When on May 29 the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced the call for elections for July 23, the electoral machinery was launched at full speed to prepare an election that will be the most decisive in the contemporary history of Spain.
Electoral campaign teams, political advisors, press offices and all kinds of professionals knew from the beginning that these were not conventional elections, since they would be held in the middle of summer and there would be a lot to prepare and little time to do it.
“The main characteristic of calling elections in the summer is that most of the population of voting age is away from their habitual residence. The Opinion Way consultancy forecasts that this year 90% of Spaniards will take vacation stays”, points out Mar Soria Ibáñez, professor of the Master’s Degree in Communication and Political Marketing at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
According to Soria, “everything points to a return to domestic tourism figures that place us in a scenario similar to the one we experienced before the pandemic. In this way, what is an optimal situation for the economy, could be a negative factor in terms of electoral participation ”she analyzes, although regarding the vote by mail“ the volume of applications is already close to 3 million ”.
The fact that the votes are in summer does not have to demobilize voters, according to the professor: “There is a clear interest of the citizens to speak at the polls. That is why the forecast, in principle, is that the call on July 23 and the high temperatures do not affect participation.
However, Mar Soria warns that “the high temperatures are going to be a factor to be taken into account by the parties to design their campaigns”, and adds that “in addition to being forced to design them in record time , they must change the channels of communication with the citizenry”.
In order to reach the maximum number of voters, “it is necessary to bet on innovative campaigns on social networks,” explains the professor, and gives as an example “Facebook, Instagram and TikTok”, which “are emerging as the virtual communities with the most weight among the different types of target” given what is expected “that the parties use formats such as TikTok challenges or Instagram reels to reach all groups, but especially young people”.
Curiously, the age group of young people is “the one that is furthest from politics and the one that, at the same time, should feel more represented”, because the expert considers that “it is time to integrate all groups within the campaigns and that they, with their testimonies, are the protagonists of the stories”.
Precisely about the risk of demobilization, Soria warns: “It is very important that public institutions and political parties carry out an exercise of responsibility and call for the vote, in person or by mail.” He also explains that “various studies indicate that in situations that citizens understand to be crucial, mobilization is always greater.”
In addition, he adds that “citizen participation in the polls depends on the democratic health of a country. And Spain can put a place on the even international map in a responsible exercise of the right to vote”. For this reason, he explains that “although we are still a few weeks away from knowing the statistics, the truth is that the data related to voting by mail are already the highest in the history of democracy.”
On the other hand, for Mar Soria it is essential to understand that July is the hottest month: “Perhaps the fact that they are held in summer is not as relevant as that they occur in the period with the highest temperatures of the year. This factor is going to be decisive for many people who will have to go to vote in the earliest hours of the morning to avoid high temperatures.”
For this reason, a series of points to be taken into account are generated: “Another fundamental element is care for vulnerable people who may have pathologies and also the elderly. It is also somewhat worrying about the conditions in which the participants in the polling stations will exercise their function. Not all voting centers are well conditioned, ”he highlights.
Faced with the “impossibility of carrying out a melee campaign on the street” due to the problems of heat and sun, the expert hopes that social networks “will become a fundamental axis of the campaign” of 23-J: “I think that it will be the campaign of hashtags, claims and innovation in political communication”, he predicts. “I think we are going to see creativity and also a lot of audiovisual content in which people’s stories are told, in which their problems are raised and in which each candidacy responds to indicate how they are going to solve their concerns”, she assures.
In short, remember that “it is a crucial moment to act and to respond to a call that nobody expected, but that all the parties are going to work under a very strategic campaign and focused on the insights (desires and needs) of the people”.
The importance that social networks are expected to gain in this electoral campaign on July 23, very special due to the delicate date on which the elections will be held, makes the role of social networks essential and resort to training to manage them correctly.
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