Leaders hire professionals to perk up social media campaign

PROFESSIONAL TOUCH After 2014 elections, in which BJP used social media to propagate its agenda, every leader in the saffron party has become image cautious on social platforms; EC keeping tabs on social media accounts

SHIMLA:Busy in political maneuvering, ticket aspirants of both the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and Congress have turned to professionals for image making, especially on social media.

Even as the election commission is keeping a tab on social media campaigns, political leaders deny engaging professionals and said the entire work is being done by their volunteers.

After 2014 elections, in which BJP used social media to propagate its agenda, every leader in the saffron party has become image cautious on social platforms.

It has become a common practice among leaders to put photographs of an event on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and now WhatsApp too is being used for poll campaigning.

In Himachal, where election would be held within a month’s time and all focus is on party tickets, aspirants have hired professionals to run their social media accounts. Many of them have cyber army of party volunteers– good in social media marketing.

Chief minister (CM) Virbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh, Congress minister Sudhir Sharma, Mukesh Agnihotri, Anil Sharma and legislator Aja y Mahajan have allegedly engaged professionals.

Many other ticket aspirants have been making their strong presence on social media. From BJP side, Prem Kumar Dhumal, Shanta Kumar, Anurag Thakur, Suresh Bhardwaj, Jairam Thakur, Praveen Sharma, Ravi Mehta and almost every leader has a Facebook profile.

Many of them have professionals to look after the account.

“Leaders do not have much time to manage activities on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. We work for them as per their requirement,” Hitender Thakur, a PR professional said.

Professionals prepare Facebook posts, video capsules and internet virtual receptionist (IVR) messages for the leaders. Some politicians have also attached professional photographers and videographers with them to capture their impeccable pictures to share on social media.

“We have a database of mobile numbers. From short messages to WhatsApp broadcasting, all services are provided by us. Sometimes leaders do not even know but we post festival wishes on their page,” he said.

However, management professional Rajat Chauhan said a politician can’t handle his social media marketing himself. “Professional marketing is a different thing.” he said.

“Professionals not only design the posts but also target audience, which is more important,” Chauhan said.

He said, “Now the time has changed. Man to man contact should be supplemented by social media marketing to remain relevant.”

However, political science student Vivek Thakur said real canvassing is man to man networking. “These social media things are only in the virtual world,” he added.

ECI KEEPS EYE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Chief electoral officer (CEO) Pushpendra Rajput said the Election commission of India (ECI) has directed them to have accounts on social media besides keeping tab on the activities of political parties. “Advertisement on social media will also be added in the expenditure of political party or a candidate,” he said.

MINISTER TURNS LYRICIST

Urban development minister Sudhir Sharma has gone a step ahead and designed his website. Recently, a professionally shot video song was also posted on his Facebook page. The caption claimed that lyrics of the song ‘Mera Gaurav, Mera Dharamshala’ was written by Sharma himself. “I always wanted Dharamshala to have its own song which describes it fully. I had consulted many professionals but later wrote a few lines on Dharmshala myself,” he said.

Leaders do not have the time to manage Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. We work for them. We have a database of mobile numbers. From short messages to WhatsApp broadcasting, all services are provided by us. Sometimes leaders do not even know but we post festival wishes on their (social media) pages. HITENDER THAKUR, a PR professional