In a high-pitched election campaign that was fought equally hard on social media, there were times when the Aam Aadmi Party’s Information Technology team was faced with despair, remarks Ankit Lal, a digital media strategist with the party.
“When Union Home Minister Amit Shah shared a video of an abandoned school building with broken ceiling and more pictures of such schools were made viral on social media with the intention of attacking the Delhi government’s education model, AAP’s social media team felt deeply hurt,” Ankit Lal, IT Strategist, AAP.
“Some volunteers had even questioned us, but eventually, Manish Sisodia called out the BJP’s bluff, while pointing out that the school buildings had been abandoned. After this, we spread the truth on all social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, along with information of the good work done by our party. Ultimately, the BJP’s strategy did not work.”Ankit Lal, IT Strategist, AAP
According to Lal, this was the most pivotal moment for the team during the entire campaign.
No Party Can Ignore Social Media in Delhi
While the AAP has secured a spectacular victory in Delhi, winning 62 out of 70 seats, it’s not the only accolade it has won this time. Along with seats, the party, it seems, has also won the hearts of social media users for its innovate social media strategy.
From creating spoofs of old commercials to making memes out of popular Bollywood movies to putting out strong speeches delivered by its leaders, the IT team comprising a large chunk of millennial, worked round the clock to churn out quirky content, while also maintaining an eye on social media chatter.
But social media is not just a strong weapon, but can also mount a big challenge, feels Lal.
“No party can afford to ignore social media in a space like Delhi, where a large chuck of voters have access to the internet and are active on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Apart from AAP workers, ordinary users too share our content, and have the potential of making them viral.”Ankit Lal
While the party’s social media team is active throughout the year, it’s during elections that it adopts the role of a poll warrior.
The Who’s Who of AAP’s IT Team
Claiming that the AAP had initiated the active use of humour and memes on social media ahead of elections, Lal says that the first such opportunity was provided to it on a platter by the BJP’s East-Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir. The former cricketer-turned-politician was caught devouring jalebis in Indore with former cricketers, while skipping a parliamentary standing committee meeting on pollution in Delhi.
“We also focused on BJP Delhi President Manoj Tiwari. We feel that he is a good-natured human being and we also like his songs.”Ankit Lal
According to Ankit, there are three broad categories of people in the party’s social media team.
- Full-time members who work at the AAP office (20)
- Full-time members working outside Delhi (30-40)
- Part-time members working on ideation (200)
These teams are managed through WhatsApp groups with the help of different team heads, says Lal.
- Abhijeet Dipake - Handles party’s Twitter handle and real-time memes. He is presently pursuing Journalism in Pune.
- Pulkit Sharma - Responsible for the party’s engagement with users on Facebook. An engineer by profession, Sharma has been associated with AAP for over four years.
- Priyanka Chauhan - A graphic designer by profession, she co-ordinates with the party’s online volunteers.
- Mitesh Parmar - Hailing from Gujarat, Parmar, who’s a stock-broker, works with Chauhan. During elections, he works full-time with AAP.
- Kedar Jaydev-Responsible for the party’s video team, he owns a production house in Mumbai.
- Hitesh Pardesi - Having headed Filter Copy and AIB’s content team, he now looks after the overall content for AAP.
- Vivek Gupta - Looks after online advertisement for AAP and had joined the party full-time in November last year.
Ankit’s Only Advice to Aspirants
Much like the popular adage “All streets lead to Rome,” all things social media in the AAP lead to Mr Lal himself. Having completed engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lal has been associated with Arvind Kejriwal since 2011. But this doesn’t mean that his role hasn’t changed. “Every year, the form of our work changes and we do new things,” he said.
Ankit says that as the party’s social media head, he is responsible not only for all the platforms of the party, but also for his own personal handle and that he tweets or posts very thoughtfully.
Ankit says that the top leadership in the party, that is, Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, also take feedback from the team, before sharing pictures of themselves.
“When you hold a responsible post, you cannot release any statistics or post or tweet or video without verifying. In the era of fake news, cross-checking is very important to maintain one’s credibility on social media. For example, whenever Manish Sisodia receives a picture of a school or any other picture, he asks the team to cross-check first.Ankit Lal
For those looking to join the social media team of any party, Ankit has one crucial advice. “This work happens behind the scenes, where one operates out of an office. Whenever a new member comes to my team, I ask him that if he wants to contest elections within 10 years, then this place is not for him or her and that they must work on the ground.”
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