In the last few decades, the way that communication has been handled has drastically changed thanks to the presence of the internet. Of course, this is true in a personal, daily sense; you can easily contact your loved ones through any number of channels, using a device that you take almost everywhere with you. However, it’s also true when it comes to how businesses market themselves, as well as political campaigns – something that’s been plain to see in recent years, not to mention a hot topic of discussion.
This discussion has been incorporated into the very fabric and evolution of how digital platforms have been used in the political sphere. Understanding this can help you utilize it to the best of your abilities when you start running your own campaigns.
Social Media
One of the biggest and most notable players in this game is undoubtedly that of social media. The way that information is shared and discussed through these platforms is unlike anything else throughout human history, so how people handle it is still very fresh. Of course, with this freshness comes a certain degree of volatility that can easily lead to misinformation and heated debates, which have become deeply intertwined with how politics is discussed through these channels.
You’ll have your own ideologies, agenda, and leanings that will influence your opinion on how social media is used within this realm – but simply being aware of the form that these discussions can take can help you plan an effective strategy around it, as you don’t want to get caught off-guard by it.
While you will be aware of which communities and social media platforms best align with your own target audience, you’ll likely want to branch out of these to increase your support. This can be difficult to do given how deeply divided and entrenched any given person might currently be seen to be in their own political alignment. Still, you can inform your strategy in regards to the way you proceed when you reach out to those outside of your usual demographics.
In any case, instead of jumping around randomly from community to community to spread your message, consider related groups that might be more open to what you have to say. As much as it might seem like it, politics isn’t strictly a numbers game; the ability to communicate to a wide range of people and effectively position your argument in such a way that you bring people around to your side is an enormously useful skill in the political sector.
Email and Text Campaigns
With so many ways to communicate using the internet, you might feel as though email and text message marketing campaigns are a thing of the past. Not only would you be incorrect in this assumption, but it’s also worth thinking about how people of all ages interact with the digital field.
While many people are active on social media, others aren’t as eager to launch themselves headfirst into the online world, meaning methods of communication such as text and email are what they primarily use. Therefore, depending on your audience, you might have another reason to enlist this particular approach under your banner. Still, even then, there might be problems, as different methods might be more valuable in some locations than others.
Political text messages are incredibly useful, and they aren’t necessarily something new either, having stood the test of time in the modern era. They’re even a popular form of promoting a campaign that several iconic others have resorted to in the past. However, due to the nature of sending out messages (potentially without consent) to a myriad of people, there are regulations in place in order to stop these from getting out of hand.
The nature of these regulations, as well as the specific laws in place to prevent people from abusing the system, will vary from place to place – so it’s worth doing some research to see what exactly the rules are where you are to prevent yourself from facing some dire consequences down the line.
With text and email being such a timeless strategy, this might be an approach that you feel would be perfect for your campaign. However, instead of brashly running on ahead, taking the time to understand what obstacles you might face can allow you to optimize this route until it resembles its most efficient form.
Video Marketing
Video marketing likely isn’t anything new to you at this stage, and even going back as far as television advertising, you can begin to see how effective it is at commanding the attention of viewers. Yet, in the modern day, while your video content can still make its way to TV screens, you now have a lot more choice in how you utilize this piece of marketing if you feel this is the most appropriate way to reach out to your specific audiences.
Dedicated video platforms such as YouTube are not only good hosts, but most videos have video ads in front of them, which means it could be a natural fit for getting your message across. Social media comes back into play here as well since most social media platforms now allow videos to autoplay, meaning they begin playing for users of the platform even when the video is just within the frame – with no further button prompt required. This might mean that people start to watch your content who would otherwise not have, potentially making them aware of you and how you align with their own beliefs.
As well reasoned as you may believe your political arguments to be, you must remember the landscape of the battleground you find yourself in. People won’t sit and listen to these arguments dryly read to them for an extended period of time, as much as you think that should or shouldn’t be the case. Instead, you need to be smart about how you present yourself; you have to be likable, and you have to deliver your message in such a way that it can appeal to what people want. If you can do those things without straying from what you aim to do politically, you can keep those people on your side as you stick to your word.
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