Needless to say, social media and politics are inseparable. And you can thank or blame it to the political discourses happening through the social media channels lately. As comments and tweets represent the recent-world public forum, the ability of social media to break the news in real-time has already transformed the way people absorb information. Let’s talk about some Instagram post ideas that influence and enhance political campaigns of the late 21st century! All in all, there’s an intangible link between social media and politics. Let’s see how.
The Intangible Connection between Politics And Social Media
The ability to move forward with constituents and voters directly becomes invaluable to the politicians who look to sway the opinion of the public. So, politicians from both ends represent some busiest accounts around social media. While navigating politics and social media may become challenging for people managing public accounts, let’s look forward to how social media can enhance political campaigns through these practices.
#1 Engaging The Public Through Live Videos
The political-social media has already been taken over by the live videos. After all, it serves as a kind of alternative to conventional newscasts. It empowers the budding politicians to break their news and communicate with the constituents in real-time.
For instance, there are multiple politicians who have chosen live streaming on Instagram and Facebook as the new mode to interact with non-voters and voters. Instead of talking to the voters, the live video encourages both personable and meaningful conversations.
Just as how authentically created videos through tools like InVideo empowers fans, live videos also let the audience connect to the politicians directly. After all, it’s one of the most powerful tools for local and smaller politicians who require addressing issues that may not be receiving mainstream coverage concerning the news and reports.
#2 Fact-Checking Before Publishing
Although it may seem a no-brainer, it’s worth taking into consideration. As a matter of fact, social media platforms might act as a news source, with people surfing it for specific updates and news. After all, saying that political news moves speedily is just an understatement. That’s the reason why it’s crucial to be proactive with the actions against misinformation.
This may include making statements and comments that you may require as you did not take time to consider fact-checking! Someone who runs social media for any political activity or campaign has complete responsibility. So, false narratives and claims or misinformation might not be there once they are created.
So, it’s imperative to ensure that one puts together a sort of approval process or double-checks the sources before making controversial claims potentially. Factually speaking, politics and social media aren’t a free-for-all. In an epoch where the Presidential tweets are public records, real-world consequences go along with the social presence of the politician.
#3 Importance of Younger Social Handles
There’s no denying the fact that Twitter is the go-to platform for all political accounts. And on the basis of the social media demographics and age groups, this makes perfect sense.
However, that does not make the millennials and Gen Z out of the political world. After all, they represent growing voter bases who are interested in activism.
#4 The Fundraising Efforts
Popular social media handles like Facebook and Twitter might represent a huge force for fundraising as well as ad spend. As a matter of fact, political ads are not exceptional here. If you want, you can take a look at any political candidate’s account on the Facebook library and see what the campaigns are spending. Not getting into that anatomy, fundraising happens to be the center of politics and social media.
And beyond running ads, it’s a fair game to request donations through secure links too. Previously, you might have seen how candidates have put forth their donation links in social bios or pinned posts. Social media has become a popular tool for weaving donation messages into the content strategy required alongside informational posts as well as news.
#5 Recognizing The Interested Public Very Easily
Comparing politics and social media and politics to a brand or business is just apples and oranges! Surely, the prime objective is to grow the followers of the account and at the same time increase the campaign’s exposure. However, political accounts are most annoying (as seen in the media handles) by the public. Now, why is it so?
There are people who don’t wish to engage with the government or politics on social media. Neither do they want to participate nor argue! In fact, some people also go out of their way to avoid and block all political discussions on social media. For this reason, budding politicians may feel that attracting followers or their support is like an uphill battle. That’s the reason why it’s imperative to focus on the goals. And this way, social media handles help in engaging with the accounts or followers relevant to the party or campaign.
#6 Getting to Ask and Answer Questions Of The Public
It goes without saying that asking questions has been a proven way to boost engagement on social media. For politicians, questions and answers act as the bread and butter. For this reason, the social media handles give them a wonderful opportunity to pose topical questions to the follower. It turns out to be a seamless way to encourage back-and-forth. Nonetheless, it also happens to be an incredible way to show that the politician is willing to listen to the constituents.
Using the platforms can vet questions privately & even post answers publicly to the followers. It allows publishing thoughtful responses and serving something that voters can reference in the near future.
Final Note
Alongside traditional advertisements, investing in digital marketing has become a great aspect of political parties across the world. Over the years, it has been seen that many parties use social media campaigns to defeat opponents. So, with the aforementioned ways, it has become easier for political marketing campaigns to promote their nominee accordingly.