Trump and his team decided to take on big tech, specifically Twitter and Facebook, by creating a competing social platform for President Trump to communicate to his public. The initial plan was to launch an alternative social media platform that would embrace and amplify conservative voices like his own. Yet instead, in May 2021, a blog was launched. They launched a blog in the interim while the plan for an independent social media platform was further developed.

The blog is located on DonaldJTrump.com and called “From the Desk of Donald Trump”. Being the raging moderate that I am, I too visit his “desk” to read what our former president had to say. It consists of a series of posts/statements from President Trump where he highlights issues and gives his reactions to the news of the day. Yet in less than a month after its launch, several news outlets reported that a spokesperson for Trump, Jason Miller, confirmed that the “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” page would not be returning and that it was just “auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on.” Virtually all media outlets, both conservative and mainstream, announced the blog was done in first days of June. If you log on today you can still see sporadic statements from the former president.

With nearly half the voters in this country casting their ballots for his second term I thought it might garner traction. Our country is still divided, and some citizens want to re-elect President Trump. So why did his website nix his blog? How did they determine “the desk” was not worth keeping?

I’ll tell you why they dropped it and why business owners in El Paso (and everywhere else) should pay attention to the blog’s failure. It failed because the blog did not gain enough audience engagement. In May, BuzzSumo, a social-media analytics company, found that the blog attracted only 200,000 forms of engagement, including links and other social interactions (likes, shares, etc.) on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Reddit. Before he was banned from those and other platforms, a single tweet from the former president would often be liked or reshared hundreds of thousands of times within a matter of hours, thanks to his eighty-eight million followers.

Since platforms banned the former president, he was unable to tap into the raging algorithms of amplifications that platforms like Twitter and Facebook provide to help grow audience reach. Social media algorithms are a way of sorting posts in a users’ feed based on relevancy instead of publish time. Social networks prioritize which content a user sees in their feed first by the likelihood that they’ll want to see it. Social media algorithms control the reigns that determine which content to deliver to users based on their behavior. Basically, these algorithms determine how we see the world when using these platforms. The concern many lawmakers have today about these algorithms is that the inner workings of these calculations are relatively secret or unknown. Currently we have lawmakers seeking to expose and address what content is and is not being exacerbated by algorithmic amplification online.

In essence we are at the mercy of these platforms and their algorithms when wanting to build or launch a brand or product. Former President Trump’s team quickly realized that without these social media platforms President Trump’s content could not gain the traction it needed in order to remain relevant. Trump’s new venture failed because he could not reach audiences via Twitter tweets and Facebook posts. These two tech companies (and a few other tech companies) have amassed some of the largest audiences today. And the primary goal of all their respective algorithms is to grow audience.

Tech companies are today’s, and most likely tomorrow’s, media companies. They are raking in the majority of advertising dollars spent to reach their massive audiences. If you are a business owner wanting to reach a mass audience or a specific audience within it, you need to direct marketing efforts towards these platforms. If you want to advertise your business in the most efficient and comprehensive way, you need a digital marketing plan that includes a social media strategy.

BC Media creates digital marketing plans that reach audiences every day. Our clients depend on us to help them promote their brands by reaching target audiences effectively with a strong digital presence that includes social marketing. Don’t waste time and money doing this on your own. Hire an expert for less than creating a part time marketing position in your firm. Don’t let your “desk” fail too!

Connect with us today and don’t get left behind!
nancy@bcmediaelpaso.com
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