• Why Us
  • About
    • About
    • Testimonials
    • Portfolio
    • Press and Media
    • Upcoming Events
  • Consulting
  • Speaking
    • Social Media Keynote Speaker
    • Social Media Training
  • Politics
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Podcast: Hello Merge Tag
    • Podcast: Step Up Your Social
    • Newsletter: Free Digital Tools
    • Digital Tools For Campaigns
  • Contact
  • Menu Menu
Blog
Politics

Breaking Down The Digital Programs of Pennsylvania Senate candidates John Fetterman and Dr. Oz

Deep Dive contrasting the digital programs of John Fetterman and Dr. Oz

A digital deep dive looking at the digital programs of John Fetterman and Dr. Oz. We look at their websits, social media programs and more.

The race for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat is one of the hottest competitions of the political cycle. With a divided 50/50 senate, the stakes are high for both parties to keep every seat they currently hold, and flip as many as they can. Pennsylvania is one of a handful of races that will almost certainly decide who holds the Senate majority in 2022.

While Neither John Fetterman (Democrat) nor Dr. Mehmet Oz (Republican) have yet cleared their fields to become their party’s nominee, they are both frontrunners to do so.

Fetterman, the current Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, is a fiercely progressive politician with a large national profile. He is currently dominating fundraising among Democratic hopefuls. He has run for US Senate before and announced his candidacy for Senate this time around in early February of 2021.

His likely opponent in the general election is Dr. Mehmet Oz, a newcomer to politics… as well as to Pennsylvania for that matter. He also got into the race in late – November of 2021 – and only after front runner Sean Parnell, an accused abuser, who enjoyed the endorsement of Donald Trump, dropped out in disgrace.

Dr. Oz is a TV doctor who got his start as a regular on the Oprah Winfrey show. He’s as famous as he is disreputable. He has taken a strong anti-establishment stance and is using his reputation as a doctor to take some not-so-healthy positions on COVID, just like he has on a whole host of other issues and products throughout his career.

The Cook Political Report calls this race a toss up. In a cycle this contentious, with literal control of the Senate on the line, every aspect of these candidates’ campaigns matters. Their ground games matter, their rhetoric matters, and in our pandemic reality, their digital programs sure as hell matter.

Both of these candidates are masters of media in their own way. So let’s dive in and learn some lessons from each of their campaigns by exploring how they have each chosen to approach their respective digital platforms.
​

Websites

Like any business, organization or nonprofit, a candidate’s website is their home base. It’s where people go to learn more, donate and sign up to get involved. 

A candidate – like any other “brand” – must know what goal(s) it has for site visitors and build their site accordingly. 

So how are the Fetterman and Oz’s sites?

When it comes to messaging, Fetterman and Oz each want to tell you about themselves and their ideas. Makes sense.

While they might have the same general goal, they deviate significantly in both content and delivery.

Fetterman about menu including "Meet the Fettermans, John's Story, and Levi Fetterman" pages.
Oz about page including "about, why I'm running, and bio" pages.

 

Fetterman (left) and Dr. Oz (right) tell their stories in different ways – some more personal than others.

The first way in which their messaging differs is in the way they tell prospective voters who they are as people. 

Fetterman’s “About” information is personal and focused on his family – including his Twitter-famous dog Levi. It breaks down Fetterman’s long history as an activist and fighter for the people of Pennsylvania. It shows what he stands for and how he’s advocated for his values and his neighbors throughout his career. 

Dr. Oz’s bio info on the other hand is… well let’s call it concise. His “Why I’m Running” page presents an America which has been led astray and forced off the rails, especially throughout the COVID pandemic. His site mostly talks about his work as a doctor and his TV show. He also provides a very short statement on his family. 

Fetterman issues page featuring videos about each issue.
Oz issues page featuring graphics for each issue.

 

Fetterman and Dr. Oz take different approaches to talking about the issues that are important to their campaign.
Now let’s look at how they talk about the issues that matter to them.
​
Fetterman uses short videos to talk about the issues that make up his platform. These videos often feature stories from Pennsylvanians and Fetterman himself in ways that make the issues personal and relatable.
​
Alternatively, Dr. Oz has short digital cards which share a brief message (about a paragraph), with his stance on each issue that is revealed when moused-over. These often call back to his experiences as a doctor, which seems to inform most of his ideas. When one of these cards is clicked on, it takes you to a page like this one which is barely legible and contains no more information on the issue.

Dr. Oz's healthcare issue page with little information that's difficult to read.

Dr. Oz doesn’t seem to have much to say about many issues – even when it comes to healthcare.
One important thing to note about messaging lies in the ease with which John Fetterman’s website can be viewed in Spanish. Pennsylvania has over 600,000 Spanish-speaking residents and Fetterman’s campaign wants to make sure that they can reach every one of them. Fetterman clearly cares about accessibility. Dr. Oz not so much.

GIF showing John Fetterman's translation feature on his website.

John Fetterman’s website can be easily translated to Spanish.
Once you’ve shared your story and ideas with someone, it’s time to get them to take action. In politics, action typically comes in three forms – volunteering, voting, and fundraising. Once again these two candidates take different approaches.

Fetterman's opportunities to take action including volunteering, voting information, registering to vote by mail, and joining Fetterman's text program.

The Fetterman website makes it easy for people to take action by volunteering and getting ready to vote. This can be a great resource for any politician’s website.

The Fetterman campaign encourages folks to volunteer throughout the website, but also helps people to get registered to vote and receive their ballots by mail. This is a great way to help voters prepare for any upcoming election and ensures that you’re helping to register voters that may already be interested in supporting you. 

Furthermore, Fetterman puts his texting program right on the front page of his website, making it easy to sign up and get looped into the campaign.

Fetterman volunteer opportunities including making calls, socially distant door knocking, grassroots fundraising, sending texts, and hosting a Zoom fundraiser.
Oz volunteer opportunities including making calls, knocking on doors, donating, signing petitions, and following the campaign on social media.

 

There’s a definite difference in volunteer opportunities between the Fetterman and Oz campaign.

Interesting differences can also be seen in the types of opportunities that each candidate offers for volunteering. Fetterman focuses on more digital, COVID-safe opportunities such as sending texts, socially distant door knocking, and hosting Zoom events, while Dr. Oz encourages volunteers to sign petitions, knock on doors, and host events at their homes or other locations.

In terms of fundraising, both campaigns run pretty standard donation and merch stores pages through ActBlue (Fetterman) and WinRed (Oz), but they do have some interesting features on both of their websites that try to encourage small-dollar donations and work towards donor retention.

A donation prompt on Fetterman's website that donates one dollar when you click on Levi Fetterman's nose.

Who wouldn’t want to donate to this little guy – a great way to boost small-dollar donations.
One of the most interesting donation features from Fetterman’s website is the Levi Fetterman nose “boop”. This is a fun idea for donors who are familiar with Fetterman’s dog or who just want to make a quick donation. (This same GIF was also used prominently in a Fetterman advertising campaign shortly after he launched his campaign). 
Dr. Oz has some tricks up his sleeve too when it comes to boosting his campaign’s bottom line. These include two features – pre-checked boxes for donors and pop-ups.

GIF showing Dr. Oz's donation page including pre-checked boxes and a pop-up.

Dr. Oz is learning from the top dog in Republican fundraising by replicating Donald Trump’s tactics.

Despite being shady as hell, the pre-checked box has become a mainstay in Republican digital fundraising and Dr. Oz makes sure that he can maximize your donations… whether you meant to make your donation recurring or not! The first pre-checked box commits a donor to a recurring monthly donation matching their original contribution, and the second box gets you to sign up for Dr. Oz’s “Mid-Month Money Pledge.” 

This means that a user who quickly donates $10 once could end up donating up to twice more that month, whether they want to or not. If this type of donation tactic seems sketchy to you, you’re not alone. The F.E.C. has asked Congress to ban this type of fundraising tactic, since… you know… it verges on the edge of theft.

Dr. Oz also uses a pop-up box that tracks your mouse and prevents you from leaving the donation page until you close the box out. There’s nothing like Dr. Oz staring into your soul while you desperately try to climb out of the far-right pit you’ve found yourself in.
​

Fetterman’s Chatbots

For local voters
For out of state voters
For ineligible voters

​Finally, one cool feature worth highlighting is John Fetterman’s chatbot on his website, which is run through a Facebook Chat Plugin. 

The chatbot has three paths based on voting status including in-state, out-of-state, and ineligible to vote. Throughout these paths, the bot collects valuable information for the campaign such as contact information, how likely a person is to support Fetterman or other Democratic candidates, and can even sign people up for campaign communications and help them make donations.

All in all, we can see two very different approaches to designing a campaign website that ultimately lead us to the same goals – politicians looking to show who they are and what they’re about while making it as easy as possible to drive action on their website.
​

Social Media

While websites are a more static place for folks to interact with a campaign, social media should be used to keep a politician’s followers up to date on what’s going on with the campaign, what’s happening in the community, and show followers how they can get involved. 

Both of these candidates have unique skills that help them greatly on social media. Fetterman’s personality and strong ideas lend themselves to creating social media content that drives donations and engagement from progressives throughout the country. Dr. Oz started his campaign with millions of followers across his pages, thanks to his long history in the public spotlight. 

To learn some lessons from John Fetterman and Dr. Oz’s social media, we can break down their followings by platform, how often they post, their follower engagement levels, and also look at some unique properties of each candidate’s social media strategy.

Table displaying Fetterman and Oz's follower counts on their major platforms.

Being a celebrity definitely helps a politician get their jumpstart on social media – but the size of your following isn’t everything. (Follower counts were taken right at the end of 2021.)

 First, by reviewing the overall followings for each politician’s account, we can see that Dr. Oz entered into this race with a much larger total following than John Fetterman. 

While his numbers look big on their face (huge really!), we need to consider a couple of things. First, Dr. Oz converted his TV show accounts to campaign accounts. This means that although his following may look large, the majority of his followers are likely not Pennsylvanians or even out-of-state political supporters. Heck a ton of them likely don’t live in America, and a whole bunch more probably do not agree with his political platform. 

The second interesting note here is that at the time of this writing, Dr. Oz has still not really converted his show’s Instagram account to a political one. This is a surprising choice given the new mission of his accounts on his other platforms, as well as his massive following on Instagram (over a million!).
​
Posting frequency
Since the start of their respective campaigns, the Fetterman campaign has posted on Facebook an average of 1.8x per day to Dr. Oz’s 2.6x per day. 

On Twitter, the numbers are closer with 2.6 tweets per day for Fetterman and 2.8 tweets per day for Oz. 

Lastly, Fetterman takes the easy win on Instagram with an average of just shy of one post per day while Dr. Oz has only posted about his campaign once.

While Dr. Oz is on TikTok, he’s only posted a small handful of times since the start of his campaign.

John Fetterman posting frequency

Numbers can be deceiving, but when we look hard at a page, we can begin to see some trends.
Engagement
While posting often is important to growing a following, it’s engagement that really matters. We can see an interesting shift here when we comparing the two candidates’ Facebook accounts. Note that while Dr. Oz has a FAR larger following, Fetterman gets a much higher engagement rate per post.This makes sense – people follow Fetterman on social because they like him and his politics. People follow Dr. Oz on social because they like quack science and Oprah told them too. Not exactly a captive audience when it comes to running a political campaign.

Fetterman's most engaged with Tweet, saying,

These days, Twitter plays a role in most politicians’ campaigns.
Engagement can also give us insight into which of our candidates’ platforms figure most prominently to their social media strategy. For example, Twitter is Fetterman’s most prominent platform with a top post engagement total of 154,594 engagements. ​

Dr. Oz's most engaged with post is on Facebook and features a video from the TV show,

Dr. Oz’s most engaged with campaign post is on Facebook and centers on his fears of being canceled by the ladies of The View.
Alternatively, out of all of his posts across platforms, Dr. Oz has found the most engagement on a Facebook post with 80,451 engagements. But bear in mind, he has millions of followers – so while that’s a lot of engagements, the engagement rate is actually quite small.

John Fetterman's dogs have a Twitter account

We give Levi and Artie both the award for MVP – Most Valuable Pups.
Last but not least, each candidate has unique parts of their social media campaign which extend the strengths of their messaging strategies.
​

For John Fetterman’s campaign it’s his family members. This includes an Instagram account for his wife Gisele and a Twitter account for his dogs, Levi and Artie. These accounts both have sizable followings (31,900 followers for Gisele and 24,100 followers for the Fetterman pups), and allow the Fetterman campaign to amplify messages and show a different side of John Fetterman’s life.

GIF of Oz's TikToks rotating through a carousel on Oz's website.

Dr. Oz’s days of daytime TV may be behind him (for now), but he’s still strong on the camera.

Again, Dr. Oz’s social media strength lies in his ability to easily produce high-quality media with his team. This becomes incredibly apparent when viewing Dr. Oz’s few TikToks or his videos on his YouTube account which has quite a large following. Anyone can learn how to have a strong presence on camera, but Dr. Oz has been developing his presence and persona for decades.

What We Learned
So what? Now that we’ve taken a deeper look into John Fetterman and Dr. Oz’s digital media presence, what can we take away from our deep dive? 

Well, for one thing, this is a great reminder that your digital presence matters. A lot. You need to post quality content that is geared towards your audience, create a website that tells your story, and make sure that all elements of your digital campaign are designed to meet your organizational goals.

Fetterman’s campaign tells the story of a progressive fighter who’s worked hard to make his state better. Dr. Oz on the other hand reaches his audience by leveraging his unique character to make a stance that can appear both authoritative on issues such as COVID while also flying in the face of what he sees as the “establishment.” 

One important lesson is that where your audience comes from matters. Anyone can get followers in the wrong ways. But if your audience doesn’t care about your content, it doesn’t really matter how many of them there are. Social media (and digital in general), like everything, is about quality, not quantity. Keep that in mind the next time you’re worried about your Facebook Likes not going up fast enough. Sure, keep an eye on that number. But pay way more attention to your engagement rates than your page likes.

Hopefully this was helpful. And never forget – we dug into Dr. Oz’s digital program so you wouldn’t have to!
​


Looking to take your digital program to the next level?

Head to joshklemons.com/politics to learn more about how we help political campaigns step up their digital programs or drop us a line today.
​​
This post was written in collaboration with Nick Dotson.
January 17, 2022/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons
Tags: campaign social media, Dr. Oz, John Fetterman, political digital programs, Political Websites
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
https://joshklemons.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/john-fetterman-digital-program.png 630 1200 Josh Klemons https://joshklemons.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Reverbal-Communications-Josh-Klemons.svg Josh Klemons2022-01-17 21:29:292023-12-08 11:30:33Breaking Down The Digital Programs of Pennsylvania Senate candidates John Fetterman and Dr. Oz
You might also like
A meme masterclass from the john fetterman campaignA Meme Masterclass From the Fetterman campaign
Hello Merge Tag Ep 3 with Candy Phelps - A Deep Dive Into Campaign WebsitesA Deep Dive Into Campaign Websites with Candy Phelps | Hello Merge Tag Ep 3
Sarah Keyeski (Wisconsin State Senator) and Emily Tseffos (Wisconsin State Assembly Candidate) came on the pod to talk about using social media to bring a field program to life.Bringing a Field Program to Life on Social Media with Sarah Keyeski and Emily Tseffos | Hello Merge Tag Ep. 20
Republican presidential candidates email programsI Signed Up For All The Top-Tier Republican Presidential Candidates’ Email Lists. Here’s What I Learned.
Hello Merge Tag: Progressive Digital Organizing In A Red State, with Beth Thorpe, Digital Director for Colonel Pam Stevenson, candidate of Kentucky Attorney GeneralProgressive Digital Organizing in a Red State with Beth Thorpe | Hello Merge Tag Ep 6
Lucas Kunce and AuthenticitySenate Candidate Lucas Kunce and the Art of Authenticity
wisconsin state representative francesca hong and nada elmikashfi came on Hello Merge Tag to talk about representation in the digital age.Representation in the Digital Age with State Rep Francesca Hong and Nada Elmikashfi | Hello Merge Tag Ep. 21
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • Audience Outreach
  • Blogging
  • Brand Management
  • Content Marketing
  • Customer Service
  • Digital Ads
  • Digital Marketing
  • Digital Tools
  • Editing
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Gmail
  • Hello Merge Tag
  • Instagram
  • iPhone Functionality
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Nonprofits
  • Organization
  • Politics
  • Republican Email Tracking
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Step Up Your Social
  • Telling Your Story
  • TikTok
  • Training
  • Twitter
  • Uncategorized
  • Wisconsin
  • Writing

Recent Posts

  • What the F*ck is Dark Woke? with Bhavik Lathia | Hello Merge Tag Ep. 33
  • Running a Bluesky-First Campaign with Kat Abughazaleh | Hello Merge Tag Ep. 32
  • Building A Political On Ramp with Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good | Hello Merge Tag Ep. 31
  • Gerrymandering is a Cancer — Just Ask Wisconsin Republicans
  • This Agency Sends Ads I’m Genuinely Excited To See! | Step Up Your Social Ep 25

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • December 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • August 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • December 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • May 2015
  • September 2014

We’ve got loads of content to help you step up your digital marketing

Check It Out

Ready to take your digital marketing to the next level? We have free checklists for you

Download Them Today

Get social media tips, tricks, hacks and strategies delivered directly to your inbox

Sign Up Today
Contact

info@reverbalcommunications.com

Privacy Policy

Social Media, Digital Marketing, Digital Strategy, Training, Consulting, ​Facebook Ads, Political Campaign Consultant, Keynote Speaker
Based in Madison, Wisconsin. Serving the world.

© 2022 All rights reserved. | WordPress Web Design by Bizzy Bizzy
    Kevin McCarthy Gave a long speech. His democratic colleagues had jokes.The Internet Always Knows
    Scroll to top

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

    OKLearn more×

    Cookie and Privacy Settings



    How we use cookies

    We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

    Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

    Essential Website Cookies

    These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

    Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

    We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

    We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

    Google Analytics Cookies

    These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

    If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

    Other external services

    We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

    Google Webfont Settings:

    Google Map Settings:

    Google reCaptcha Settings:

    Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

    Other cookies

    The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

    Privacy Policy

    You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

    Terms and Conditions
    Accept settingsHide notification only