The Digital Power of Rep. AOC – Part II
Also inside: People say they get their news from influencers but can’t name any, the DNC + DSCC are already kicking into gear for 2026, and more…
ICYMI, last week, we covered how Rep. AOC was dropping $$$ on ads, especially Facebook + Instagram ads, from her campaign/unofficial account.
This week, we’re taking a look at her organic social media strategy from her campaign/unofficial account + three smart things she does as part of that strategy that people aren’t necessarily talking about. But first…
Digital ad spending, by the numbers:
FWIW, U.S. political advertisers spent about $9.1 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
It does seem like the 2025-2026 election cycle is starting to kick off, at least when it comes to Democrats running Facebook + Instagram ads (and fundraising off the current Trump chaos). The DSCC is running acquisition + fundraising ads nationwide that direct people to a petition to “stop Elon Musk,” and Jon Ossoff, who is defending his GA Senate seat in 2026, is running fundraising ads featuring some other key boogeymen: Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Also on the Left, one of the Dem’s most prominent Gen Zers, David Hogg, and his PAC, Leaders We Deserve, are continuing to run fundraising ads that take a swing at the gerontocracy in Congress.
Meanwhile, political advertisers spent just over $1.5 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
We are roughly 20 months from the Midterms, but the DNC is up with fundraising ads that contain “urgent” asks and language like “donate now to elect Democrats.” The DNC spent $32,300 on ads like this this past week, and they seem to be primarily targeting the big blue donor states of CA and NY.
On X (formerly Twitter), political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $924,400 on ads in 2025. According to X’s political ad disclosure, here are the top spenders year to date:
@VoteMarsha AKA Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who was re-elected last year, is running a similar playbook to what we’ve seen on both sides in these first few months of 2025: she is running ads from her campaign X/Twitter account to vocalize her support for Donald Trump… including his attempted renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.
…and lastly, on Snapchat, political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $93,400 on ads in 2025. Here are the top spenders year to date:
EarthJustice is running Snap ads that link Trump and Project 2025 to the worsening of climate change.
The Digital Powers of Rep. AOC
Last week, we covered how Rep. AOC was dropping $$$ on ads, especially Facebook + Instagram ads, from her campaign/unofficial account (and, FWIW, that trend has continued as AOC for Congress spent $143,183 on FB + IG ads last week). This week, we’re going to talk about Rep AOC’s organic social media strategy from her campaign/personal account.
First, here’s a rough breakdown of her audience by social platform:
In total (not accounting for duplicate followers across platforms), AOC has about 31.6 million followers across her accounts. X/Twitter makes up a HUGE percentage of that audience, clocking in at 40.7% of her total social media following, with Instagram at 27.4% and TikTok at 11.5%.
Now, there has been much discussion about AOC’s organic social media presence, but it is true that she is a strong voice, both online and off, for the Democrats. To me, the crux of it is that she, as a digital native herself, and her team use social media in a way that feels very real – which is something that most Dems and electeds as a whole have struggled to do.
I want to highlight three things that AOC and her team do on her campaign/unofficial social media channels that I (as a Gen Zer and digital native myself) think are smart.
She understands that different platforms require different content.
AOC’s biggest platform is X/Twitter, where we see content from her that plays particularly well to the politicos, pundits, and their ilk there – namely, dunking on the right, talking about breaking news, etc. Here is a good example of a tweet of hers from this past week:
But what we see on her second biggest platform, Instagram, is different and more suited to the specific audience there. Her grid is largely direct-to-camera videos, video clips in general, infographics, etc. Here’s an example of a recent high-performing Instagram post from her (with 383,000+ likes) – and this vid is actually a clip from one of her live streams, which we’ll get into below…
Here’s what you mostly don’t see: screenshots of tweets on her Instagram or posts clearly not designed for X/Twitter pushed into her feed.
She makes the most of vertical video that feels intimate and authentic, like live streams.
AOC seems to be one of the very few electeds who is comfortable going live on Instagram, Twitch, and other platforms – which, as we empirically now know, can be a big asset.
But the live streams themselves aren’t the only smart thing she and her team are doing: she has started putting the recordings of the live streams on YouTube again (which it looks like she started doing all the way back in 2020) and putting clips from them on Facebook. Each post is edited for the platform it is posted on – and this is a good way to make authentic-feeling vertical video content go a long way, especially on platforms that prioritize video content.
She uses social media the way everyone else does – especially Instagram stories.
Another aspect of AOC’s organic social media strategy that I feel doesn’t get enough attention (maybe because it only lasts for 24 hours) is her Instagram stories. IG head Adam Mosseri says stories are uniquely for “your most passionate audience.” They are also allegedly the most commonly used feature on the platform by Gen Z and Millennials.
All this to say, it can be another strong way that she connects with her audience, especially with younger people – and AOC’s stories, in general, with their emojis and scribbles, feel very organic, casual, and “normal.” Here are some examples from the past few weeks:
More from around the internet:
ICYMI,
of – a must-follow if you aren’t already – launched a new newsletter specifically tracking Elon Musk called .
We are in the age of the “news influencer” right now. However, according to new research from Pew, there is no consensus at all when people are asked to name the first news influencer that comes into their mind – and 42% of participants couldn’t actually name one.
According to WIRED, this service lets you target Google ads at people with chronic illnesses, people who are struggling with financial distress, and even Capitol Hill staffers – which, according to Google itself, shouldn’t be possible.
Substack is taking further steps to take on TikTok by allowing creators to monetize their videos on Substack and publish videos directly from the Substack app (and see performance analytics for them).
Apparently, Melania Trump is going viral and amassing a fan base in China.
That’s all for now! See you next Friday 👋
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