Abbott advised to put social media “at the heart of the campaign” in time for election
Opposition coalition leader Tony Abbot is aiming to put social media “at the heart of the campaign” for the forthcoming election which could install him as the country’s new Prime Minister only weeks after Kevin Rudd resumed the role.
Tony Abbott, advised to harness social media
Abott’s official twitter feed (@TonyAbbottMHR) has in excess of 135,000 followers, compared to Kevin Rudd’s 1.2 million.
Former PM Julia Gillard has less than half a million twitter followers.
US President Barack Obama famously harnessed social media support amongst Democratic campaigners in the grassroots. The lesson of engagement via social media is something Abbott - whose analogue-era forays into publicity raising have not always been successful- and his team are keen to replicate.
"I think the main lesson that's come out of the Obama campaign is that digital and data really needs to be at the heart of the campaign rather than an add-on to the campaign messages," said Simeon Duncan, former digital campaign adviser for Tony Abbott, and currently lobbyist at Hill and Knowlton Strategies.
"To really improve the agility of the campaign, to be able to speed up a campaign's response to events, to be able to engage in events as they're breaking, but also to amplify the message as well - to provide the supporters with the content they need to engage others who wouldn't normally be engaged or part of the political process.
"As we know, politicians aren't the most trusted people in the country but we do trust people like ourselves, we trust our friends."
Since opening her twitter account, Julia Gillard and her team have tweeted a total of 2,710 times, whilst Rudd has tweeted almost four times more, with 9,417 tweets. Abbott’s official twitter account has tweeted the least, a total of 1,265 times.