In a brief essay, contrast the media relations strategies that were implemented by the two final candidates in the 2016 presidential election--Donald J. Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. What are the benefits or drawbacks of each strategy?

What will be an ideal response?

The Trump campaign focused on generating media coverage and reposting it instead of creating its own materials for the campaign as the Clinton campaign chose to do. The Clinton campaign relied heavily on the owned content it produced and posted on the campaign website. This material, such as studies, position papers, or features on voters and how the candidate plans to respond to their issues, was prepared by the campaign staff, posted on the campaign website and pushed out via social media to supporters and prospective voters. Clinton did not rely solely on media coverage to get her message out. According to Pew, 80% of the material posted on the Clinton site was content produced by campaign staffers or freelancers working for the campaign. In contrast, 78% of the content on the Trump campaign website was reposting of “earned” media articles and interviews generated by the candidate and/or his campaign staff. There was very little owned content (self-generated) on the site, Pew found, almost the opposite of the material on the Clinton campaign site.