Social Media – greatest weapon of politicians in 2025 elections
The world of politics has recently seen a major change in campaign methods, and it all revolves around the huge impact of social media. Politicians are now utilizing the power of influencers, memes, and focused social media campaigns to capture the hearts and minds of voters, as compared to large rallies and traditional advertising. The article looks into the fascinating world of Social Media – greatest weapon of politicians and its role in the 2025 elections.
Political Influencers on the Rise
A flood of A-list influencers, like Ranveer Allahbadia (Beerbiceps), Raj Shamani, and Kamiya Jani, have recently been spotted working with major lawmakers and ministers. This uncommon partnership signals a shift in political campaign strategy. According to industry experts, the Central Government’s spending on newspapers and radio has decreased significantly, while the opposition has increased its visibility and investment on digital media.
Barack Obama: The Forefather of Social Media
The use of social media in election campaigns was likely started by Barack Obama during the 2008 US presidential election. Obama’s employees understood the value of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for sharing his views, introducing his platform, and engaging with potential voters. According to reports, they slowly examined social media footprints, developed psychological profiles of individual voters, and used customized posts to appeal to them. Obama’s symbol triumph is sometimes linked in part to his strong social media presence, leading many to conclude that “Were it not for social media, Obama would not have won.
Influencers Reach Out to First-Time Voters
The Election Commission of India estimated the total number of registered voters at 900 million ahead of the 2019 General Elections. Within this massive number, 15 million were first-time voters between the ages of 18 and 19. This population is expected to grow much greater as we approach the 2025 elections. As a result, as parties attempt to capture the attention of these important first-time voters, influencers and influencer marketing have taken center stage in political advertising.
Influencer Marketing’s Impact
Mitesh Kothari, co-founder and CCO of White Rivers Media highlights the importance of reaching specific audiences and boosting messages through influencers. This method is especially important in an era when people spend a significant amount of time online.
Recognized Digital Ecosystem
Politicians and political parties are increasingly recognizing the value of the digital ecosystem in reaching many citizens. Grapes co-founder and CEO Shradha Agarwal forecasts an increase in relationships between political figures and influencers in the 2025 elections. Leveraging influencers’ audiences gives up an expansive paper for political parties to explore, allowing them to reach previously hidden areas.
The BJP’s Winning Strategy
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) created a winning plan in 2019 that laid the groundwork for their challenging victory. Several important elements were included in their approach:
Begin early, build growth, and move quickly: The BJP began its campaign early, building a sizable user base across various platforms well before the election. Official and unofficial pages were created to spread information and create a pool of resources.
Everyone should be targeted, but in a segmented manner: Recognizing the different goals and motives of voters, the BJP developed information for a variety of audiences, including first-time voters, repeat voters, thinkers, influencers, observers, and marginalized communities.
Attachment and Loyalty: The BJP’s digital marketing team understood the importance of emotions in voter behavior. Their campaigns played on emotions such as the fear of making the wrong choices, the desire for a better India, and the joy of making the correct political decisions. That’s why Social Media – greatest weapon of politicians is called in todays world.
Bring Attention to the Party’s Achievements: The BJP used new techniques to inform the public about their achievements and to highlight where past governments had fallen short.
Be Visible and Remembered by Being Present Everywhere: The BJP carefully used a variety of platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, as well as Twitter, WhatsApp, and Snapchat.
Their goal was to reach the greatest number of people possible.
Ensure Maximum Reach and Engagement: Recognizing the limitations of organic reach, the BJP made considerable investments in political advertisements on platforms such as Google and Facebook. Their advertisements targeted consumers from various categories with a variety of content.
Influencers and Their Role
Influencers, such as podcasters, have grown in popularity, and political figures have capitalized on this trend. Collaborations with influencers allow political parties to express opinions that are relevant to certain target opinions, going above basic messaging.
Promotion of Various Content
Using various social media profiles is one excellent strategy used by political parties. Some are official, while followers build multiple unauthorized those that convey the party’s messages. These pages are titled “The Government of India. “My First Vote for Modi,” “Bharat Man ki Baat,” and “Modi 11,” each with a different goal in influencing public opinion.
Various Content Formats
From basic designs to videos, live streaming, memes, cartoons, and information graphics, content creation formats have gotten increasingly diverse. Consistent branding and the delivery of powerful messaging have been important in communicating the vision of the party.
WhatsApp Groups for Faster Information Sharing
For political communications, around 23,000 to 25,000 WhatsApp groups were created, with each group allowing up to 256 members. This method helped in the rapid distribution of messages by focusing on the widespread use of WhatsApp in India.
Contests for Youth Engagement
Given that an important number of Indian voters are under 30, political parties have actively courted this group. They’ve utilized posts highlighting government triumphs to start contests, with prizes provided to the victors, further promoting brand advocacy.
Political Campaigning’s Evolution
In recent years, political campaigning experienced a major change. The days of big rallies dominating the political scene are long gone. Political parties are now collaborating with marketing and influencer marketing agencies, as well as directly with influencers in some conditions.
According to Shudeep Majumdar, co-founder of Zefmo Media, an influencer marketing agency that has managed political campaigns, influencers will play a key role in the run-up to the 2024 elections. They have already received a number of calls from political organizations interested in working.
The Transformation of Media Habits
The founder of The Bhasin Consulting Group, Ashish Bhasin, underlines the considerable evolution in media choices since 2014. Influencer marketing investment was basically non-existent in 2014. It began as an experiment in 2019, but by 2024, it is on track to be one of the most essential channels for political campaigning.
However, Naresh Gupta, co-founder and managing partner of Bang in the Middle, believes that the dominance of influencer marketing is only transitory. Political marketing, he feels, is naturally more complex.
However, Naresh Gupta, co-founder and managing partner of Bang in the Middle, believes that the power of influencer marketing is only transitory. He believes that political marketing is naturally more difficult than selling things, and that parties’ objectives may vary as elections approach.
Influencer Marketing: The Government’s Bet
The Internet Freedom Foundation’s director, Apar Gupta, has highlighted the government’s huge expenditure in influencer marketing. The government released a Request for Selection (RFE) to identify Influencer Marketing Agencies for Empanelment with MyGov, suggesting the plan of using the power of influencers.
Agency and Influencer Monetization
The nature of collaborations between influencers and politicians or political parties differs and may include payments. Mid-level influencers typically charge less for political consulting.
Mid-level influencers often charge 25-30% less for campaigns than for commercial ads. This is to guarantee compliance with ASCI’s 2021 influencer advertising guidelines, which ban financial ties to political campaigns.
The Difficulty of Disclosure
According to Kalyan Kumar, CEO and Co-Founder of KlugKlug, disclosure of sponsored agreements is typically lacking among influencers. He notices a 60-40% divide in spending on influencer marketing between the ruling party and the opposition.
Small Influence via Meme Pages
Political parties have invested in’meme sites’ on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, in addition to podcasts and interviews with social media stars. These pages express political statements softly and humbly, making them amazing shareable and celebrations.
Huge Ad Spending in the 2025 Election
The 2024 election cycle is likely to be the most costly in history, with an estimated $10.2 billion in ad spending across all platforms. Ad Impact, an ad tracking company. According to Ad Impact, an ad tracking business, this cycle will be 13% more expensive than the 2019-2020 period. According to Ad Impact’s forecasts, there will be $2.7 billion spent on advertisements for the presidential race, $2.1 billion spent on Senate campaigns, $1.7 billion spent on House campaigns, $361 million spent on provincial elections, and $3.3 billion spent on campaigns for other causes.
Conclusion
As the 2025 elections approach, the landscape of political campaigning is changing dramatically. Politicians’ arsenals now include social media marketing, influencer relationships, and novel content distribution. The battleground has changed from physical rallies to the digital realm, forever altering the way politicians communicate with voters. The era of digital politics has arrived, and its importance will only expand.
Source :
-Hindustan Times News
-CNN
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