How the Biden-Harris administration revitalized the White House’s digital strategy

In the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has carved out a unique niche as the first to wholeheartedly embrace social media for communication. While President Barack Obama might have pioneered the social media playbook, his tenure was a solo act, compared to the current executive branch. Whether this momentum persists post-election remains uncertain, leaving the White House’s digital strategy office at a critical crossroads.

Reaching this point hasn’t been a walk in the park. The digital strategy team is juggling the complexities of an impending election, with vice president Kamala Harris balancing her dual roles as both a campaign platform and a vice presidential voice. This tightrope act highlights the challenge of maintaining a cohesive message amid the noise of competing priorities. 

“I hope that the Vice President [Kamala Harris] is successful, but it would be up to her and her team as to how they proceed,” said Christian Tom, assistant to the President and White House director of the office of digital strategy. “But I would be surprised if they stopped doing digital content at all.” 

The same holds true for Harris’ rival, former President Donald Trump. However, his approach is likely to be a different beast altogether. Trump’s social media presence is marked by a direct unfiltered style that not only captivates his base but also stirs controversy and grabs media attention. This makes his social media strategy a potent tool for shaping narratives and rallying support. 

Whatever happens next month, if the White House continues to maintain a presence on social media, it will inevitably face the same challenges that have plagued other publishers: capturing peoples’ attention over and over again. Now, with a sizable audience across multiple platforms, followers expect a specific type of content — raising the stakes even higher. 

As it stands, the White House has accounts across X (36,700 followers), Facebook (11 million followers), Instagram (19 million followers), YouTube (2.09 million subscribers), Snapchat (follower count unavailable) and Threads (3,600 followers). But the one glaring absence from the administration’s social media strategy is, predictably, TikTok.

“We haven’t explored TikTok because of the prior government-wide policy,” said Tom. “We, as in the official government side — not just the White House — but any federal entities cannot have a TikTok account.”

This policy has been in place since last year, when President Joe Biden’s administration banned TikTok from federal devices and systems due to data security concerns. The White House directive followed Congress’ official ban of the app on all federal government devices in December 2022. 

That said, TikTok is an outlier in what has been a relatively progressive strategy from the White House to embrace as many social media channels as possible.

For instance, in August, the administration launched its LinkedIn page (69,809 followers) to keep the platform’s users informed about its initiatives on employment. From updates on the economy and job growth to career opportunities at the White House, this move aims to update a professional audience and showcase the administration’s commitment to workforce issues. 

The White House has also recently dipped its toes into Reddit (815 members), reactivating its dormant account after three years. This revival provided essential updates on how to cope with Hurricane Milton, starting with a post featuring Biden holding a briefing on preparation plans. Subsequent posts have addressed the White House’s response to Hurricane Helene in Georgia and North Carolina.

As Tom explained: “Our job is to reach Americans everywhere that they are. It’s our job to show the inclusive nature of the storytelling, where a lot of the videos and the people that we select should be a reflection of America. That’s really important to us.”

Posts across the White House official accounts are being shared organically, without any media dollars to amplify their reach. Despite being one of the most recognizable institutions in America, the administration’s social media presence, which is completely separate from politicians’ personal accounts (including when they campaign) still faces the challenge of cutting through the noise.

“The White House doesn’t use advertising budgets, we don’t have funds for that,” said Tom. “The White House and our team are media publishers, and while we share a lot of similarities with other media publishers, we don’t have that paid aspect that they do.”

Similar to brands, the White House strategically features individuals in its content who embody specific ideals, aiming to resonate with the wider public and communicate its values effectively.

The most recent example of this is the White House’s digital content series, “Investing in America”, which is being posted across the administration’s social media accounts in vertical video format. It shows Biden talking to Americans via FaceTime on an iPad, who have — the White House claims — benefited from his so-called Investing in America agenda, including new access to high speed internet and lower prescription drug costs. To compare, the first video in the series, which was posted on September 19, received 23,700 likes, 624 comments and 313 shares on Instagram. On Threads, the same post received 2,500 likes, 74 comments and 296 reposts, while on X, it received 426,000 views, 7,300 likes, 1,100 comments and 2,200 reposts, as of press time.

A White House official confirmed to Digiday that the team plans to roll out a series of videos regularly in the coming months, but would not give specific plans or timelines.

But what is clear is the White House faces the same challenge as any media publisher: creating content that captures attention. Which is why the team aims to keep Instagram Reels to 90 seconds, with similar restrictions for Threads and other platforms.

“We have this presence on these channels, where we have tens of millions of followers,” said Tom. “So with each piece of content we ask ourselves, how can we best leverage those audiences and content like this video series that helped to illustrate the President, about the policy points, and doing it in new ways that are visually interesting to people. That’s what it’s all about.”

The Biden administration has also tried to engage creators, which hosted an inaugural Creator Economy conference in August, that was attended by more than 100 top creators and industry professionals.

“Our boss, President Joe Biden, deserves a lot of credit for being not just open-minded to, but embracing this digital world,” said Tom, who acknowledged that given Biden is the oldest sitting President, aged 81, connecting with people digitally is likely totally different to what Biden has done for the majority of his career.

This is the first administration to have employees who are dedicated to working with content creators (who post organically about the White House on their own channels), though the team declined to comment on how it is set up. 

Still, it speaks to the level of influence and importance they now command in the economy. So much so that Tom said the White House credits creator involvement for its most successful video products, when looking at audience reach and total video views. While Tom didn’t provide specifics, one example dates back to 2022, when The White House briefed 30 high profile creators, including Kahlil Greene (652,800 followers), and Gen Z for Change (1.8 million followers) about the war in Russia. At the time, it was reported that the subsequent posts created by those 30 creators, received an aggregate total of hundreds of thousands of views. 

But as with all aspects of the White House’s social media strategy, what unfolds next hinges on the results of the upcoming election next month.

“I hope that the future administration continues to engage with creators, but again, it would be a question for them to deal with,” said Tom.