And so, a general election on July 4th. Despite rumours that Rishi Sunak will be in California by the end of the summer, the fight for number ten has to be fought and on multiple fronts. So what should political parties do to gain ground online?
The first thing they should not do is work with influencers in the hope of seeming more palatable to younger voters. Please, I beg of every political strategist, do not attempt to make your candidate look cool. No TikTok dances, no trending audios. Gen Z voters are not stupid.
That’s not to say influencers can’t help political parties communicate their ambitions effectively. Collaborating with creators who have a vested interest in specific issues and allowing a natural conversation to flow would do a lot to humanise future ministers.
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Take Grace Victory, a long-term creator with mainstream broadcast experience who almost died during the Covid 19 pandemic. She has spoken at length about the NHS care which saved her life and gave a talk in 2022 about how intensive care could be improved from a patient perspective. She has also been vocal in her support of nurses’ strike action. Health is a key issue for every party and a creator like Victory would get to the heart of it for the social audience.
Then, what about housing? A big discussion online is just how badly private landlords are treating tenants and the next government would be wise to tackle this issue. Someone who has intimate knowledge of it is Bea Elton – AKA Clean With Bea – who signed a lease on her flat only to discover it had multiple infestations and was covered with mould thanks to poor ventilation. Her landlord refused to help and so she took action, documenting how she deep-cleaned the property.
Now she offers “free cleans” to people in need, posting the process and results online. Unsurprisingly, she has found there is a lack of care in the community for disabled people and a clear link between living conditions and mental health. You won’t get closer to the issue than that.
Creators offer a huge opportunity to political parties if they are willing to have real conversations with talent who have experience of the issues that are effecting the nation. They shouldn’t be seen as a route to making politicians more likeable or popular or relevant, but rather a channel in which they can show up, talk and prove they are willing to listen. Anything else will backfire on all parties and let’s face it, they’ve only got six weeks.
By Sara McCorquodale, CEO and founder of CORQ.
