Ryne Laster Blog #3

Rand Paul uses all forms of social media- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even SnapChat to connect with his voters, friends, followers, groupies, haters, or whatever you would like to call this herd. Fortunately, his SnapChat is rather entertaining as I began following him a few days ago. I have pasted the URL's to each of his accounts below for anyone that desires following this potential candidate. All of these accounts are verified by the social media companies, signifying that it is indeed Rand. On the other hand, there are always funny fake accounts that people make up, Rand having a few of his own.

• @senatorrandpaul(Instagram)
• @senatorrandpaul(Snapchat)
• @senrandpaul(Twitter)

Oddly enough, he does not have nearly as many followers as I expected, especially on Instagram- Not even 8 thousand! Thankfully his picture with he and his family outside of Rupp Arena, where University of Kentucky plays basketball, sufficiently lacked in the "like" category. Needless to say his presence on instagram is not as vital as on Facebook and Twitter due to the amount of traffic those two outlets see. 

Rand's Facebook account is his strongest social media outlet, followed by Twitter, then Instagram and SnapChat back with the caboose. This shouldn't be a surprise for any candidate, and his posts usually consist of how he disagrees with President Obama, or a picture of himself with a quote he said about labor or immigration laws. His pictures incorporate his passion for American Politics and Americana in general. Which is always nice to see. They certainly encompass a personal and involvement side, but as a perspective as a potential voter, his social media needs to "connect with the people" more. That should be Rand's media team priority for 2016 instead of bashing what can't be immediately fixed with Union dues and immigration reform. However around christmas time Rand made E-cards for all his supporters in each of the fifty states- which was a nice gesture, of course. 

In my opinion the best way for Rand to reach out to new followers would be to link all of his accounts together, and advertise his whereabouts multiple times in advance, and as time gets nearer to reiterate where he will be, along with live-tweeting certain events he is participating in.