Can influencer marketing work in politics? During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, we did see a host of celebrities and social media influencers try and push one party or other. But it’s unlikely that they could have created as much impact as in the area of brand marketing. Here’s why:
1) Backlash: When it comes to politics, influencers can face a huge backlash and be trolled as passions run high. As Sanjay Mehta, joint CEO, Mirum India, points out, if a blogger or a celebrity tweets about a brand, at worst they would be met with indifference or be ignored. But here, in an ideology-driven setting, there could be vicious arguments that could actually backfire on the party.
2) Tonality and content: Language and content matter are two things that are suspect in the political arena. A lot of fake news has been called out and even well-known figures have got abusive.
3) Tough to measure: When it comes to brand marketing, there is no deadline, so campaigns are planned and impact could be over a long time, but in politics you are trying to influence a date-oriented event — the actual day of voting. So the tendency is to carpet-bomb and there is no way to measure what worked and what did not.