The UK’s 1st Digital Election

The government is expected to announce that the next general election will be held this May, however the preparation for this has been going on for some weeks now.

As the political build up gathers momentum, we are beginning to hear references to this being the UK’s first ‘digital election’.

How are politicians using Social Media to gain popularity?

In preparation for this election, the British politicians have taken note of Barack Obama’s success in the US election last year.

President Obama was successful in capturing the imagination of the online generation by broadcasting speeches on YouTube, gathering a huge following on Twitter and even publishing his ‘Vote for Change’ posters in online games.

As we know, the last US election was one of the most closely fought and highly charged political campaigns in American history, and clearly highlighted the massive power of online advertising and the importance of engagement via social media.

Whilst the classic political billboards will still play a huge part in the advertising strategy of the different parties, for the first time in British history, the upcoming election will be truly digital.

Assuming the parties get it right with their campaigns in the coming months, we can expect to see some fascinating marketing tactics online. There are however always casualties in any media campaign, most recently that of David Cameron.

How can things can backfire for Politicians

Any brand that becomes tainted by a recent scandal would not dream of launching a large scale marketing campaign online, but due to the of democracy, our political parties are forced into such a campaign.

This, without doubt, means that the first ‘digital election; will be a very traumatic experience for main stream parties. The world of social media is massive as we all know, and any kind of scandal, particularly political, will go viral at the speed of light.

Aside from the expenses row, the most recent example of a campaign backfiring for a politician, was that of David Cameron last week. He launched a campaign poster online which was airbrushed to the max.

It is no surprise then that the Labour party, immediately jumped at the chance to ridicule him publically. They did this by taking the template of the poster and updating it with their own slogan.

What can we expect as the Election draws near?

Whether the ‘chatter’ has a positive of negative sentiment, people are nevertheless talking about the election, and this trend will surly escalate as we head toward May. In fact, recent chatter about has been going around online discussion forumns such as Mumsnet.com and PopBitch showing that the reach has gone past the usual political sites.

There is no doubt that we are about to embark upon what will be the most exciting election campaigns – certainly from an advertising point of view – that we’ve ever seen. I will be providing updates on the trials and tribulations of the politicians as they maneuver themselves around the digital arena over the coming months. The expression ‘a duck out of water’ springs to mind for most MP’s!

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this article do not represent the views of WMpS.