Photos from his personal life, videos from the election campaign and even more stories from his appearances in the media. National Election Day cuts profiles of MP candidates in social media they “fired up”. Or almost everything. This is because while most candidates spend thousands of euros on sponsored social media posts – with the total cost as high as €80,000 in some cases – there are also a few exceptions who prefer the traditional way of promoting their work and themselves. .

“Through social media, politicians seek to strengthen and demonstrate their presence. In other words, they use them to, on the one hand, declare their visit to a certain place, in order to maximize the presence of participants there, on the other hand, to reach an audience, for example, young people who are unlikely to find them anywhere else, such reaping great rewards,” he says, referring to “Mr. Digital Strategist, Akis Kiupakis.

In a campaign battle without social media

However, there are parliamentary candidates who, despite the presence of social networks, prefer to shift the weight of their campaign to something else, even if they swarm into Athens rather than some small town outside the capital.

Candidate with PASOK-KINAL Athens A, George Jannaros and the son of historic Coalition leader Grigoris Giannaroou believes “the fight is on”. He maintains a Facebook page with 318 followers, which proves that social media is not his only outlet.

“It depends on the strategy chosen by each candidate. My point is that the way social media is displayed is pretty camouflaged. Of course, for those who are especially well-known in politics, this is a useful tool, but for those who are not, there is simply a risk of “getting lost” among thousands of posts. I personally prefer to have physical contact with the world, because I see that, on the one hand, older voters are not so active, and on the other hand, young people are tired of the overabundance of information,” says Mr. Yannaros in K. He also points out that, despite the fact that social networks have the primacy, no one doubts the strength of the traditional door-to-door election campaign.

The line between idiosyncratic viewing and abuse

With a negative impact, it has “bombing” posts from politicians, Mr. Kiupakis agrees.

“My 15 years of experience suggests that, on the one hand, the inactive profile of a political figure cannot suddenly “wake up” just before the elections. This is clearly bad practice. In any case, social media advertising helps us quickly overcome this phase of inactivity by “activating” the audience in just a few days. Although this should be done with caution. The audience should not be suddenly bombarded with messages, otherwise they will get tired and efforts will not bear fruit. Thus, social networks offer the possibility of targeted and multifaceted impact, and this is not the best option for someone to abuse, ”he emphasizes.

But what happens when you “lower” a candidate for deputies in the provinces? Is it worth investing in social media there, or is it better to rely on more traditional options, like handing out flyers and contacting you on the phone?

Candidate for deputy from SYRIZA in Arta, Margarita Burandashe is not as active on social media, but does not consider them useless.

“Most residents of Arta are pensioners, which means they prefer the traditional way of communication. After all, the fact that I am a psychologist by profession makes me also prefer face-to-face communication. However, on the other hand, it is impossible to completely disconnect from the Internet. Therefore, if I had to give a percentage, I would say 60% in interpersonal contacts and 40% in social networks,” says Ms. Burada.

More Benefits for Small Town Candidates

For his part, however, Mr. Kiupakis notes that “a small town candidate will benefit many times more from social media than a big city candidate because the target audience is smaller, and thus even with little advertising spend. , its message will reach almost all active users it targets.

“Know that older users in the campaign battle are some of the best consumers of political content and are actually quite cheap to target, up to four times cheaper than the core 25-45 year old audience that all companies are targeting, and so they raise the cost of viewing it due to competition. “Older users are actually the most active and are measured to interact more by liking, reposting and commenting on political candidate posts,” he notes.

The trap of slovenliness

In any case, he believes that in 2023 a politician will practically not be able to campaign without social networks.

However, there are times when it is better for a candidate not to have an account on these media at all.

“Many candidates may not be aware of the work required to operate effectively, as well as the exposure risks inherent in these media, and therefore we often see sketchy, disorganized, but also dangerous candidate presentations that lead us to think that yes, in such cases it would be better if their campaign activity did not include social networks,” he concludes.