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CAN SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACT ELECTORAL OUTCOME ?
June 2013
Amit Malviya
Electoral Campaign
• Tactical
• Constituency profiling
• Past electoral data analysis
• Candidate selection
• Local messaging
• Booth management
• Get the vote out
• Strategic
• It is all about right communication that is simple and effective !
• The level of misinformation is high.
• Often there is no information.
Why Social Media ?
• It lets you
• Set the agenda.
• Counter the propaganda.
• Run a fact based negative campaign.
• Targeted messaging.
• Voter education.
• Provide publicity material / talking points.
Why Social Media ?
• Deep penetration. Sticky.
• Facebook reach 71Mn in Dec12 (54% higher over Dec11).
• Likely to reach 100Mn by Dec13
• Add another 25Mn NRIs, who will be eligible to vote.
• Peer to peer and micro targeting possible. Personal.
• Amplifies and facilitates repeat messaging.
• Two way communication. Allows for crowd sourcing
feedback.
• New medium – impact unknown. First mover advantage.
• Invest in Facebook – think of it as a channel.
Why Facebook ?
• 97% on Social Media use FB. Spreading rapidly beyond
metros. 1/3 from towns with population < 5lac, 1/4 < 2lac.
• 160/543 are High Impact Constituencies (FB users higher
than margin of victory or > 10% of voting population.)
• 67/543 are Medium Impact Constituencies (FB user >5% of
voting population. Each FB user can influence one.)
• Rest are Low Impact (60/543) or No Impact (256/543)
• Party wise standing in 2009
Party Impact Level
High Medium Low No Total
INC 75 28 27 76 206
BJP 44 18 11 43 116
• 16Mn users currently [14% of Social Media]
• Open
• Partisan
• Instant
• Noisy
• Has taken main stream media hostage !
Channels
• Social Media• Facebook dominates
• Google+
• Google Hangout
Different channels will cater to different audiences.
• Messages in various formats supported –audio, video, pictures and text.
• Allows multilingual messaging.
Why Is Social Media Effective ?
• Average people believe what most other people
believe, not necessarily what is the truth.
• Main stream media has its biases
• Indian Middle class lacks enthusiasm, is ill-informed.
Need to deliver messages in their living rooms, on their
handheld devices, in their mail boxes, which they can
access in their time.
• Social media has captured the imagination of first time
voters in the 18-24 age group. Voting population in 2014
expected to be 800Mn, many below 25.
Important To Know How to Use IT !
• When to use a sledge hammer and when a toothpick.
• Minds ruled by emotions cannot be overruled by logic.
• Voters don’t read the fine print.
• Voters want it short and simple.
• We must say what we have to and keep repeating.
Has it worked before ? Yes.
• Obama campaign spent USD 16M in online advertising
and social media presence (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter
etc), including mobile devices.
• They also bought ad spots on bus, MTV, Comedy
Central, video games, radio, student newspapers, alt-
weeklies, as well as outdoor billboards.
Learning: We need to take the battle to unconventional
avenues to attract non traditional voters.
Challenges ?
• How to build a volunteer base ?
• Voter registration
• Door to door campaign
• Get the vote out !
Annexure
Voter Awareness Series
Source : http://on.fb.me/10j1gdZ
