Modi's Brand Ambassadors in Uttar Pradesh

Modi’s Brand Ambassadors in Uttar Pradesh

Today we will witness history in making when BJP Hardliner Hindutva leader, Yogi Adityanath will take oath as head of state. He would head first BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in 15 years.

The 44-year-old saffron-clad Yogi of the Gorakhpur mutth is a firebrand hindu leader.

It is told that Five-term MP from Gorakhpur and a hardline Hindutva leader Adityanath was a unanimous choice of the party’s 312 MLAs and that Adityanath himself asked for the two deputies – Keshav Prasad Maurya, and Dinesh Sharma.

The beauty of these three candidates is that none of them incidentally is an elected member of the UP Assembly. They represent three different strong caste base in UP – OBC, Brahmins, and Thakurs.

I see this as master stroke by Modi and Amit Shah. A precursor to 2019 election. The team UP is the brand ambassador of the brand Modi. A statement made bold and clear to the citizens of UP and India. We all will witness rhe impact of the bold decision. The fate of Modi in all future elections will also be based on the decision the team UP makes.

In my views lot is riding on these three individuals – Dinesh Sharma, keshav prasad Morya, and Yogi Adiyanath.

Dinesh Sharma has been Lucknow Mayor, wonderful organization builder and administrator. He is a professor in the commerce department at University of Lucknow.

It is said that He is a sincere and quiet worker. He is also admired by both Hindus and Muslims in the state capital. He is probably the only soft-spoken, friendly, good-natured face among the leadership.

He is Brahmin face of the UP government. UP is, probably, the only state in India where Brahmins have vote share in double digits. The Brahmins vote share in UP is excess of 12 percent and this move to my knowledge is to consolidate the Brahmin vote bank.

Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP state chief, is relatively young, energetic, and organization builder. He is also RSS karyakarta.

In my views appointment of a RSS karykarta as deputy CM will send a positive message to RSS cadre. The cadre with this move will feel happy, hopeful and engaged.

It is also said that Maurya was once a chaiwallah and a newspaper vendor before he joined the RSS. He just not come from the humble background but also is the face of OBC in UP which collectively controls 40 percent vote share. Maurya as deputy CM will also make the OBCs of the UP happy and hopeful.

Yogi Adityanath is Hardliner Hindutva leader, and is known for his strong pro-Hindu views. The Yogi is mathematics graduate, which probably gives us comfort that yogi’s views will not only be just religious but will have some element of analytics and reasoning into it.

He is just 44 and have been elected 5 times as MP from Gorakhpur. He also has image of always approachable and helpful to the citizens of Gorakhpur.

Yogi will help BJP polarize the vote bank and consolidate the hindu votebank. Moreover, he will also help attract the strong SP Yadav vote bank. He will also attract Thakur vote bank.

In my views Yogi with help of Triple-Talak will also attract women Muslim vote bank.

The team UP is designed to win election 2019 as BJP has got itself a Thakur candidate and a strong Hindu face -Adityanath, RSS Pracharak and an OBC candidate – Maurya and a Brahmin face Dinesh Sharma as the face of its government in the state.

These three candidates will help BJP increase vote share in UP but the team have to work hard and demonstrate that they have not deviated from the development agenda. As of now, we can only hope that Team UP will be focused on the development and not on polarizing voters and popular-religious activities.

For all those who don’t believe in team UP, remember we as of now have no other option but to believe what Adityanath promised. He promised to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ agenda, and strive for “good governance”.

I wish UP great governance, and law & order.

Also published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/modis-brand-ambassadors-uttar-pradesh-braj-mohan-chaturvedi-/

Digital is The Best Medium for Election Campaigns

Digital is The Best Medium for Election Campaigns

TV Channels, and newspapers for long have been perceived as strategic for political communications, and for voters’ decision making processes but in recent times, Internet and mobile has changed the dynamics of political communication, political campaigns and party management processes drastically.

In recent times the impact of digital marketing in the political campaigns have also increased as the engagement level of voter on web and mobile devices have increased over years. This change has happened as the smart phones, tablets and laptops have penetrated both, urban and rural space. Moreover, politicians and political parties have experienced that mobile is very effective communication device in the media dark markets. It will not be wrong to say that smartphones, tablets, and laptops are the most important and powerful screen that connects and provides platforms to engage voters and politicians.

In my opinion, politicians and political parties have start seeing traditional media as a mode of entertainment. Moreover, for them it is no more relevant as it used to be a decade back. I am not saying that TV Channels, and newspapers have completely lost its relevance. It is still relevant and help political parties influence voters and form opinion but the relevance of new media such as web presence, blogs, social media, news portals and aggregators, mobile campaign, influencers engagement, bloggers outreach program has increased.

Traditional media is not seen as the preferred tool to win voters and serve the purpose of politicians and political parties.

New age media is seen as a rich source of information. Moreover, the digital ecosystem is effectively used to manage and keep voter’s attention. Ubiquitous reach is one of the exciting part of the digital marketing. It has also made it easier for political campaigns to reach target audience at a lesser cost compared to that of traditional marketing and that is why New Age campaigns ‐ digital marketing, mobile marketing, and social media have already become a key communication tool in political strategies. In recent past we have seen major success of online political campaigns be it Obama, Modi, or any other global powerful politician, their success can be attributed to a successful new age campaign.

The success of global leaders like Obama, Trump, Modi, etc. can be attributed to new age campaigns.

The Digital Marketing Journey

The success of global leaders like Obama, Trump, Modi, etc. can be attributed to new age campaigns. The first big digital marketing success was Obama campaign. Though the Obama campaign was first global success the first Indian success of political digital marketing was Modi Campaign.

The Obama campaign became successful not once but twice in a row. In my views, the dynamics of the Obama Campaign was different from the dynamics of the Modi Campaign. The influencing factors viz. geography, demography, internet and mobile penetration were different in both campaigns but one thing which was common in these campaigns were treatment of the campaign. I believe each campaign is different and we need to find our own parameters to influence and engage voters.

The journey of designing a successful new age communication is not easy. For a campaign to be successful, online presence of political party and politician must be thoroughly planned. In my views, and in simple terms, an effective online presence means being where your audience is in the digitally connected world. There are many ways to do this, such as web presence, blogs, social media profiles, social media engagement with influencers and voters, owning and co‐owning content spaces, and interaction on third‐party channels, etc. The effective online presence is not enough to win the game of political digital marketing, but definitely is the first step towards the success of the voters and politicians engagement.

An effective online presence means being where your audience is in the digitally connected world.

It is important to focus on the empowerment of voters. Indian voters now have seamless access to news, and information required to become active participants in the country’s democratic process. Moreover, we are witnessing vibrant and connected voters who are demanding explanations for all the acts of the political party, politicians and government and also advising political parties, politicians and government. It makes engagement with voters the most important element in the political communication. The issue of how to proceed further in order to achieve high level of engagement with the public can be addressed by answering several questions:

  • Is the Political party and Politician ready to engage on the new age media platforms?
  • Are they ready to change with changing media dynamics?
  • Is there a willingness to interact with the public on the new age media platforms?
  • Are they prepared to deal with criticism on the new age media platforms?
  • Do they have time to devote to what is created on the new age media platforms?

At first the answers of the above questions will help digital marketer understand the seriousness of the political party, or candidate towards digital marketing journey. It will also help digital marketer structure the digital marketing campaign based on the level of seriousness and engagement of the political party, or candidate. Once digital marketers have the understanding of the interest level of politicians and political parties in the digital marketing campaign and the level of engagement they want on the digital marketing platforms, designing a successful digital marketing campaign roadmap becomes easy.

Digital natives are the biggest influencers and their interest needs to be taken into consideration when developing digital political campaigns.

The digital marketers also need to understand that there are millions of voters – native digital voters who have developed a certain digital sense that helps them filter information better and faster. Digital natives are the biggest influencers and their interest needs to be taken into consideration when developing digital political campaigns. It is important to monitor behaviour of the digital natives on web, mobile, and social media on real time. The objectives of campaign monitoring initiative can be classified in following activities: Identifying influencers, identifying the voters who are in favour and voters who are against the political party or politician, creating relationships with voters and influencers, managing grassroots mobilization initiatives, crisis management, obtaining insights for content engagement, interaction and engagement with fans and followers, conversations with candidates, politician, and spokesperson of the party, evaluating for strategic information. The campaign monitoring helps us understand the voters’ sentiment and hence helps us design the political communication.

A successful digital marketing campaign can help us identify the individual who will cast vote for the candidate.

The engagement of the voters, social listening, and analysis of their sentiments is most important element in the success of campaign. We all know that digital marketing is mostly engagement driven and provide us with huge data for analytics. The data which we get form the digital marketing campaign can be mapped with historic data on voting habits and other relevant parameters to get sentiment analysis. The result of the sentiment analysis is used to define the course of political communication.

Also Published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-best-medium-election-campaigns-braj-mohan-chaturvedi-/