1. No internal digital department
Any modern political party would be remiss to not have its in-house digital section. In the age of ever-growing digital media, political parties need to have a staff of digital professionals that can help them stay ahead of the competition. All of the party's online activities, including outreach to voters and content creation, should be managed by this team. They must also be adept at using digital tactics to further the party's agenda. Political parties in the modern day need to develop digital sections if they want to compete. This team needs to be able to come up with interesting material for party members and think of fresh ways to reach out to potential voters. They should also be able to track the success of their digital marketing campaigns and adjust as needed. When a political party has its digital department, it can better adapt to the rapidly shifting nature of online discourse. This team needs the ability to identify promising new technologies and develop strategies for incorporating them into the effort. They should be able to monitor the efficacy of their digital marketing campaigns and alter their tactics accordingly. It's a tremendous error for a political party to not have its digital department in the modern era. A team like this can help the party embrace the digital age, creating material and ideas that will help them win. Without a specialized digital department, political parties are at a disadvantage in today's information era.
2. No social media strategy
Any modern political party cannot function without a robust social media strategy. Over the past few years, political parties use of social media as a channel for communicating with voters, building relationships, and engaging in substantive discourse has grown in popularity. It allows them to interact with their supporters and address any issues or questions they may have. A good social media strategy helps the party to reach more people with a specific message and strengthen connections with their allies. Additionally, it allows them to monitor the activities of their rivals and remains abreast of emerging trends and news in daily politics.
A social media strategy is not complete without a detailed plan for implementing Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among others. In addition, a plan for interacting with their supporters should be included, detailing how they intend to do things like respond to questions and feedback and develop useful and entertaining content. It should also detail how they intend to gauge the efficacy of their efforts, such as by counting their followers and analyzing their posts' levels of engagement. This needs to be written into the document.
A social media strategy document should detail the party's plans for using social media to reach its intended audience, as well as its plans for dealing with any negative comments or criticism that may be posted. Include a strategy for using social media to spread the word about the party's platform. The document also needs to detail how the party plans to track the results of its social media campaigns.
3. No one is keeping track of the results
According to 2022 data from Pew, the top social networks in the USA for news are Twitter (53%), Facebook (44%), and Reddit (37%). Surprisingly, TikTok (33%) isn’t too far behind these sources.
It’s quite easy to set up channels on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, but it’s a lot harder to maintain them. It takes time, effort, and resources. Unfortunately, when it comes to social media, it seems that no one in political parties is keeping track of the results. Poorly managed social media accounts can actually be damaging to your party's reputation. As mentioned before, it’s easy to set up a social media account; but it’s what you do with it going forward that truly matters. Having a strong social media marketing plan, understanding why you’re using it, what message you’re trying to convey, what content you have to post, how to measure your activity, and how to convert fans into voters - all these things play a much bigger role than simply setting up your account.
This is a major oversight, as social media is a powerful tool for political parties to reach out to potential voters and spread their message. Social media allows political parties to reach a wide range of people, from different backgrounds and locations. It also provides them with an opportunity to interact with their audience in real-time. This makes it easier for them to gauge public opinion and understand what their supporters want. However, without tracking the results of theirsocial media campaigns, political parties are missing out on valuable insights. By tracking the results of their social media campaigns, political parties can identify which strategies are working and which ones are not. They can also use this data to refine their messaging and target specific audiences. Additionally, tracking results can help them measure the success of their campaigns and make adjustments as needed. In conclusion, political parties need to track the results of their social media campaigns. This will help them make informed decisions and ensure that their campaigns are as successful as possible. Without tracking the results, political parties are missing out on valuable insights that could help them reach their goals.
Some of the most important reasons to keep track of results and look at analytics are:
- Improved ROI: Tracking results and analyzing data helps political parties figure out what works and what doesn't, which can help them get a better return on their investments (ROI).
- Better targeting: Data analysis can help political parties learn more about the demographics, interests, and behaviors of the people they want to reach. This can help make campaign messages that are better targeted and more effective.
- Increased efficiency: By looking at the data, political parties can find ways to streamline their campaigns and make them more effective.
- Better decisions: Data analysis gives valuable information that can be used to make decisions and help political parties make better choices about how to run their campaigns.
- Increased adaptability: By keeping track of results and analyzing data regularly, political parties can quickly adapt to changes in the political landscape and change their strategies to fit.
4. Thinking that the party must be on all social networks
Social media and political parties go together like peanut butter and jelly. Why? Because social media is an excellent platform for communicating with voters, launching campaigns, raising awareness about initiatives, and serving as an essential tool in crisis communications.
Whether you focus efforts on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or a different platform entirely, social media will always be a solid place to keep the public informed and updated about important issues and engage with an audience on a deeper level. Communicating and engaging with voters will help establish and build credibility and trust if you don’t use social media just to broadcast messages and actually engage with the people who follow you.
Show people who you really are!
In general, the public has a negative view of politicians. Social media for political communications and establishing a personal brand based on transparency can help counteract the negative stereotypes of politicians as being dishonest, greedy, and sleazy. Growing your social media following and developing a personal brand that people can relate to and trust takes being genuine on the platforms themselves, using photos to back up your brand's image, and posting content that's actually interesting to others.
There has been more than enough global unrest in recent years. We can see this in the way the world has been affected by things like the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine. People use social media after catastrophic events to find information, stay informed, and relieve stress by reading jokes and looking at memes. Legislators, politicians, and governments use social media to handle crisis communications and provide regular, official updates to citizens all over the world because they understand that people look to the government for leadership in times of trouble. The flip side is that misinformation can spread rapidly in times of crisis, especially on social media. Nearly half of all American adults reportedly encountered some form of fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic, and nearly 70% say that fake news creates a great deal of confusion. Due to the public's expectation that official government social media accounts will be a reliable source of unbiased information, governments must invest in social media listening to detect and address misinformation.
5. Think each social network is the same
It's easy to lump our favorite social networks together. We bucket each platform under the "social media umbrella" when talking about, thinking about, and planning our political parties' social media strategies. By routine, we update Facebook, scan Twitter, and check Instagram every day, swaying us to view these platforms as a package, not as individual tools. The underlying commonality is that they're all great at connecting us directly with our potential voters. But just because Facebook and Instagram can both put us in front of your prospects doesn't mean they should be treated the same. By recognizing the respective value of each tool, we can connect with our audience in even more valuable ways. Every system has its peculiarities as well as a unique set of benefits and drawbacks that are specific to that system. For example, Twitter is great for sharing short and snappy updates, whereas Instagram is better for sharing visual content. Both platforms allow users to connect. In addition, when it comes to professional networking, LinkedIn is superior to Facebook, whereas Facebook is superior when it comes to connecting with family, friends, and voters.
Even though it is easy to think of all social networks as being the same, it is essential to examine the individual features of each platform to determine which one is best suited to meet your political needs. This can be done by comparing the features of each social network.
Deciding how to use each platform requires not only a solid knowledge of the various social media sites but also a high level of emotional intelligence and someone who can put themselves in another’s shoes. Facebook is a slower platform with the largest reach. For many (but not all) brands, their Facebook page operates much like a website. On the other hand, information flows very quickly through Twitter, which is also the most successful platform for connecting celebrities, politicians, and brands with people. The rules often seem to be looser on Twitter and engagement; flash deals, goofy accounts, and randomness all can be appropriate for the right brand. Instagram is, at its foundation, simply about aesthetics. Political parties need to understand what defines the ideal aesthetic for them and create content that appeals to their audience. The real challenge is evaluating an image’s fit with the political party.
6. Avoiding, deleting, and negative comments
An advantage of the widespread adoption of social media is that it facilitates communication with people we care about, such as friends and family. However, it also has the potential to become a hotbed for abusive and harassing comments about other people online. Remember that you, and only you, have power over what you share online and how you respond to the content others share. Likewise, we have complete agency over our responses to others' posts. We must make it a point to refrain from posting negative feedback, remove inappropriate feedback, and respond to any negative feedback with grace and dignity. Doing so will aid in the development of a more upbeat atmosphere on social media platforms and inspire others to adopt a similar outlook. The use of social media has rapidly become ingrained in our culture, and one of the benefits of this is that it can make it easier to keep in touch with loved ones, such as friends and family. Another benefit is that the use of social media has rapidly become ingrained in our culture. On the other hand, it also has the potential to become a breeding ground for online comments that are abusive toward others and comments that harass others. It is essential to keep in mind that each of us can control what we post on social media and how we interact with others in response to what they post. It is also important to keep in mind that we can control how we respond to what others post. It is also essential to keep in mind that we have complete control over how we react to the posts made by others. We must make it one of our highest priorities to avoid posting negative comments, delete inappropriate comments, and respond to negative comments with respect and kindness. Doing so will make the atmosphere on social media platforms more positive, and it will encourage others to adopt an attitude that is comparable to yours.
7. Spamming – mass share content
Today's political parties (and members) have a strong incentive to constantly pump out content to their followers on social media.
Even though in the heat of the moment it may seem like a good idea to spread the word quickly, this kind of behavior can hurt the party's reputation. Supporters may lose interest in a party if its members constantly barrage them with meaningless or irrelevant information. A lot of time audience would view such behavior as intrusive and annoying. If the party's supporters stop engaging with posts they perceive to be spam, the party's content sharing might suffer as a result. To avoid this, party members should prioritize meeting the needs of their constituents by creating material that is both engaging and informative. This will aid in keeping the party's supporters engaged in its content production and distribution initiatives, and it will also help the party build a positive reputation.
Data from the year 2020 until now confirms that the rate of social media engagement is falling. The use of the internet skyrocketed as a result of the pandemic. TikTok's user base is growing, but people are spending less time using the platform overall, while Facebook's engagement rate dropped by 34%, Instagram's by 28%, and Twitter's by 15%. This doesn't spell the end for social media, but it does mean that we need to shift our focus to new KPIs when trying to maximize the effectiveness of our advertising efforts. To a very small extent, likes and comments matter. There is less than a 1% correlation between likes, ad recall, brand lift, and purchases intended.
8. Not targeting party target
It's become more and more crucial for political parties to reach out to voters, and social media has emerged as a key tool in doing so. However, if these social media users aren't properly targeted, engagement will suffer and resources will be wasted. It is more likely that a political campaign will be successful if it addresses the concerns and priorities of its target audience within the context of the specific political party being pursued. They also need to use the right platforms to spread their messages, as the demographics of the people who frequent different social media sites vary greatly. In the end, they need to employ analytics to monitor the efficacy of their campaigns and make necessary adjustments. If political parties follow these steps, they can increase their audience and the impact of their messages. In recent years, political parties use of social media to reach out to voters has grown in importance. However, a lack of engagement and wasted resources can result from improperly targeting these audiences on social networks. If a political party is serious about winning elections, it must put considerable effort into understanding its base of support and communicating with it effectively. Furthermore, given that the user demographics of various social networks are different, they need to use the appropriate platforms to communicate with their intended audiences. Ultimately, they need to use analytics to track the performance of their campaigns and adjust their methods accordingly. By adhering to these protocols, political parties can increase the number of people they reach and the likelihood that their messages will be well received.
9. Lack of human touch
The proliferation of digital technologies has led to a marked decrease in the frequency of face-to-face interactions. Now, when everything is done online, it's easy to forget how important human interaction is. The human touch is beneficial to one's physical health as well as their mental state. Two of its many benefits are the reduction of stress and anxiety, as well as the strengthening of bonds. Unfortunately, many people today experience feelings of isolation and abandonment due to the lack of opportunities for interpersonal contact in their daily lives. Keep in mind that the desire for social interaction and contact with other people is hardwired into the human psyche. To truly connect with another person, we need to be able to embrace one another, hold hands, and even sit next to one another. Physical contact is required for this. We need to be able to feel the touch and the warmth of another human being. We must be able to establish eye contact with one another and be aware of their presence. We must take personal responsibility for ensuring that we provide the necessary level of warmth and care to one another as well as to ourselves. We must prioritize the development of genuine relationships with the people we care about and set aside sufficient time to do so. We must make it a habit to sit next to the people we care about, take turns holding hands with them, and give each other hugs regularly. Make sure that you are providing the necessary human connection for both yourself and others.
10. An excessive amount of party/president promotion
It is crucial for there to be a balance in a robust democracy between the excessive promotion of the president or party in power and the promotion of the interests of the general public. This is because the excessive promotion of the president or party in power could lead to instability in the government. If you place an excessive amount of emphasis on either one or the other, you run the risk of developing a skewed perspective on the political landscape as well as a skewed distrust of the government. Both outcomes are possible. Even though citizens need to be knowledgeable about the various political parties and the policies that they support, they must be able to trust that their government will make decisions that are in the best interest of the public. When there is an excessive amount of promotion for a specific party or president, it can lead to a lack of trust in the government and even a lack of participation in the democratic process. This can be avoided by avoiding situations in which there is an excessive amount of promotion. Both outcomes are to be avoided at all costs. Because of this, it is necessary to strike a balance between advocating for the president or the party that is running for president and advocating for the interests of the public. Citizens should have the opportunity to become informed and make an educated decision about whom they choose to support, rather than having their decisions influenced by an excessive amount of promotion.
11. Buying followers
The practice of "buying followers," which is widely viewed as unethical, has exploded in popularity in recent years as a controversial method of promoting content on social media. It's not uncommon to use financial incentives to rise to prominence on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. While it may seem like a simple solution for political parties to raise their profile online, doing so comes with several drawbacks. A political party's reputation will suffer if its members engage in dishonest practices like buying likes or followers. Because they are bots, your bought followers won't engage with or care about your posts. As a result, it's clear that the bought-and-paid-for likes and followers won't do anything to help develop a genuine fan base or foster genuine connections with potential voters. If it is discovered that a party has paid for its fan base, its credibility and reputation will be severely damaged. If people find out you bought your account's popularity, they may no longer see you as an authoritative voice in your field. If it is discovered that your followers were purchased, not only does your account risk being deleted or suspended for suspicious activity, but so do your followers. Buying fans is a waste of money, time, and energy. It's a waste of money to try to buy votes or political favors because doing so won't help you get anywhere in politics. The study's findings suggest that purchasing fans is not warranted. You shouldn't go that route if you value your online reputation and your wallet. The best way to win over voters is to give them something of value. The greater your base of enthusiastic backers, the greater your chance of winning the vote on election day.
12. A political party must be posted daily
In his short-lived campaign for president, entrepreneur and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion of his own money before dropping out of the race. More than 70% of that budget went toward advertising.
But social media has changed the game, allowing incumbents and newcomers alike to speak directly to constituents on everything from policy to what they had for dinner. Barack Obama was the first presidential candidate to use the medium, which was still nascent during his 2008 bid, and Donald Trump takes to Twitter almost daily to express himself without the filter of traditional media.
A political party's presence on social media is crucial in the modern world. Through daily social media posts, the party accomplishes the twin goals of involving its supporters, luring new followers, and spreading the message of the party to a larger audience. It succeeds in its threefold goal of involving the party's supporters, drawing in new supporters, and reaching a larger audience. A political party can keep its supporters informed about the party's policies and activities and encourage their participation by engaging them in two-way conversations via social media. A political party can also benefit from keeping an active presence on social media to keep its supporters interested in it. The party will inform its supporters of its existence and keep them informed of its advancement through the regular updates it offers. In conclusion, regular social media posting is a crucial component for political parties looking to engage and sway new voters.
Quality over quantity is a best practice that applies equally to all platforms. Ensure that the content you post is pertinent to your target audience. Never post something just for the sake of posting. Whether it's building party brand awareness, making a statement, generating event registrations, collecting donations, or simply making your followers smile, each piece of content should have a clear objective in mind.
In general, Facebook is a platform with low volume and high value. Keep your posting frequency low when it's not campaign time, between three and seven times a week, as fans, also known as followers, may become irritated with too many posts. In fact, one of the most frequent excuses given for "unliking" a Facebook page is "too many updates." Additionally, keep in mind that not all of your followers may see your posts right away. This implies that you shouldn't post an event promotion on the day of the event. Plan to post it five to ten days before the event instead to give your followers time to see it.
For Instagram, keep your in-feed posts to no more than one per day. Similar to Facebook, it's crucial to keep track of your followers' online habits and schedule your content to go live at these busy times. Posts on Instagram Stories are brief pieces of content that disappear after 24 hours. They're a great way to give your supporters or party members a glimpse into the more personable side of you, whether it be through videos of your regular tasks, a peek behind the scenes, or even a glimpse into your life away from your physical location. Feel free to post away because they don't last very long and are less formal than typical Instagram posts. Remember that you still don't want to overwhelm your followers, so try to limit your daily posting to three to ten stories.
Instagram Reels are a great way to make and share how-to and why-related content. Your ability to produce reels will determine your posting cadence, but producing a few per month will give your followers engaging content to keep them coming back for more and anticipating your next post.
When it comes to posting on Twitter, try to stay in the "one to three tweets per day" zone.
Quality over quantity is crucial, as we have previously stated, and will do so once more. Don't rush a post out just to cross it off your content calendar; instead, concentrate on producing quality content. To keep your followers interested, use a variety of content types, such as videos, GIFs, images, links, polls, etc. Verify that you are using the correct image sizes for each platform. Aim to use real, authentic photos that you take of your products, employees, and customers rather than relying on stock photos to ensure that your imagery accurately represents your customer base.
13. Posting unproved Content
Political parties today are expected to uphold a certain standard of integrity when it comes to the material they publish on their websites and social media accounts. If they post unverified material, such as unfounded claims or false information, a political party may suffer reputational damage. As a result, it may become very challenging to regain the public's trust. Therefore, political parties must make sure that any information they post can be verified as accurate and follows the truth.
If you publish information that has not been verified, you run the risk of suffering serious repercussions, like being sued or losing the public's support. Political parties should also be aware of the possibility of unverified content spreading quickly, especially on social media. Knowing that false information might spread quickly is crucial, as is taking precautions to make sure that any content posted is accurate and has been independently verified.
Political parties should refrain from disseminating information that hasn't been verified because doing so could have dire consequences. Before it is made public, they must make sure that any content they publish can be verified for accuracy. This will help to maintain public trust and ensure that any posted content is accurate and does not in any way aim to sway public opinion.
14. Failure to use paid promotional tools
The inability of political parties to make use of paid promotional tools is symptomatic of a more widespread issue within the political system. Political parties must make effective use of the resources at their disposal, particularly in this day and age, when technology plays an increasingly significant role in the manner in which we communicate. Reaching prospective voters can be accomplished quite successfully through the use of paid promotional tools such as advertisements broadcast on television and radio, online campaigns, and targeted mailings. If political parties do not make use of these tools, they will be missing out on an important opportunity to communicate with a more extensive audience and spread their message. A further factor that works to the detriment of the political process is the absence of paid promotional tools. It is impossible for political parties to effectively communicate their platforms and policies if they are unable to connect with a diverse group of voters. This may result in fewer people exercising their right to vote and less participation in the political process overall. In addition, political parties are unable to effectively compete with their rivals in the absence of paid promotional tools, which leads to a decrease in the likelihood that they will win an election. This is because paid promotional tools are expensive. In the end, the inability of political parties to make use of paid promotional tools is a symptom of a more systemic issue that exists within the political system. It is impossible for political parties to effectively communicate their platforms and policies if they are unable to connect with a diverse group of voters. This may result in fewer people exercising their right to vote and less participation in the political process overall. Political parties have a responsibility to make full use of the resources at their disposal to maximize their ability to communicate with potential voters and to increase the likelihood of winning elections.
15. Using derogatory language
More and more people are using social media to express their political views, but it is important to remember that insulting language should never be used when criticizing your opponent. If it is too offensive, it could hurt the party's reputation as a whole and the members' reputations. Regardless of one's political leanings, it is always important to remember that when discussing political issues on social media, it is inappropriate to resort to insulting language. There could be serious consequences if you do this, including being blocked from accessing certain networks or even having a complaint filed against you. Moreover, it could lead to drop-in public support for the political party under scrutiny. One must always remember that political discussion should be conducted civilly and that insults should be avoided. It's counterproductive and possibly harmful, and it could even hurt people who are members of the political party in question. Thus, it is crucial to remember the significance of being respectful when discussing politics on social networks and to refrain from using insulting language. By doing so, you will be aiding in the maintenance of civil and fruitful political discourse.
