Politics

Can The Right Build On Trump’s Social Media Success? One Nonprofit Is Betting On It

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Olivia Rondeau Contributor
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Conservatives have had the disadvantage in multimedia for decades, saying that the left has had a monopoly on the market, but the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) is here to help.

President Donald Trump has rejuvenated the right-wing agenda with much more successful messaging than in recent years. By posting authentic and well-timed tweets, videos, and graphics, as well as utilizing relationships with top social media influencers, the Trump White House and campaign teams have gone straight to the hearts of American people. (RELATED: Facebook Will Allow Campaigns To Use Sponsored Content After Bloomberg’s Meme Posting Spree)

Despite Trump’s hard-hitting domination in the media, most other Republican politicians haven’t yet been able to replicate the success. Capitol Hill hasn’t had a focus on digital communication, which is essential to winning the culture war online. Democrats have the assistance of leftist “Big-Tech” giants in Silicon Valley such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google. This has been a huge problem facing conservative messaging, but the CPI, a nonprofit organization, has a plan to help republicans succeed in the digital arena.

The CPI is teaming up with two top digital professionals who will train Capitol Hill staff: former Trump White House Digital Marketing Director Sondra Clark & Competitive Enterprise Institute Digital Director Scooter Schaefer. Together, they bring decades of valuable digital communications expertise to the table.

“Today, all communications is powered by digital,” says Clark. “Working in the White House, every week I would get asked to recommend good digital communicators to fill roles at agencies and organizations. It’s critical we equip the next generation with the strategy and skills to take on senior roles at organizations and to bring principled ideas directly to the American people.” A similar sentiment was shared by Schaefer:

“The conservative movement needs highly-trained communication professionals now more than ever. The messaging battle begins and ends online: where news breaks, opinions are formed, and ideas go viral. Getting digital right is a seminal part of an effective communications strategy.”

Upon hiring Clark and Schaefer, CPI chairman Jim DeMint emphasized the nonprofit’s mission.

“Conservative policies can’t win unless we can communicate great ideas in a way that connects with the American people, and the main driver of communications today is through digital and social media. CPI has been committed to equipping conservatives with the skills to fight and win in Washington. We’re very excited work with Scooter Schaefer & Sondra Clark to launch the Revere Project and train the next generation of conservative communications professionals.”

The CPI is also investing in a video podcast studio for conservative leaders to use, as the increasing importance of the podcast medium becomes more and more evident.

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This new action plan has been deemed the Revere Project, named after the renowned patriot Paul Revere who delivered an important message. The project will launch formally in March.