Digital media is changing the way political parties interact with voters bridging the gap like never before. Given today’s era of increasing social media usage, and growing internet penetration due to increased usage of smartphones on the one hand and saturation of traditional mediums on the other, digital media offers the perfect platform for political parties to reach audiences worldwide. The use of digital and social media increases the reach of communication efforts and allows targeting the advocacy and tailoring it as per the audiences marketers/campaigners are trying to reach. Digital media strategies are now part of the overall campaign briefs, and parties are spending an increasing amount of time and resources in digital marketing. The growing use of digital media accentuates its potent role in influencing voters and their behavior.
2014 Lok Sabha elections were the first social media election for 1.2 billion strong India with the advent of Social Media giants in India, namely Facebook and Twitter, whose users run into million from urban areas to rural areas.
Social media in 2014 India has emerged as a frontrunner in terms of Marketing and PR communications especially in the arena of politics, an area which has traditionally been predominantly dependent of modes of promotion such as television, print, radio, rallies etc. This trend was started by U.S. President Barrack Obama himself who emerged as the First Social Media President. His party adopted the now popular strategy of Crowdsourcing via different vehicles of social media for the presidential campaign in 2008.
India, which boasts of more than 200 million Internet users is especially poised for a big social media revolution. The demographic of young and mobile urban dwellers who are socially engaged, makes for the highest Twitter and Facebook usage in the world, outside of the United States, according to Alexa Internet.
Social Media had assimilated nationally into the Indian politics/election scenario much before the 2014 LokSabha elections, with the leading parties like AAP, Congress, BJP being the frontrunners and championing the cause months before the actual elections. More importantly, the impact of social/digital media is not limited only to direct access. Conversations seeded online finding their way into mainstream media, and get read, seen and discussed in every nook & corner of the country.
During the 15th Lok Sabha elections, a lot of attention was paid to conversations on social media, measuring which politicians were trending in search volume and counting retweets and followers. The first-time voters, many of whom form part of the ‘connected’ generation – numbered around 150 million this year, and most parties took steps to reach out to voters online and on social media.
Social networking giant Facebook said that 29 million people in India made 227 million interactions through posts, comments, shares, and likes about the elections from the day they were announced. Fanbase of leading political leaders increased with the onset of their digital campaign and during the elections. Also, according to Facebook, between the day the elections were announced, and the counting day, 29 million people made 227 million poll-related interactions (posts, comments, shares, and likes).
Even in Tier II cities, social media played an important role in reaching out to people. Even in remote areas, the reach of the Internet, no matter how limited, helped voters obtain information, not only about their favourite candidate, but the entire elections on a larger level.
Coming down to a more localized example we should have a look at the 2014 state elections in Maharashtra wherein the trend hasn’t just intensified but gone completely in a Global-Village mode wherein the concerned top players are out with Social media guns blazing and full armory of tweeting, posting, retweeting, checking for followers, blogging and enticing the voters in every manner possible. There were some very interesting social media strategies that were used by electioneers for the recent state elections in Maharashtra with a balance of realistic, bitter sweet and sometimes funny shades of messaging. We saw many interesting hashtags come up on Twitter one of which was #JhootheDin trend by critics of PM Modi. A parody of BJP’s ‘Ache din Campaign’ #JhootheDin has been trending on twitter during the Maharasthra elections. Others trending were #mahaverdict, #voteforbjp,#ivoteforcongress.
Nowadays, parties aren’t just harping on the good work accomplished by them but are also bringing the opposition’s mistakes to light by using social media platforms as their tool. And not to leave any stones unturned their social media strategy also has the shades of guerilla warfare wherein the strategists are now using Crowdsourcing to make their voters more involved and give them a sense of ownership in decision making. Let’s see some instances of the good, the bad and the ace in the pack.
The social media strategies very much depend on integration and interconnectedness of campaigns across platforms. Internet, mobiles and text messages are significant promoters of word of mouth, internet especially has a wildfire effect in terms of spreading the message. People at the receiving end quickly become accustomed to communicating with peers or groups of people via text from an electronic device and get engaged in the conversation trail.
Lately social media strategists and Electioneers have picked up this trend and are using applications like Twitter & Whatsapp as one of the favored tools to relay information. The interesting thing to take in account is that more and more of these messages/promotions are laced with either subtle ironical humor which is witty and satirical or in some instances they are in-your-face. Videos, memes, push messages with carefully created content are bombarded to the youth and others. Since the accessibility to social media applications such as Whatsapp and Twitter is so easy thanks to the tablets, smart phones etc. these two are leading the pack as the chosen mediums of promotion with numbers like 18.1Million users and 500Million users respectively. This data is closely followed by Facebook, Instagram (including the latest selfie trend) and other sites.
The most noteworthy reason for social media creating a strong ground for political campaigns is because it allows politicians to talk directly and efficiently with voters, this trend is here to stay and grow exponentially. Facebook and Twitter reach thousands of people yet still feel very personal. The conversational tone of social media means politicians can come across with more human touch and closer approach than traditional media or their opponents might portray them, messages are customized as per desired audience.
Authored by: Vinish Kathuria, COO, Digital Quotient.