PETALING JAYA: With election campaigns affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, candidates and political parties need to increase and diversify their use of digital media channels to reach out to voters ahead of the next general election, say political analysts.

       The Melaka state election on Saturday, for example, has a detailed list of no-nos that include campaigning via physical ceramah and house visits.

       The news media – print, online, TV and radio – remains a major platform for campaigning due to their extensive reach, and authorities have also encouraged candidates to use digital media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, WeChat, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Telegram.

       "Political conversations are becoming more difficult to monitor when there are so many channels competing for people's attentions.

       "This means that there will be more pressure on politicians to diversify their channels to spread their campaign messages and activities on the ground,” said Ahmed Kamal Nava, founder of non-partisan research firm Politweet.

       He said politicians need to make greater use of digital media as the 15th general election is expected to happen sometime next year.

       WhatsApp messages and Facebook posts are among the most effective ways that candidates can use to get their message out, but they also need to use other channels.

       "Different people prioritise different mediums, so to get maximum exposure, you need to target all of them,” he added.

       To reach the youngest generation of voters, Ahmed Kamal suggested that politicians include platforms especially popular with the younger set, such as TikTok.

       Targeting the young will be an important consideration since the upcoming 15th general election is expected to mark the debut of 18- to 20-year-old first-time voters.

       Ahmed Kamal cited a tweet by Barisan Nasional's Merlimau candidate Dr Akmal Salleh on Nov 8 that contained a TikTok video, as an example.

       The post has been retweeted by more than 1,000 people, with the TikTok video getting more than 150,000 views.

       The Star’s analysis of the Facebook pages or profiles of the Melaka election’s 112 election candidates found that 90% of them had active profiles.

       About half of the candidates had already been frequently sharing either personal or political posts prior to contesting in the state election.

       Others were either occasionally or recently active, including 36 new profiles that were only created close to the Nov 8 nomination day.

       Candidates are trying their best to make use of their platforms to share videos and posters about their manifestos, activities and achievements, with one candidate sharing more than 30 posts a day.

       To ensure their physical connection with locals are visible to followers, candidates often share their visits to local coffeeshops and morning markets, their strolls around villages with motorbikes or hikes where they met locals.

       With more than 100,000 followers each, Barisan's candidate for the Rim state seat Datuk Khaidhirah Abu Zahar and former Melaka chief minister Adly Zahari from Pakatan Harapan top the list of candidates with the greatest number of followers.

       While the number of friends on Facebook for Umno Youth chief Fairul Nizam Roslan was not publicly visible, the Barisan candidate for Asahan had the greatest number of posts within a week, with 123 posts on Facebook between Nov 6 and Nov 12.

       There are many digital platforms for a candidate to choose from, but the big question is whether popularity on these channels will translate to votes.

       Ahmed Kamal said his analysis of national social media conversations related to the Melaka election shows pro-Pakatan Harapan tweets being among the most popular content for the #PRNMelaka and #MelakaMemilih Twitter hashtags.

       "However, they don't seem to be getting enough traction with users in Melaka.”

       He said this could be an issue for Pakatan as his analysis of the GE14 election results shows that Pakatan's Malay supporters are from the 21- to 40-year-old age group.

       "Low interest from Malays, as seen through Twitter, could translate to a low turnout,” he added.

       Director of the Centre of Media and Information Warfare Studies at UiTM Shah Alam, Dr Suhaimee Saahar, said the changing reality of political campaigning will see new and creative ways where political parties “market” or “sell” their candidates online.

       "This will involve new media, marketing strategies and designing skills.

       "On the politician or party side, we will discover various strategies that should have been used all this while,” he added.

       Suhaimee said political candidates need to find creative ways to penetrate the hearts and minds of voters of all ages without resorting to libellous attacks on their opponents.

       "Appeal to them with your vision and mission. Show or prove that you care about them both online and on the ground,” he said.