Friday 3 June 2016

A Digital Kura (Election) by Richard "Astar" Njau #MentalDigitalShift #DigitalEmpowerment #CTA101


Dear Political Aspirant... 3 words #MentalDigitalShift ;-)

So yesterday an MP aspirant paid me a visit to have a conversation on how he could leverage on the digital space in the upcoming elections. This MP aspirant kept referring to what was done 4 years ago and wanted to copy paste the exact same model for the upcoming 2017 elections. Yes... this post was inspired by that ancient mindset in regards to the upcoming elections ;-) #Legoooo

(1) Audience Understanding - Take a seat and let this one knock you off your seat!! A child born in 1999 will be eligible to vote in the upcoming general elections!! Yes you read right he/she will be legally eligible to vote!! Why does this matter... 99% if not 100% of all those vying for political seats are born BC!! Before Computers and thus have an option B way of thinking when it comes to their digital communication. For them digital is just another way to reach their audience. However to this demographic that you are trying to reach... this is their PRIMARY mode of communication and content consumption!! What does that mean... your TV rules do NOT apply to this audience! (There's soooooo much more to say about understanding this audience but i'll end with this... your digital communication should be a parallel universe running 24/7/365!!)

(2) Technology Shelf - In terms of technology advancement on the digital space... 4 years is like 20 years! What was being done 4 years ago may not necessarily work today! Here are a few e.g. I joined Google as G+ Music/Media Evangelist around the time of the last election. At that time Google had just launched G+ and one of the X-factors of the G+ platform was/is that it can be used as a live stream platform. UhuRUTO actually launched their Manifesto as a Google Hangout (even though at the time very few people watched it live... simply because of things like internet availability and costs). Fast forward to 2017 and I guarantee you Facebook Live will be used and recycled like an "Akala" and no one in their right mind will use Google Hangout ;-) 4 years ago Whatsapp was just another platform for sending messages with a limited number of Kenyans on it... let's just say that if you are thinking of running a campaign without including the whatsapp platform you might as well just quit now. Save yourself the embarrassment!!

(3) Content Communication Plan - CONTENT IS KING!!!! Don't expect to get votes without putting in the WORK!! You're social media profile/page is your CV!! It shows us if you're simply a talker or whether you're truly walking your talk. This doesn't simply apply for presidential candidates... but also every position up for grabs from Women Rep, MCAs, MPs, etc. Come up with a daily, weekly content disbursement plan to propagate your agenda! CURRENTLY we have over 5Million Kenyans on facebook with at least 75% of those being eligible to vote... and GROWING!!! ;-)

(4) The Digital Advertising Mjölnir - Mjölnir is the hammer of Thor! In the right hands it can strike a massive blow and cause serious damage and destruction! Digital advertising will be a huge game changer in this coming elections. Corporates, SME's, individuals and various aspirants are very clueless about the need for digital advertising on the digital platform. Big ups Safaricom Limited digital team for the 5 sec YouTube campaign. *Slow clap to the creative team on that one* ;-) The moment a political aspirant hears the word SPEND MONEY they panic! But what if spending (what amount you are able to spend) could GUARANTEE you constant communication with your EXACT target audience 24/7/365! The key to being able to lift Mjölnir is digital advertising ;-) ...otherwise all your content disbursement plan is headed NOWHERE fast!!

The digital media shift has happened when it comes to election content!! Bigs ups to Caroline Mutoko for thinking ahead! (check out this link - http://bit.ly/25B8ApI).

Soooooooo much more to say and in Arnold's famous words. "I'll be back". From bigwigs to social media propaganda... one thing's for sure... the digital platform is set to play it's biggest role in the 2017 general elections! #ADigitalKura #MentalDigitalShift #DigitalEmpowerment #CTA101

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