Wrap Up: Social Media, Public Relations, and the 2022 National and Local Elections in the Philippines

We cannot deny that the social media strategies of national and local candidates during the campaign season for the 2022 Philippine elections have shaped the results that we are witnessing right now.

It is expected that there would be an increase in reliance of political candidates on social media in their campaign strategy due to the high dependence of Filipinos on social media and the physical restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. We all experienced and realized that social media is an essential part of the contemporary political machinery.

Most social media experts argue that these digital platforms are not built for political mobilization. But the recent campaign season has proven that the algorithms that come with these technologies seemed to be a match.

We have witnessed that the power of information through social media platforms has been taken advantage of due to the various disinformation campaigns in the form of memes, spliced videos, misleading visuals, false advertising, and similar content to sway public opinion through heightening digital reactions and engagements. On the flipside, this digital strength also became advantageous to assess how users share digital content, which includes political ideologies, opinions, and views on policies.

But despite all these, we need to juice out and discuss some noteworthy points that might help uprising leaders as they penetrate into the Philippine political milieu in future elections. Our group of social media experts and political campaign strategists came up with a list of the best practices and tips from the recent electoral campaign.

Live gains popularity

Telling stories to a massive audience as it happens are crucial for politicians. Live broadcasts made it easier for political figures to communicate information to the digital audience faster and straight from the source. This feature were used to show their day-to-day activities, campaign events, interviews, speeches, commentaries, and even fighting disinformation by conducting a virtual conference. It has also been an avenue for corroborating or debunking campaign statements, promises, and attacks in real-time. With politicians that we handle, we plan out topics to discuss in their live sessions and schedule production and publication accordingly. Our in-house strategists always plan ahead of news releases by conducting intensive research to keep the content we produce relevant and worth viewing.

Influencers and celebrities played a vital role during the campaign season

Capitalizing on prominent social media influencers and famous celebrities has also been a trend this recent campaign season. They served as the channels for political campaign micro-targeting. Politicians ride on the established social media following of influencers and celebrities to convey their core campaign messages with the hope of converting influencer’s following to actual votes. The presence of celebrities in campaign sorties have long been embedded into the traditional electoral campaign mix. With the strong presence and high dependence of the Filipino audience towards social media, it was just now that we are seeing an established digital campaign mix coupled with digital influencers.

But with the recent campaign season, celebrities and influencers have been exploited for the purpose of political disinformation. Historical denialism is continually being done in the attempt to make people believe on false ideologies and twisting public opinion. In contrary, our production teams have incorporated real people who are living testimonies to the accomplishments of our client public service officials and ensure that the truth behind these stories are what we actually produce as digital content.

Time is of the essence

Specifically, for candidates eyeing for a post in the local government, being ahead of the competition on social media is necessary to have a vantage point in getting a better reach and engagement. With the rampant false propagandas launched in local electoral campaigns, being first to release digital content to debunk these is important to build credibility. Further, this will help avoid credit grabbing of accomplishments for the public and would give more lead time to strengthen digital community engagement across social media platforms.

Social media metrics does not define winning

While it is true that social media became an essential tool in this recent electoral campaign season, reaching out to the public to communicate platforms of governance is also as important. Given how social media platforms have been used for negative campaigning, conducting caucuses and events that will provide political figures a chance to reach every corner of each city and barangay is an advantage to communicate what they have to offer to their stakeholders positively. Social media statistics alone is not a reliable metric to tell that all the reach and engagement will definitely convert to actual votes. A balance between political campaign operations, traditional approach to political promotions, and digital strategies that would help spread awareness would be the best mix to champion the hearts and minds of every Filipino voter.

There are a lot more positive points that we can juice out from what had happened in the recent electoral campaign season despite the presence of political machineries from past elections, even up to this moment. We came up with this shortlist to show the political campaign highlights from a marketing and advertising perspective. This also serves as a guide for future elections and in the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections where leaders are elected by smaller communities. Correcting the cultural fabric of our country shall start with choosing leaders who are morally-upright, credible, and has the heart to serve people, which should start with the smallest unit of government which is the barangay level.

They say that the advertising and public relations industry is where the chief architects of networked disinformation come from. But as responsible and ethical practitioners in the field, Ingenio Creatives upholds its values and morals in truthful advertising and PR that are mutually-supported by politicians we serve. As part of an empowered community, we consider this our share to create an impact and help the community-building for a better Philippines.