With a corporate experience of 13 years and more in Business Development at different levels, Aseem Mangal has worked with prestigious companies — like Times Mobile, NDTV Convergence, etc. Venturing into Online and Mobile marketing as a Political Consultant in the year 2019 with BOL7 Technologies Private Limited has been a milestone in his career path. Under this profile, he has been closely associated with the design, process, and execution of successful campaigns for some of the big political parties and agencies. To name a few social media campaigns undertaken – those during the state elections of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh have been noteworthy. The cherry on the cake however was the accomplishment of a successful Lok Sabha online campaign. The repertoire of achievements includes handling the social media campaigns for the Chief Minister of Punjab for the last 3 years, and also the multiple campaigns for various MPs of the country with a winning record of 90%. The social media campaigns for Delhi, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal & Tamil Nadu assembly elections complete this story of success.
The ever-increasing reach of social media – and using it for a successful political campaign.
The General elections of 2014, heralded a new age of political communication in India. It was during these elections, that the impact of social media as a powerful influencer came to the fore. A look at various State-level as well as General elections reveals the increased usage of social media, not only by the national parties but also by the regional political parties in creating an image and percolating the intended message – far and wide.
The ease of accessibility of the internet has facilitated the number of users on Social Media platforms in India to be around 520 million users in 2020, with a projection of around 630 million users by the end of 2021. By the time the next General Elections arrive, the estimated users are around 900 million.
The multi-pronged approach in reaching out to the electorate.
Courtesy, the reach, and the diversity in the type of message that can be communicated through social media – it has emerged as a more viable and effective option for broadcasting communication. Political parties can take the help of Social Media platforms to effectively engage with their electorate. In this regard,
To strategize most cost-effective and ROI driven campaigns must include:
Creating a database: The contact details of people are collected by different agencies that are enlisted by the political parties for their Social Media management, through means like Miss Call Service, SMS campaigning, Digital Surveys. SMS is a tool that is faster, safer, cost-effective, and genuine. The result can influence 3% of the vote share of that state or Assembly Constituency. The power of SMS as a tool can’t be better elucidated than this — Honourable PM Modi’s vote share during the last elections was 18% – which is a huge win percent in the past many years. With the use of Geo-Fencing etc., the mobile numbers are captured and the database created.
How has the pandemic impacted decision making?
The pandemic has led to unprecedented unpredictability and like all other businesses, the challenge has been to reinvent and restrategize to survive. As a consultant and a digital strategist, Aseem Mangal follows the Indian Army’s motto, “Mushkil Waqt Commando Sakht.” This change in stance has helped him understand and reposition his campaigns to answer the frequently asked question of most political parties – “Kuch Naya batoo.”
QR Code scans: One of the most effective ways of creating the database is through QR Scans. Did pandemic teach everyone how to scan? So, why not Scan and join a group of your interest? With this, the users can scan the given QR after which the system in place accepts the user and automatically adds them to Social Media Platforms. These platforms can be used for communicating messages. It is a useful tool for parties to evaluate the voters’ sentiments and gauge their interest.
Profiling: The database is profiled according to demographic markers such as – age, gender, caste, location, etc. to create specific target groups. Social Media Platforms are created with these demographic criteria, so that relevant communication can be sent to these groups keeping in mind the guidelines given by the Election Commission. We can identify new or first-time voters through different tools which can further share feedback of their preferences and inclinations.
Message: Focused messages are sent to these targeted Social Media Platforms. This includes – the vision, achievements, manifesto, etc. of the political parties. Customized campaigns highlighting the benefits to a particular section of the society or relevant to the targeted audience. The targeted messages result in creating a higher resonance.
Mode of messages: Varied forms of messaging can be communicated through Social Media Platforms. A simple text highlighting the specific message, Videos – can be the most effective form, as they apart from communicating the intended message and have a higher recall value with the audience. If someone is using a feature phone then OBD call becomes the mode of reaching.
To create the most emphatic campaign Aseem Mangal focuses on adjusting the clients’ mindsets, as well as their organizational culture and processes, before deciding which digital technologies to employ and how to utilize them, which is how a digital transformation works for their benefit. As a result of political social media engagement, voters are well informed about the candidate in this situation, helping the candidate’s easy acceptance by the voters. The technology is driven by the organization’s future, and not the other way around.
Summing up, he quotes, “With social media as an interface we help to create an aura for political parties through digital marketing campaigns and believe that Ideas, Microtargeting, and Creativity are the major ingredients needed for building a consistent growth. Our approach to engagement, genuinely made through organic and sponsored social channel efforts is how we measure our success. By utilizing digital data and readily available tools to tailor communications, we can reach out to even the most distant audiences and elusive votes.”
