Election Digital Campaign: Background of a Content Team Member

In continuation of the series, “Building a Political Digital Campaign team in India“, this post will focus on what qualities a content writer would need to be part of an election digital campaign team. You will need to be a couple of notches above the usual writers to make an impact.

I strongly believe a team should be a mix of young (below 35?) and experienced people (since I don’t qualify with the former requirement!).

1. Should know about the political history of major parties.
2. Should have knowledge of Policy research (past, present) and content writing.
3. Along with local policies, need to know the local sentiments. You should know people likes & dislikes.
4. Should have a command in at least one language (communication, writing).
5. Must be hungry to learn on an everyday basis.
6. Must be cool-headed as the workspace can be very tough, toxic (tempers flying) as election day comes near.
7. Having a leaning towards the party/politician helps as you will want YOUR party to win.
8. Ability to package the content in a consume-able form (long form article, excerpts for social media sharing).
9. Grassroots knowledge would be a great advantage for both urban and rural areas, as 56-72% of India is rural areas.
10. Should be well updated about the political happenings and current affairs, by smartly analysing Print Media, Electronic Media.
11. Need to work as an opposition watch-dog.
12. Should be able to decide whom to target and when to target (applicable to both leaders and voters).
13. You need to hijack the opposition campaign with innovative campaign methods. The timing of content placement plays a major role.

How to Get Grass Root Knowledge

It is very important for the team to be in touch with ground realities. For e.g., if you are portraying the roads in the city are of international standard but in reality, it is a canvas of potholes, doesn’t help, isn’t it?

If you are talking about the education system in rural areas, you got to be familiar with what is the real scene out there.

Knowledge of grassroots can be obtained from,

• Media (Print & Electronic)
• Market Research (Qualitative & Quantitative)
• Party cadre on ground
• Local leaders of the party

If you want to stand out in your team, be curious & hungry to get information, preferably detailed information. This applies to all fields, not just for political campaign work. I have seen many have a superficial knowledge of the political developments, this works for tweeting (provided it is not fake news), but it is better to have a deeper understanding.

Regional Language Writers Have a Bright Future

Writers in regional language have a huge opportunity these days. Political parties recognize the importance of language media as it is consumed in the interior parts of the state. If you can write, speak fluently in a regional language I strongly believe you have a bright future in this space.

Tools For Content Writers

There are several tools out there designed for content writers. The key is to collaborate with the team in the war room. Tools that are usually used by writers are – Gmail, Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, Grammarly (English only), Google Calendar (to remind you that deadline is nearer than what you assumed), basic SEO knowledge.

Other posts in this series are,

• How to Get Facts & Figures For An Election Digital Campaign
• Books, Blogs, Courses To Prepare For An Election Digital Campaign
• Elections Market Survey & Digital Campaign Providers in India
• How to exploit the potential of Indian Languages in an Election Digital Campaign

Also see,

• False Narrative is more dangerous than Fake News
• Social Media has fueled the reach of Fake News