This general election has been punctuated by a series of viral moments that have derailed the carefully laid plans of parties and candidates. As the clips of Tuesday night’s debate are edited and assembled, now is a good time to look back on a digital campaign to date, and assess whether any of the money, time and creativity invested have paid off.
Fine Gael’s big spend
Fine Gael’s approach to its digital campaign seems to be to “flood the zone”. It has spent more than any other party on social media ads, paying about €135,000 to Meta platforms, plus almost €20,000 to Google in the first three weeks of November.
On TikTok, which does not accept paid political ads, Taoiseach Simon Harris has uploaded more than 60 videos since the dissolution of the Dáil 2½ weeks ago. Not even LinkedIn has been spared the new energy; Harris uploaded 45 videos to the professional networking platforms since calling the election.
While Fine Gael launched its digital campaign with a series of ads introducing candidates, it soon shifted to canvassing montages and media clips, putting all its digital eggs in the Harris basket. This is a decision the party now appears to be rethinking.
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The cash injection has not allowed it to control an online narrative driven by viral moments. The contrast between the orchestrated and the organic is stark. On Friday night, Harris posted a campaign montage TikTok video entitled Kanturk. It has a jaunty beat and smiling clips of him shaking hands and holding a pint. The text declares that his visit to the town had “festive spirit and a lot of energy”. That video garnered about 8,000 views. By Monday evening, RTÉ was reporting that the viral video of the Taoiseach’s now infamous Kanturk exchange with Charlotte Fallon had been viewed eight million times.
Other moments have circulated widely too, including a clip of a tetchy exchange with a vendor outside the Aviva Stadium. The original footage is approaching 780,000 views on TikTok, and like other viral moments, has been remixed across platforms. The CCTV footage of Louth candidate John McGahon in a brawl has also been used by content creators, some using it to accuse the party of “nepotism”. That clip is even being used in Facebook ads by Josiah Burke, brother of Enoch Burke, juxtaposing footage of the assault with McGahon at Pride events.
Fianna Fáil on the attack
Fianna Fáil has spent almost €95,000 in the same period on Meta, plus another €5,500 on Google. Its campaign spending has been much more decentralised than Fine Gael, with individual candidates pushing their own content, and just a third of ads coming from HQ.
While much has been made of Fine Gael’s piggy bank attack ad, Fianna Fáil has been on the attack too. One, on Facebook, features Micheál Martin’s questioning of Mary Lou McDonald at last week’s debate. Another, on YouTube, attacks Sinn Féin for proposing to cut support to first-time buyers. The party has opted to exclude people in Dublin from being shown that ad, despite it featuring Dublin TD and candidate Darragh O’Brien.
Overall Fianna Fáil has run a steady online campaign, which polling suggests is not hurting the party’s chances. One notable success has been a video of Martin’s son talking through what it was like growing up with the politician. While distributed as an ad, the team has stated that the video is getting organic reach, or being shared by voters, the big prize in political campaigning.
Sinn Féin’s silence
Bucking a year-long trend of being the biggest spender online, Sinn Féin did not prioritise a paid digital campaign in the initial stages of this election. With just €32,000 of Meta ads, and next to nothing on Google, it was outspent by the Labour Party in November. There are signs that the campaign is ramping up for the last week of the campaign, though new paid content is coming from candidates, not HQ. This is in stark contrast to the June elections when Sinn Féin ran a highly centralised and expensive campaign, with a lot of focus on McDonald.
Whether it is funding issues, a change in strategy or simply that it has been holding back for a final splurge in the last days of campaigning, this underinvestment doesn’t appear to have hurt it in polling. Perhaps it feels that the year-long drumbeat of paid constant attacking the Government and positioning it as the only alternative is paying off; the party spent over €290,000 in Meta ads in the year to October 31st, after all.
Smaller parties
Of the smaller parties, Labour has spent the most on digital so far, with about €60,000 on Meta platforms. It is focusing most resources on candidates in key seats, backing campaigns in Dublin South Central and Dublin Central.
The Social Democrats have spent close to what Sinn Féin has on Meta, at €27,000 so far, with newer candidates such as Sinéad Gibney and Rory Hearne accounting for more of that spend than the existing TDs. The party benefits from having social media-savvy Holly Cairns as leader. Some analysts have identified her as the most “engaged” party leader on Instagram.
Of the smaller, newer parties and groupings, the Irish Freedom Party is putting most cash behind its digital campaign. It recently launched a series of Meta and YouTube ads, and currently ranks as third biggest spending on Google, now spending €1,000 a day.
We won’t know the true impact of this campaign, on and offline, until the electorate delivers its verdict on Friday. But one thing is already clear: no amount of money can crowd out the power of a viral moment.
Liz Carolan works on democracy and technology issues, and writes at TheBriefing.ie
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