Not by social media alone
As the mainstream parties rev up their social media strategy, the so-called social media created challengers are turning to more traditional forms of voter outreach.
A HOOT report. Research: DIVYA JAIN
The Aam Aadmi Party has worked out a nuanced media strategy as it seeks to contest its first election, the Delhi state assembly elections in December this year. Though the media’s assumption is that this party will rely heavily on social media, to do so would be at odds with the section of the electorate it wants to target most. The party has demographic strategy—tap young first time voters—as well as an income group strategy. It has been running voter registration campaign in institutes of higher education in Delhi to tap into first time voters. For this group it uses social media.
But to the extent that the AAP is targeting the lower income strata in Delhi, the Congress Party’s traditional support base, it needs to reach out through a different medium. Political scientist and Psephologist Yogendra Yadav who is a member of the party’s core committee recently told Firstpost.com that the support base for the party resembles a pyramid. “Around 20 per cent of upper class has extended support to us. As we move down the economic strata, the support for the party becomes broader.”
The lower middle class and low income classes in Delhi reside in unauthorised colonies, resettlement colonies and jhuggi jhopri clusters. The AAP’s poll plank is regularising jhuggis, giving free water and heavily subsidised electricity to the poor.
For this strata ground level media such as posters with their jharu (broom) symbol are to be found on flyovers in the city and on the backs of autorickshaws. There is considerable use of OOH—out-of-home media such as hoardings.
Analysts have pointed out that the Anna movement used social media heavily to drive citizen response to its cause, but the AAP is a different animal. It needs votes, not followers.
A Business Standard report described the party’s use of the thousands of professionals who are volunteering as an aam aadmi approach, though the stockbroker, the former Wipro employee and a ‘working professional’ that it quotes can hardly be categorised as aam aadmi. What they represent is the party’s two-fold approach: use professionals who identify with the idea of the AAP to use social media to raise funds for the campaign, but plan to get your votes from the real aam aadmi. The party’s website as well as its Facebook page solicit donations, from non resident Indians, professionals and others.
It is also using its Facebook page to tell its supporters how this party is different, and transparent, and taking a leaf out of the Obama campaign’s 2012 strategy, to give notice of ground events such as announcements of Jansabhas and their locations. Other material on Facebook: Statistics related to the party, and Arvind Kejriwal's interviews, as well as campaign pictures.
Looking at the Twitter statistics for those who will figure in the Delhi elections is instructive. Sheila Dikshit is just not there on Twitter. CM aspirant Arvind Kejriwal has 620,130 followers. And the Delhi campaign face of the Bharatiya Janata Party Vijay Goel has 20,957 followers. Narendra Modi of course is in another league with currently 2,486,618 followers. But for a Delhi election, it is clear that social media is taken care of for Mr Kejriwal and the party’s need to focus elsewhere.
The irony that is unfolding then is this: as the mainstream parties rev up their social media strategy, the so-called social media created challengers are turning to more traditional forms of reaching out to the voter. Earlier this week the Times of India quoted an AAP member as saying, “We will now shift our focus almost entirely to personal interaction. Door-to-door campaigns will be intensified and pamphlets will be distributed outlining the party's agenda and philosophy. Nukkad sabhas are another system of reaching out to people.”
And last week the Hindustan Times was reporting that this party is all set to experiment with what is a common strategy in the US elections: a phone call campaign whereby people from other parts of India and abroad will call Delhi voters asking them to vote for the party.
As AAP’s researcher Vinay Kumar Mittal put the rationale behind the campaign to Deccan Herald, (“Hello, this is Aam Aaadmi calling”) “We have always been looking out for innovative and low-cost methods to reach out to people. Through this, we intend to reach out to people personally who are away from the ambit of our social media campaigns.” He told the paper, “Not everybody has computers or access to easy information but everybody seems to be having phones, even in the jhuggi-jhopdis. Though we are not segmenting at this stage, we are trying to reach out to everybody through our volunteers.”