A few days ago, while having a meeting with one of our clients, someone mentioned the figure of Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard as a success story on social networks, mainly on Tiktok. Later, while I was on Linkedin, the same thing happened: some people even made jokes related to the president’s presence on networks: “I would vote for him, simply because he is the cool guy who has TikTok.”
It is no secret that Marcelo has already started his candidacy for the presidency of the next six-year term… at least in digital.
The use of social networks in politics is something as new as the digital age. Since 2008, with Obama’s campaign for the Presidency of the United States, world political communication has changed, since he was the first politician to use social networks as a spearhead to spread his message. It is estimated that, simply on YouTube, it achieved more than 15 million views in a short time. The rest is history.
In Mexico, the first massive campaign in the digital world took place in the 2012 elections. One of the first signs of the power of the people in social media was the #YoSoy132 movement that helped consecrate the voice of the youngest, thus as of the opposition during that year.
Currently digital media play, today more than ever, a primary role in elections, not only in Mexico, but throughout the world.
Before Marcelo Ebrard, there was another similar case in our country: The current Governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García, who took advantage of the use and virality of social networks so that people knew him, before launching his candidacy. How did he do it? Through the use of networks: his controversial comments, the virality that he generated with them, in addition to the impulse from his wife, the influencer Mariana Rodríguez. In marketing terms, he generated a Word of mouth [casi] Free thanks to Instagram. Those actions were planned, with the sole objective of making themselves known.
The same happens with Marcelo Ebrard: for a few months he took the tiktok world off guard, generating virality, awareness of his personal brand and, above all, word of mouth. People watch him, watch him privately, connect and interact with him, share videos of him. The communication within his profile on TikTok is focused on generating a massive reach. He doesn’t give advice: he doesn’t teach, he doesn’t educate: he just jumps on the trends, appears with various influencers, laughs at himself and even gives his opinion on his favorite BTS song. Virtually all the videos he posts on the platform are viral. He connects with the public in a fortuitous way. The magic word at this point is: “connect with the public”.
I believe that the way in which the Chancellor is taking advantage of the inertia of the networks is a monumental success, but above all: he is achieving his first objective, which is to generate a massive reach so that they know and recognize him, in addition to reaching a completely different public to other digital channels. This shows a great strategy behind it with an eye to being a candidate in the next few years: but, when that time comes, he will arrive with an established digital presence and, perhaps, a real advantage in real-world polls.
At the moment, how do we know who is winning in the polls? Because the numbers don’t lie. Ebrard has 409,000 followers on TikTok, compared to 218,000 for Sheinbaum. He has 5.1 million likes, vs. the 2.1 million of the head of government, but above all, he has positioned his personal brand as someone with fresh ideas and who connects very well with the digital public.
It’s quite an achievement, at this point, that the positive sentiment is soaring. There is no negative confrontation in the comments. Not, at least, like other politicians. His communication is not based on dividing, but on having a clear objective: the viralization of his image. This is something that differentiates him, for example, from Samuel García, who went viral at the expense of not-so-favorable comments that generated discussion. Marcelo Ebrard, on the other hand, does it with very fun, trending content. This, by itself, seems to me to be a great advantage for the sake of the presidential elections.
I believe that the way in which the Chancellor is taking advantage of the inertia of the networks is a monumental success, but above all: he is achieving his first objective, which is to generate a massive reach so that they know and recognize him, in addition to reaching a completely different public to other digital channels. This shows a great strategy behind with a view to being a candidate in the next few years: but, when that time is, he will arrive with an established digital presence and, perhaps, with a real advantage in the polls of the offline world.
At the moment he is leading the polls… at least in the digital world.
We read each other back.