You will be living under a rock if you don’t know that Nigeria is gearing up for another Presidential election. Yeah, 2019 is just around the corner and our politicians are already in full campaign mode.
The prevalence of social media in politics has made elected officials and candidates for public office more accountable and accessible to voters. With the continuous rise of social media in Nigeria, political analysts are of the opinion that the race for Aso Rock may just be decided larger on who is more popular on social media.
With just 3 months to the election day, Nigeria politicians have been aggressively using Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to connect to the voters. This is not a new thing in Nigeria beacuse in 2015, a similar strategy was used to sway people.
With many Nigerians now social media savvy, politicians will have to be more believable and relatable in order to win the trust of the voters. Below are some of the reasons Nigeria politicians are investing heavily in social media
To Connect With The Younger Audience:
There is a political wave among the younger population in Nigeria with more and more youth getting more involved in politics and government policies. Politicians have taken to Twitter and Instagram to connect to the younger folk.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/BldpefJBtwH/?taken-by=realdonaldduke
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkSIfW4B2R3/?taken-by=realdonaldduke
As we can see here, Presidential aspirant Donald Duke tapping into the power of social media in order to connect with millennials.
This is another Presidential aspirant who has invested heavily in social media as a tool in getting the buy-in of the youth.
Thank you for the visit, David O. Your story is a great example for our youth. https://t.co/qPdpKdeZna
— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) October 13, 2018
Atiku’s campaign strategy has been going so smoothly on social, a new word “Atikulated” was even coined., which has been the lingual among young people on social.
Atiku is fly. Atiku is hot. Atikulated. #iamatikulated ☄️🔥✨ pic.twitter.com/FcrWsTmhHY
— ${Tech_bro} (@kcnaija) October 10, 2018
To Test Their Popularity:
The number of likes, retweet and repost can give a political candidate a view of just how popular he/she is. Naturally, social media is one of the best places to actually know who your supporters are, those against you and lots more.
Today, at the Senate, we passed a resolution calling on @CenBank to suspend the excessive ATM card maintenance charges being deducted from customers.
Read more here: https://t.co/1cjcPnp9bV pic.twitter.com/XmRueJSIHn
— Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki (@bukolasaraki) October 17, 2018
With over 1 million followers on Twitter, Senate President Bukola Saraki is one of the most followed political figures in the country.
Advertising Without Paying Big Bucks:
It has become fairly common for political campaigns to produce commercials and publish them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook instead of, or in addition to, paying for time on television, the radio or print media.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpc28uQFSUv/?taken-by=yelesho
The reason can be endless, but, we all know that the social media is one the best ways to get noticed.