During the electoral campaign that led to the victory of the Centre-Right, we had the opportunity to understand that it is possible making politics on social media and in particular on TikTok. It is in fact on the social network preferred by the very young that the most important political figures landed during the election campaign: Salvini, Berlusconi, Letta, Renzi, Calenda, Conte… just to name a few.
This is a particularly important event because no one would have ever thought that political communication would also arrive within a social network where (generally) political issues are discussed. much lighter topics. But let's analyze more specifically the meaning of this communication strategy so as to understand if we can learn something.
Doing politics on social media: TikTok
As we have already mentioned, the most striking novelty of this electoral campaign is that it was also conducted on TikTok. However, it must be remembered that the first candidate to open a TikTok profile was Giorgia Meloni in 2019, when she tried to ride the tiktok trend "I am Giorgia". Surely you all remember it. Analyzing the communication style of the leader of Fratelli d'Italia we notice that it is characterized by long, spoken videos without songs: exactly the opposite of what attracts users to that platform.
Those who took more care of their communication on TikTok were: Democratic Party and the coalition Action/Italia Viva. Although they too have given more importance to the contents than to the format, it can be noted that there is greater attention: Calenda, for example, has used the Q&A format answering questions from previous videos while the PD associated a party representative for each topic to be discussed (Zan for homophobia, Fufaro for cannabis and so on).
Those who have perfectly understood how to use the Chinese social network are Matthew Salvini, leader of the League. With almost 700 thousand followers and more than 8 million likes, Salvini is the most followed politician on TikTok, thanks to a communication style much more youthful and direct, more in line with the standards that make videos go viral on this platform.
Another striking case is undoubtedly that of Silvio Berlusconi who, despite his venerable age, decided to land on TikTok (where he has already obtained 690 thousand followers and 4.5 million likes) setting a record of more than 9 million views on the first video uploaded. It is important to underline that, even in this case, the communication is not the best, indeed: hearing the former prime minister speak it almost seems like he is addressing elementary school kids, arousing the nervousness of Influencers and users who felt denigrated by this type of communication.
Conclusion: What we have learned
Regardless of one's political beliefs or one's sympathy for different leaders or parties, what is certain is that politics try more and more to reach young people every day and it does so by trying to intercept them within their favorite channels. What not all politicians have understood is that being present on a social network is not enough to be successful: you need to know how to speak the language of the social network and pay close attention to trends and viral dynamics, since it is a constantly updated platform.
If you want to receive advice on how to direct your communication on social media and in particular on TikTok Don't hesitate to contact us! We will be more than happy to share our know-how with you.