How Biden can overtake the 5.7 million TikTok followers Trump has amassed since his UFC debut, according to influencers
President Donald Trump made a monster debut on TikTok this week, earning 5.7 million followers in just five days with 94 million views on just one video. The account also has 6.1 million likes.
The former president went live Saturday night ahead of a UFC fight in New Jersey, appearing live with UFC President Dana White who announced, “The President is now on TikTok.”
The video shows Trump’s walk-on to the UFC event as Kid Rock’s song “American Bad Ass” plays in the background and the former president waves to fans and takes pictures with them.
Trump’s debut far outpaced the Biden campaign’s TikTok account, which has just 362,800 followers. The entire account, which was made public in February on the occasion of the Super Bowl, has just 4.7 million likes.
Donald Trump posted his first TikTok video with UFC president Dana White on Saturday
Trump celebrated his success in a statement to reporters.
“No one is showing up to see Joe Biden speak in person and they certainly don’t want to see him on TikTok,” Trump said. “We’ll use TikTok to connect with young voters and show them how my plan will make America affordable again!”
Democratic social media strategists and influencers said comparing Biden’s campaign record to Trump’s was not a fair comparison.
“Campaign accounts are completely different from client accounts in terms of engagement and followers,” social media influencer Keith Edwards told DailyMail.com when asked to compare the two politicians’ presence on TikTok.
Edwards suggested a better comparison to Biden would be the TikTok created by the Trump-centric SuperPAC, @MAGA, who has only 17,800 followers and 182,200 likes.
The Biden campaign debuted in February in time for the Super Bowl
But some conceded that Trump’s debut on the platform was impressive, suggesting that his popularity on the platform may be due to his opposition to a TikTok ban that Biden signed into law.
“The former president joined TikTok at a time when many of the app’s young users are frustrated with the Biden administration, whether over foreign policy or the impending ban on TikTok,” Democratic influencer Johnny Palmadessa told DailyMail.com .
Palmadessa said it “made sense” for Trump to join the platform, even though he had reversed his position on TikTok after trying to ban it during his first term as president.
But he did not advise Biden to follow Trump’s example.
“President Biden’s campaign joined TikTok on behalf of their team, not the president, and I would not suggest that an account be created in the president’s name,” he said. “Instead, I would recommend creating an account for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
US President Joe Biden looks at his phone as he walks from the West Wing to Marine One
Donald Trump looks at his phone while visiting the F1 Grand Prix race in Miami, FL
Palmadessa theorized that young Democrats liked Harris, and that she could be more popular than both Biden and Trump on the social media platform.
“In my travels I have met countless young voters who, like me, love her,” he said. “TikTok would be a great place for her to further connect with those voters – I think she would far outperform both President Biden and former President Trump.”
Trump’s debut is outperforming popular Democrats on TikTok, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has 1.5 million followers.
Rep. Jeff Jackson, a congressman from North Carolina, is the most popular Democrat on TikTok with 2.2 million followers on the platform. His reputation took a dip in March after he voted for the bill that would lead to a ban on the platform, but he still has a large viewership. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez only has 985,700 followers on TikTok.
Republican strategists acknowledged that Trump’s debut exceeded expectations but said the 81-year-old Biden would struggle to find popularity on TIkTok.
Campaign strategists suggest it would be difficult for Biden, 81, to find traction on TikTok, especially after signing a bill that could ban the platform
Trump reversed his support for a ban on TikTok in March while campaigning for president
Zach Henry, a strategist who managed social media for Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign, said it was difficult to make Biden popular on a social media platform for young people.
“You can’t associate an awkward octogenarian with Gen-Zers,” he said. “They can push all the Dark Brandon memes they want, but that won’t move the youth.”
Henry helped Ramaswamy build an online following during his presidential primary campaign that ended in January.
Ramaswamy, who blasted TikTok as “digital fentanyl” from China, dropped his opposition to TikTok after learning of its power to communicate with young voters.
Trump made a similar about-face, which Henry said would benefit his campaign.
“After speaking out against the US ban, this was the logical next step,” he said. “It will be a nice medium for him to talk to Gen Z while he is on X/Twitter.”