A report from VICE revealed that US President Trump has spent close to a 1 million dollars wishing himself and First Lady Melania Trump happy birthday on Facebook.
As the US President turned 73, Facebook was flooded with ads of him and his family members inviting fans and followers to join in on the celebrations. The ads ask Trump supporters to sign a card and wish the President on his big day.
As per Facebook data analysed by digital firm Bully Pulpit Interactive, more money was spent on the birthday-related Facebook campaign at $752,000 than any other candidate spent on ads.
Covert approach to help re-election
As per Vice, one ad purchased last week, a couple of days before the birthday, read, “HURRY! President Trump’s birthday is TOMORROW! He’ll read the name of every supporter who signs his card when we present it to him on his birthday. Will he see your name?”
What the users buying into such promotions do not realise, is that while signing such cards or similar pledges, they divulge vital information about themselves which is then collated to help campaign efforts. Ardent followers are then reached out for fund raising and propaganda publicity.
Such campaigns have been significant for digital savvy leaders like Trump where strategist have stated they succeed in building sizable voter data, which results in an early advantage against the opposition.
Such campaigns help in building sizable voter data, which results in an early advantage against the opposition.
Indirect ploys with electoral intent
Media strategists and publicity experts observe that such campaigns from elected leaders have more impact than campaigns of opposition parties in building a connect with the audience. Trump’s campaigns are publicised by his family, all of whom have major social media following individually.
And the sheer disparity of money involved says how much the leaders have at their disposal compared to other candidates trying to overthrow incumbency. Trump’s birthday campaign is arguably a pivotal part of the 2020 re-election media strategy for the Republican campaign committee.
Marne Pike, CEO of digital strategy firm Veracity Media opines, “If you can figure out how to have more than one birthday in a year, you’d be golden. Signing a birthday card is something that doesn’t seem like taking a political stance. It’s another way to bring people into the fold who wouldn’t otherwise be engaged.”
Trump’s USD 5.5 million outweighs top four biggest-spenders from the Democrat lobby, as per data compiled by digital agency Acronym.
The Indian counterpart
When NDA came to power in 2014, on the back of massive following of current PM Narendra Modi, it threw over ₹ 55 crore on advertising in less than two months to celebrate the completion of the Prime Minister’s first year in office. Similar splurging was observed in promoting events like the International Day of Yoga, which closely resonates with PM Modi.
To mark its first anniversary, the BJP government had spent crores on print, TV, radio and outdoor advertisements, as per data from the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP).
In 2015, government shelled out more than ₹ 55 crore on advertising in less than two months to celebrate the completion of the Prime Minister’s first year in office.
However, it may be noted that the ₹ 750 crore spent on advertising by Modi government in the first year of its first term was significantly less than the ₹ 1,300 crore spent by the Congress-led UPA government a year before.
In the Swachh Bharat campaign, the government had spent around 30% of the total ₹ 170 crore ad budget allocated to the ministry of information and broadcasting that year.
Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst had said, “Like the UPA, they will get into heavy advertising. The sheer din that new media as well as multiplicity of voices creates forces the government to push the pedal on its advertising campaigns.”
And the rest of the world
In the last decade, Facebook has emerged as the unparalleled platform to reach out to citizens and voters all over the world. World leaders and governments boast their biggest audiences on Facebook, which has 2.3 billion monthly active users organically.
In the Twiplomacy series from analysts Burson Cohn & Wolfe, the 2019 edition of World Leaders on Facebook revealed that the governments and leaders of 182 countries had official presence on the social network. This number, which is seven more than 2017, counts 94 percent of the 193 UN member states.
As per the report, only 11 countries do not have their governments on Facebook: Eritrea, Laos, Mauritania, Nicaragua, North Korea, Swaziland and Turkmenistan and some Pacific island states.
The report further understands that 108 national heads, 83 prime ministers and 88 foreign ministers have personal pages on Facebook. Also highlighted is the fact that pages of popular leaders have more following than pages dedicated to political parties.
Leaders of 182 countries, which makes up 94 percent of the 193 UN member states, had official presence on Facebook in 2018.
In a year between March 2018 and 2019, 692 personal and institutional pages of political leaders on Facebook collectively boasted more than 345 million page likes and 767 million interactions.
Mid-term stagnation
The social media followings of popular world leaders seem to stagnate once significant following is attained. PM Modi’s Facebook grew less than one percent from 2017 where are the official handle of the Prime Minister say a downward trend with 84,533 lesser followers that last year. Similarly, President Trump’s popularity has risen by only three percent, which is a fraction of his earlier growth rates.
The trend is noticed across countries with marked decline in social media followings over the last year. While interactions registered in 2016 stood at 1.1 billion, that number reduced by 32.3 percent in 2018.
Catalysation in campaign mode
But this decline is not permanent and more or less accounts for the middle overs in Prime Ministerial or Presidential terms. The trend visibly changes when leaders are in campaign mode.
Facebook and social media pages come back to life during the during election campaigns and witness spurt in following and engagement.
The Facebook page of recently elected Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro registered the biggest hike adding 4.1 million new fans. Similarly, Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador garnered 3 million likes over the past 12 months. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko saw his following triple to 2.3 million.
Re-elected PM Modi has 43 million followers on Facebook, 47 million on Twitter and 20 million on Instagram. With such a substantial following he was able to convert innovative campaigns like a ‘Main bhi Chowkidar’ into his biggest electoral advantage in the bygone polls.
By: Chitresh Sehgal, Senior Editor, Dkoding Media
