Political Campaigns on Social Media in Elections-2014

Never before, the online Social Media was at the center of Political Campaigning. BJP, to its advantage, used it in gauging the right candidate for PM, core issues, terminology & catch words through it. The Buzzword NaMo, an acronym for Narendra Modi, which resounded all around in streets, was actually coined on Twitter #NaMo.

1. Social Media as a Test-tube

   Population engaging on Twitter & Facebook is a very small fraction of electors, who vote. However, it has proven to be an effective resource for testing and shortlisting the right moves. A judicious analysis of reactions, coming from different sections of the society & speedy amalgamation of ideas on the field campaign, proved highly effective. Narendra Modi, himself engaged on twitter & used successful punchlines & rhetorics, tested on twitter, both to strengthen his own posturing & also to blunt the opposition.

2. Social Media War-Room & Twitter Army

   Weakness of Twitter, was used to the full extent. A large number of Professionals were recruited to tweet for supporting the BJP campaign. Twitter does not take into account how far people are located, before trending the topic. So, a fraction of twitter army also travelled with Modi in what was called the Social Media van, tweeting from where they hacked virtually whole of the real estate in trending.

3. Print & TV wanted to be Socially Correct

   Its a trend now. You hardly read anything through them, which are radically different from dominant view on Twitter. Leave aside, some breaking news story, TV & Print want to be in sync with social media. It is this desire to be Socially Correct, even at the cost of being politically incorrect, these old opinion leaders now resonates what Twitter says. So, if one has proven one's upper hand on social, then print & TV fears the backlash.

4. If You pay, they will do the dirty work

   Paid Publicity, without the tag, might be unethical for many, but they are in vogue. If they can assure you publicity on reputed magazines, high TRP time slots, you may consider buying. All the influential writers are on Twitter who would be convincing and arguing for you, Voluntarily or involuntarily, will turn into your advocate & all the bad publicity you had will get automatically buried, by them!

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Vanisha Joseph, ET Bureau, discusses, Political connect with Electorate

Vanisha Joseph of Economic Times, presented analysis on Politicians trying to Connect with online masses . She seemingly has assembled ideas from diverse sections of the society. I see this article as collection of initial reaction from masses to the First round of Online Political Campaigning. Look at some of the quotes:

• "A blog is like a promise, out in the open. Everybody can read it and call the leader to fulfill it."
• "Online media reflect actual feelings rather than the flared-up drama during rallies."
• "There are many comments unanswered on blogs. It serves no purpose then. The communication on Advani's blog too seems to be a one-way communication as no one ever responds. If they respond privately to each individual, then the power of the social media is not being leveraged"
• "What a visitor should be provided when he visits the websites is crucial. In LK Advani's case, it should provide access to him."
• "If online media is considered by politicians as a place where they have to declare information, and then be held accountable to it, they will hesitate."

These sentences can be interpreted into one single sentence:

Everybody is expecting Real time interaction.

So, the clear cut message is - Get fully indulged in whatever you are doing. Don't waste time because people get irritated and convey all you can - If you are smart you should sense the questions before they are raised and answer them. Just see http://isbarackobamamuslim.com/ , for some inspirtion.

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Indian National Congress Projects Rahul Gandhi as PM - A Good Choice!

Indian Naional Congress announced Rahul Gandhi as PM Prospect from Indian National Congress. One may debate, why he should be the choice? But, he is the only person who has the possibility of becoming the Indian Obama, at least Online! Just like Obama's life generates tremendous interest among people, so is Rahul's. He would be best suitable for online campaign and I can safely say his campaign would beat everybody else's in terms of clickthroughs and response. This is because, he has a lot of attraction points, and this allows you to generate a lot of messages, themes and Ads ! See how Rahul score over others in terms of Public Perception:

• A Youth Leader with Unique Parentage, a direct equivalent of Obama.
• Perception of Modern vision, Indians desperately seek.
• Perception of Secular outlook, which matters to a big chunk of online population
• Percieved and arguably proven background of Patriotism, Sacrifice and Integrity, which generates a lot of Respect.

Also See:

1. NetArgument.Com: Vanisha Joseph, ET Bureau, discusses, Political connect with Electorate - What she missed.

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Indian Election 2009: BJP projects L K Advani !

Finally, BJP - A political party well known for adapting newer technologies and strategies kickstarted their election campaign with full flavor. They are promoting lkadvani.in website for this election, instead of BJP's official websie. Website has blogs, forums, sign up forms and everything you need in an election campaign website. Decent Job indeed! But, is lkadvani.in a good choice. I have attached Google insight report here, which interprets like this.

1. BJP related Search query volumes are insensitive to L K Advani's Media Moves and Search Query rise & fall. Looks like he gives no leverage to Brand BJP




2. What interests people more are Narendra Modi & Vote for notes fiasco to which BJP's search popularity is associated, and hence it should take a position regarding that too.




3. A B Vajpayee is still more popular than advani on internet, at least search query report says so.

Also See:

1. NetArgument.Com: Indian National Congress Projects Rahul Gandhi as PM Prospect - Why he is a Good Choice?
2. NetArgument.Com: Vanisha Joseph, ET Bureau, discusses, Political connect with Electorate - What she missed.

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Indian Elections: Pay Per Click Ads Missing!

In the run up to Indian General Elections - 2009, every media is engaged in Direct, Indirect , Subtle & Stealth Marketing of Indian Political Leaders & Parties. Expressed and Hidden alliances with these political affiliations are becoming visible in every possible media circle. However, Indian Search Traffic and Content Networks have yet to taste the flavor of Indian elections. Only silverlining in the cloud was jaagore campaign which was visible throughout the internet on Delhi Election days.

Political Leaders & Parties have launched websites like LKadvani.in, vkmalhotra.in, aicc.org.in etc. They are also present on Social Networking websites, like Myspace, Facebook etc. But why they chose to miss contextual power of Adwords Ads. This seem to be pure ignorance & whatever meagre presence we are observing on internet is thoughtless imitation. It is pretty easy to imitate the acts of others but very hard to pierce through the idea behind such an act. You need to crack the shell covering an idea behind an action before imitating it, a trait which distinguishes Humans from Monkeys.

People are merely creating portals & profiles. Portals or profiles cannot drive a campaign of any nature. You must guide/bait the traffic towards them. To drive an intent driven traffic to these sites, you must be accessible to a very large user base. Only contextual Pay per click Ads, can give you this sort of scalalbility and impact of jaagore campaign on State Elections have proven this point.

Going through some politicians, political parties and events related keywords on internet you find blank spaces throughout the right hand side of the Search Results which is not at all impressive. Neither the political entities which have direct interest in elections nor the News and television industry which have indirect benefits have tried to bait this traffic. It is even more interesting when you find India as number one country in Google Trends when it comes to Search Traffic with regard to keywords like, Adwords, Adwords Blog etc.

Also Check:

1. NetArgument.Com: Indian Election 2009: BJP projects L K Advani !
2. NetArgument.Com: Indian National Congress Projects Rahul Gandhi as PM Prospect - Why he is a Good Choice?
3. NetArgument.Com: Vanisha Joseph, ET Bureau, discusses, Political connect with Electorate - What she missed.

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Online Political Electoral Campaigns - The wave may Hit India

US elections are set to begin shortly. World's Largest Democracy, India, too is going for General Elections, somewhere in the first quarter of 2009. Political Debates in US are not limited to Television, Newspapers & Magazines, rather they have made inroads to unconventional media like Youtube, Blogging and Pay Per Click campaigns. If this is the trendsetter, then it is logical to expect Indian Political parties which are already engaged with Advertising Agencies to push their political agenda, may test this media too. During the last election Indian National Congress & BJP had gone way far off hiring professional ad agencies for their Political Electoral campaign. These are the very same agencies which work for FMCG brands like Pepsi & Coke. Incidentally, some sections of Indian Film Industry and few politicians have accepted Internet as powerful media for social interaction. Amitabh Bachhan, AAmir Khan & Lalu Prasad Yadav are regularly blogging on different issues. Would they try a professionally managed Adwords Campaign to boost their Political Campaigning. It seems likely, given the direction they are following. So, You may expect a good portion of their election fund coming to the PPC (Pay Per Click) Industry.

Related Post:

1. NetArgument.Com: Indian Elections: Pay Per Click Ads Missing!
2. NetArgument.Com: Indian Election 2009: BJP projects L K Advani !
3. NetArgument.Com: Indian National Congress Projects Rahul Gandhi as PM Prospect - Why he is a Good Choice?
4. NetArgument.Com: Vanisha Joseph, ET Bureau, discusses, Political connect with Electorate - What she missed.

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