Sunday, her campaign video more than 1 million
views on YouTube, and her Facebook campaign page almost 500,000
likes.
Impressive, marketing strategists say, although she did create one
or two chinks for Republicans to chisel at.
Her 138-second campaign video featured everyday Americans amid
milestones such as starting a business or having a baby, with
Clinton first appearing a full 90 seconds in. It broke a million
views on Facebook by Sunday evening.
"It's less "me" and more "us," which I think is very smart," said
Marissa Gluck, a director at marketing firm Huge.
That's a really "big difference in tone, ego and professionalism
compared to rollout videos from Rand Paul and (Ted) Cruz," said Josh
Cook, a former Obama digital director and vice president of digital
engagement for the political consulting firm, BerlinRosen, referring
to Republican presidential hopefuls.
But Republicans pushed back hard and fast.
Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz of Texas responded to the
"ready for Hillary" message in a crudely cut video asking if
Americans wanted "a third Obama term."
A Google search for "Hillary Clinton for President" resulted in an
ad for Hillary's campaign page, but just below it was an ad for
"Pledge to Stop Hillary," a Republican-created petition.
The Twitter hashtag, or classification label, #whyimnotvotingforHillary
caught on fast, but Clinton's campaign made little effort to respond
to those tweets, a mistake, said Gretchen Fox, co-founder of social
strategy agency [mto].
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Jared Levy, founder of the marketing agency Guru Media who worked to
engage young minority voters in the Obama for America campaign,
called Clinton's social media rollout "lackluster."
She missed "a huge opportunity to have an organized campaign with
influential supporters and advocates all rallying and empowered," he
said.
But Michael Cornfield, a political scientist at George Washington
University in Washington DC, said Clinton's first-day social media
ripple doesn't matter as much as it does for the other presidential
candidates, mostly because of Clinton's strong name recognition.
What she does need social media for is establishing a distinctive
message, he said, and as a way to measure the effectiveness of her
key phrases, themes, and images.
(Reporting by Sarah McBride; Editing by Ryan Woo)
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