GE13: Pakatan targeting fence-sitters in social media reach

(The Star) – Pakatan Rakyat’s strategy in social media is in targeting the fence-sitters, many of whom are active on Facebook.

PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli said the party was targeting fence-sitters in its social media reach.

“You can have one million followers but liking’ doesn’t mean anything. It’s the number of shares’ that matters, not likes’,” he said.

The party, said Rafizi, was focused on putting content on a few Facebook profiles with a huge following, and getting readers to share this and comment with their friends.

What mattered most, he said, was content and the use of graphics.

“Posts on pure politicking don’t gain any traction whatsoever. What gets the most shares are bread-and-butter issues,” Rafizi pointed out.

It was possible, he said, for PKR’s social media strategy to be managed with a small team of around four people, reaching out to an estimated number of between 1.5 million and 2 million people online every day.

PKR, he said, also had an election smartphone app, available from Google Play and Apple, showing users the locations of future ceramah and even has a function allowing voters to check their eligibility.

“Young voters are very tech savvy and apps are something they would consider sexy,” he said.

Admitting that his party is not a pioneer when it comes to social media, PAS election director Dr Hatta Ramli said it was getting “ambassadors” to get voters to return to PAS-led states such as Kelantan for the polls.

“We have ambassadors for each of our voting districts to reach out to people personally and through social media,” he said.

DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua said his team was working around the clock through Facebook and Twitter to gear up for the elections.

The party, he said, was also making various poll-themed videos, more of which would be revealed through the launch of its Ubah TV.