As Karnataka’s election nears, the competition for digital supremacy intensifies. Congress and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) have invested Rs3,644,561 and Rs2,269,648 respectively, in Meta ads alone in the last month, with a strong focus on cohort-level targeting and regional content. Winning the digital race is no longer just about counting likes and shares, but precise targeting.
The spends are even higher as per Google Transparency Report. Between April 1-26, 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party spent Rs2.31 crore on advertising, with Rs2.29 crore spent in Karnataka. The Indian National Congress spent Rs1.126 crore in total, with Rs1.12 crore spent in Karnataka. Another advertiser, the INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, spent Rs88.9 lakh in total, with Rs88.8 lakh spent in Karnataka.
“Political parties in Karnataka are running digital campaigns on platforms like Meta (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook) and 3PN, utilizing predominantly hyper-localized targeting. With zip-code level narrow targeting, it can be argued that their cohort-level targeting is better than any big brand in the country,” said Preetham Venkky, chief digital officer at DDB Mudra Group.
Political ad spend patterns
Keeping that in context, the accuracy of media spending is difficult to ascertain, due to the lack of tracking for hyper-localized targeting spends. Moreover, most of the spending is on organic channels such as WhatsApp campaigns, which incur costs for creative, execution, media fees, and strategy, according to Venky.
“As political advertising tends to be in dark social channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp text), it’s impossible to get any quantitative data to understand what’s really going on. However, broader social listening can provide analysis of the residual effects of the campaigns, such as people writing, talking, or debating about the political parties or their members,” he added.
However, the Meta Ad Report provides a broader trend of digital spends. Between March 25 – and April 23, 2023 Karnataka has been the state with the highest spends on Meta Ads.
The Indian National Congress – Karnataka page had the maximum spends on ads about social issues, elections or politics followed by the BJP Karnataka.
Trends were the same in the last seven days too. Congress took the lead again with spending on the platform. They spent close to Rs 28.4 lakh on Meta Ads between April 17 and April 23, 2023 while BJP spent close to a lakh in the period.
Google Transparency Report doesn’t give a party wise divide but in the state the overall spending by political parties in the same period was close to Rs66.8 lakh.
AI-driven targeting
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly available for political parties to make their targeting more precise. These tools use data analysis and machine learning algorithms to identify potential supporters, track their online behavior, and tailor campaign messages to their specific interests. This can be especially effective in reaching younger, digitally-savvy voters who are more likely to engage with political content online.
Sridhar Seshadri, co-founder at AI-driven platform Spotflock that has worked with several political parties explains how the targeting is designed.
“As a first step we build AI-based geo-tagged real-time surveys with real-time dashboards for a political party or candidate to know the pulse of the people in the State or specific constituency. The Political party or the candidate can see the responses of the voters in real-time and once the report is generated the digital strategies and other direct engagement strategies are built around the feedback received from voters,” he said.
Political parties in Karnataka are running digital campaigns on platforms like Meta (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook) and 3PN, utilizing predominantly hyper-localized targeting. With zip-code level narrow targeting, it can be argued that their cohort-level targeting is better than any big brand in the country.
Building a unique app for a party or candidate by integrating booth-level data to have individual voter targeting is a must according to Seshadri. This is an additional tool besides using National Apps built by leading political parties as booth-level data is not updated on a real-time basis. The unique App built for the party or the candidate fills the gaps in the National App and the accuracy level of the booth-level data substantially goes up.
Engagement with the voters is at two levels. First would be direct engagement, which includes the party or candidate’s representatives regularly meeting voters six months in advance of the elections and engaging them by sharing the good work done by the party and the candidate on a daily basis, and gauge the pulse. Second is indirect engagement, where social media handles are extensively used to showcase the good work done by the party and candidates.
“When it comes to generating multiple posts, AI tools come in handy for generating posts in multiple languages and also posting simultaneously on multiple platforms at high frequency. This is done at a granular level to target each and every segment of the voter base depending on social groups and economic criteria,” he adds.
Creative strategies for effective campaigns
Creating engaging and informative content has become increasingly important for political parties to reach their target audience.
Campaign strategy organization DesignBoxed sources said, “We are doing a lot of things for the Congress Party that have not been done before. Our major focus is on creating content around the guarantees given by the party to the state. Creating the content however is not the end game. Targeting is the most important part so that the right audience has the right content.”
“One of our most aggressive strategies is using Instagram Reels to reach a wider audience. We are using this feature to its fullest by creating short, engaging, and informative videos that catch people’s attention. Live coverage of campaigns is also an integral part of our strategy, and we use content like never before to showcase the candidates and their unique qualities. We aim to promote real interactions and lower the typical barriers of engagement, and Instagram Reels has proven to be a great tool in achieving that.”
The 3Cs – Customization, with messaging to emphasize the set narrative; creativity, to make it visually appealing and community, a well-defined distribution channel to ensure that the message is reaching out to a wider population.
Before Karnataka, the agency has also worked with the party in other states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Communications strategy consultant Anup Sharma said it’s the 3Cs that matter the most. Customization, with messaging to emphasize the set narrative; creativity, to make it visually appealing and community, a well-defined distribution channel to ensure that the message is reaching out to a wider population.
According to Sharma, the smartphone availability in Karnataka is significantly higher than the national average. “A 2021 report stated that 98 percent of Karnataka villages have high-speed internet. Out of the 5.1 crore electorate in Karnataka, about 2 crore are on Facebook, 3.35 crore on WhatsApp and 1.12 crore on Instagram. With more than 4.5 crore voters on some social media platform, digital campaigns are crucial for any party in the state,” he said.
Sharma’s observation on digital activations in the state has BJP taking the lead. According to him, they are more organized and have a well-structured mechanism to groundwork, going down to each booth level which includes the network of more than 50,000 WhatsApp groups.
On the other hand, the Congress Party that did an impressive job of activating its team at the grass root level to promote the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi have not been able to maintain the momentum, he said.
Influencer marketing
Political campaigns in Karnataka are also making use of influencer marketing to reach a wider audience. Influencers with a large following on social media are being roped in to promote candidates and their messages. The focus is mainly on creating regional content and also engaging hyper local influencers. However, it is not just micro influencers who are being identified by parties for content creation.
“By creating regional language content, parties are able to connect with voters at a deeper level, which is impacting election results. Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, which have a larger user base, are extensively used by state parties to spread their message. The real-time engagement, wide reach, and targeted messaging offered by these platforms make them an attractive medium for political communication in India, particularly among younger voters,” said Shudeep Majumdar, co-founder and CEO at influencer marketing platform, Zefmo Media Pvt. Ltd.
The availability of regional language content on social media has made it easier for political parties to connect with voters in their preferred language, resulting in a significant increase in the volume of political content being shared on social media in the state.