2016 Elections – NPP Struggling to find a Solid Social Media Campaign Plan

New Patriotic Party (NPP) is struggling to find a solid social media campaign to sell the Party and it’s flagbearer going into the 2016 December general elections.

The party has adopted various techniques and strategics that have not yielded the positive results any social media strategist will want for their client.

Some of the strategies has been adopting a Live Facebook broadcast of their flagbearers campaign tour on his facebook page , sharing Videos that portrays pressuring challenges Ghanaians face like the difficulty in using the NHIS Card to secure health care, the prevailing economic challenges which led them to create a Toilet Roll advert, numerous infograms on the increasing cost of living among a host of several others.

This however has created an advantage for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who many experts believe are doing very well on Social Media and constantly making nonsense of the various strategies of the NPP. The NDC as a party alone has numerous unofficial social media strategies being deployed by various active social media accounts like the Green Book, Go Ghana Campaign, the Student For Mahama Campaign, Celebrity endorsement etc.

The NDC’s Transforming Ghana Account on Social Media is arguably one of the best social media technique that has ever been used in a political campaign in Ghana and on the African Continent. The account mirrors the day to day activities of the President and structured to be the Party’s Communication Machinery on Social media providing facts, figures, pictures, videos, audios of the NDC’s achievements in the past four years.

Running alongside the active social media drive is the greenbookghana website which brings to life all the progressive projects being embarked on by the ruling government.

Aided by an effective social media strategy on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the Greenbookghana campaign for instance is an ideal one for any political party.

For once many strategist thought the NPP had found a cure to the rampaging social media antics of the NDC when they launched the Hope Campaign only for a member of the Hope Campaign team, Kwaku Quarshie to say that the NPP can not claim ownership of the Hope Campaign since it’s not for them.

Speaking on Joy Fm’s Super Morning Show on Friday August 12, 2016 Kwaku Quarshie said “The whole thing just went out of control but we are not an NPP group. We are non-partisan. We don’t mention names, party leaders’ names; we are basically throwing the idea to Ghanaians. We were not talking about anybody in particular. We are an issues-based movement and these are issues that affect Ghanaians. We are saying that think through before you vote. If we were NPP we would have put NPP’s name on the video,”

By: Kwame Anshong