Dakar, Jul 23 (APS) – The various coalitions vying for the legislative elections of July 31 are not taking enough advantage of the opportunities offered by social networks, which is reflected in particular by the lack of content specifically dedicated to the electoral campaign. , believe new media consultants.
Social networks are only a “sounding board” for the various candidates and coalitions vying for these legislative elections, analyzes Sahite Gaye, teacher at the Center for the Study of Information Science and Technology (CESTI), the school journalist from Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar.
“Overall, he analyzes, social networks are used to serve as sounding boards. In this sense, many practices that are done in the field are used on social networks”.
Sahite Gaye estimates that ten days following the start of the campaign, on July 10, practices on social networks “are almost identical”, from one coalition to another.
“It’s mainly for the different coalitions to link information, share communication materials and mobilize,” he says.
The new media teacher, however, notes a specificity with the use of the social network Tik Tok by the Aar Senegal coalition (Alternative for a Breaking Assembly).
Above all, he notes “a flowering of fake news on social networks during this campaign”.
“There is no post-production work that is done to have content specifically dedicated to social networks,” said Mountaga Cissé, also from the “SimTech” agency, specializing in multimedia broadcasting.
The computer engineer means content “not very long, less than five minutes, with writing, animation, etc.”
According to Mountaga Cissé, “none of the candidates has done so so far, even though it is a good communication strategy”, even though the various candidates or coalitions, he says, only repeat what is broadcast on the television or in the field.
“They do not measure the opportunities that social networks offer them. They limit themselves only to a classic use that people make of it, that is to say to share content from the field. There is no marketing strategy squarely defined”, insists the computer engineer.
He considers that the various candidates, whether from the majority or the opposition, “are still far from behaving like influencers”, in view of the use they make of Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube.
The fact is that “each coalition has different communication strategies on the Internet”, a difference that can be seen even within the opposition, for example, depending on the profiles of each other, he adds.
The Yewwi Askan Wi coalition, to give just this example, “has continued the same strategy” used by Ousmane Sonko during the 2019 presidential campaign, consisting in broadcasting his activities live as soon as they start, including the caravan, to report live on what is happening on the ground. “It had more or less paid off in 2019”, analyzes the computer engineer.
Benno Bokk Yaakaar’s (BBY) caravan also took over Macky Sall’s strategy in 2019, consisting of sharing “the best photos” of its activities and video clips.
“It had also paid off. People were not overwhelmed with content, because it was handpicked and might reach potential voters,” notes Mountaga Cissé.