Digital Strategists

#184: Detecting Disinformation, Fake Accounts, and Inauthentic Behavior on Social Media, with Dan Brahmy

May 25, 2025 Digital Strategists

Dan Brahmy, Co-Founder and CEO at Cyabra, discusses the cutting-edge in disinformation monitoring. Dan shares some of Cyabra’s work around the new pope, the tariff war, and narratives following the Trump assassination attempt. We discuss how monitoring works technically, what type of attributes are used to classify accounts as inauthentic, and how source attribution can be identified through patterns. 

 

Special thanks to Jill Burkes, PR and Communications lead at Cyabra, for setting up and contributing to the episode!  

 

Here’s the link to Cyabra’s newsletter.

#180: Political Polling in a Partisan United States, with Doug Kaplan

March 28, 2025 Digital Strategists

Doug Kaplan, President of Kaplan Strategies, discusses the utility of political polling for local, state, and national races. We discuss the value of polls when partisanship is high, the changing political communication landscape, and Florida as a Republican stronghold (for now). 

#177: Political Influencers in the 2024 US Election and Beyond, with Ryan Davis

December 15, 2024 Digital Strategists

Ryan Davis, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at People First, guests for a debrief on content creators in the 2024 US election. We discuss content creator strategies between the two parties, how influencers have become professionalized, and what this means for communications and elections going forward.


Advertising, authenticity, and power flows are constantly in flux in this environment, and the very conceptions of old and new media are being challenged. A space to watch!


Check out People First’s Substack to keep in the loop, and Ryan’s Travel Podcast just for fun 🙂

#173: Micro-Influencer Marketing for Political Campaigns, with Ryan Davis

April 21, 2024 Digital Strategists

Ryan Davis, Co-Founder of People First, discusses how “micro-influencers” or “micro-creators” are being used in political campaigns. We discuss the benefits of using micro-influencers for engagement, as well as how they can be used to target specific blocks of voters. Ryan also shares how these creators can inform the political strategy of campaigns through panels and focus groups, and how the comments to creators’ content can reveal themes and sentiments important for the campaign. 

 

Here’s a list of resources on micro-influencers written by Ryan and People First: 

White paper on micro-influencers 

2024 election guide on micro-influencers

In-and-outs of influencer outreach

An overview of influencer trends

#171: Wikipedia Public Relations for Politics, Brands, and Crisis Communication, with Rhiannon Ruff

March 24, 2024 Digital Strategists

Rhiannon Ruff, Wikipedia Expert and Founding Partner at Lumino, discusses how politicians and brands can effectively manage their Wikipedia presence. We discuss why Wikipedia is important for Google Search and AI like ChatGPT, and how the tone, norms, and editors of Wikipedia make editing your own page difficult. Rhi shares her tips on how to manage a Wikipedia page in the right way, and why that’s crucial for politicians and political parties. 

 

Here’s a list of links discussed in the episode:

 

Rhi’s book on Wikipedia and Crisis Communications

Rhi’s column on Why Wikipedia can be a PR Problem for Political Campaigns

Stanford Internet Observatory Report on Wikipedia and Elections in British Columbia

A bit more on the infamous Alan MacMasters!

#161: Connecting Social Media Influencers with Political Campaigns, with Zach Fang

June 18, 2023 Digital Strategists

Zach Fang, Head of Sales and Business Development at Vocal Media, shares how the start-up is building a database of social media influencers to connect with political campaigns and organizations. We discuss what makes TikTok influencers a different type of political advertising and how their costs stack up to traditional broadcast and social media. Zach also shares what’s happening with influencers on Twitch, Discord, and YouTube shorts, and how influencers may turn from awareness raising to organizing. 

 

Here’s a link to the study mentioned in the episode. 

#160: Digital Media Trends in American Political Campaigns, with Russell Mindich

May 20, 2023 Digital Strategists

Russell Mindich, political consultant and author of the 2022 Political Tech Landscape Report, shares his insights on the role of social media in political campaigning. We discuss social media influencers and how campaigns are connecting to them on TikTok, the move towards politicla advertising on streaming services, and the potential uses of ChatGPT and other generative AI for politics.

#156: Digital Political Advertising Beyond Social Media, with Megan Clasen

January 8, 2023 Digital Strategists

Megan Clasen, Partner at Gambit Strategies, shares her insights into digital political advertising for persuasion and mobilization. We discuss the role of social media ads relative to CTV and OTT advertising, as well as how political ads compete with corporate brands for inventory on these services. Megan also shares her experiences with Facebook’s ad ‘blackout’ period during the 2020 campaign and how the Biden campaign responded to countering Trump’s advertisements. …And much more!

#153: Data-driven Campaigning with Polling and Focus Groups in American Politics, with Zac McCrary

October 29, 2022 Digital Strategists

Zac McCrary, Partner at Impact Research and host of the Pro Politics podcast, shares his insights on how American campaigns leverage polling and focus groups to craft a winning message. We discuss the upcoming 2022 US midterm elections, the (still) dominant role of television in political advertising, how social media fits into the picture, and how smart phones have changed polling into a multimodal endeavor. 

#145: Political Tech Incubators in American Digital Campaigning, with Eric Wilson

May 29, 2022 Digital Strategists

Eric Wilson, Managing Partner at Startup Caucus and Host of The Business of Politics Show, discusses political tech incubators and their emerging role in US digital campaigning. We chat about how the Republican and Democratic Party need different tech solutions for different campaigning styles, the need for start-up campaigning firms, and the potential impact of Web3 on future political campaigns.

 

Here’s the link to Eric’s blog post on Web3.

 

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