“Make America great again” - Personal branding in aspect of functional stupidity in social media

Abstract

Since Donald Trump was nominated for President of the United States in 2016, his social media presence has attracted attention from all over the world. His tweets have caused international conflicts. In fact, his social media presence, combined with a strong personality, is believed to be the primary reason for his winning the election.

The role of social media has continually expanded, and academic discussion around it has evolved. In this research, personal branding is compared with the concept of functional stupidity, which has previously been investigated within organizations. However, functional stupidity has not been examined in the context of personal branding. Therefore, this study aims to discover ways in which personal branding can use social media to gain the benefits that a stupidity-based theory of organizations has to offer. This research also discusses the elements of functional stupidity found in Trump’s social media content.

This study employs qualitative content analysis, for which data have been collected from Trump’s social media accounts. It focuses on analyzing Trump’s personal brand on Twitter and Facebook to identify elements of functional stupidity.

The main finding of this thesis is that while Trump’s personal brand seems to be outright inconsiderate and insane, it includes a number of strategic elements and much considered branding. His personal brand strongly follows the theories of personal branding, and he skillfully takes advantage of the possibilities provided by social media. Moreover, a stupidity-based theory of organizations is applicable to personal branding, and Trump’s brand includes many converging elements. This thesis confirms that Trump’s personal brand is ingenious and successful; however, his method of building a brand is not suitable for anyone else.