HOW MARKETING WILL PLAY A ROLE IN 2019 ELECTIONS: SOCIAL MEDIA AND MICRO-TARGETING

‘’Political campaigns on social media are no longer about the work you do but the stories you tell and the
attention you gather.”

INTRODUCTION

The 2016 US Presidential Election was different than other US Presidential Elections, as it has rewritten
the use of social media for political campaigning. First used by Barack Obama in 2008 to reach minority
and youngsters during elections, within one-decade social media campaigning has become a norm in
every election. On a similar note BJP government spent heavily on online marketing in 2014 Indian
election. Recently, during Rajasthan elections Congress used social media for their political campaigns to
their advantage, designing, targeting and steering state elections in their court.

Earlier social media was seen as a medium to mass communicate but now given the fact that there are
more mobile phones in our country than toilets, 4G data has become dirt cheap, and “viral” nature of
social media, the upcoming 2019 election will see the creative marketing techniques in setting up the
online ground for political narratives and discourse.

SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL TO INFLUENCE ELECTIONS

There are many reasons why now more and more parties are investing heavily on marketing via social
media than any other traditional medium.

o Youngsters use social media as their main source for news

o Useful to interact with first-time voters
o Social media is more effective and cost-efficient
o Unlike traditional media it cannot be regulated by ECI
o Half-truth and misleading facts are easy to spread
o Parties can directly interact with public, bypassing the news media
o Viral (and controversial) tweets, videos give free publicity
o Useful for branding the candidates and their trustworthiness
o Visual appeal to change voters’ perceptions and empathy
o Creating echo chamber and information bubble

ADVENT OF MICROTARGETING
Imagine a situation where the context of an ad get changed as per it efficiency to affect you (content
being the same). With the power of micro-targeting it has become possible to send personalize the
campaign based on persons virtual profile.

WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA TO USE AND FOR WHAT

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

WHATSAPP

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

OTHERS

CONCERNS

FINAL THOUGHT