¹Rayns Keneth Sabalboro Ampon,²Jessada Salathong

^1,2Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

DOI : https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i7-32

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ABSTRACT

Social media campaign has been changing the landscape of elections globally. In the 2022 Philippine electoral campaigns; massive number of messages, stories, and political marketing tactics online were used to persuade the electorate. Hence, the recent election has been the most social media-active and engaging campaign in the country’s democratic history. This paper evaluates the political message strategies of the two leading presidential bets, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Leni Robredo, who utilized social media heavily and served as their campaign battleground. Using a Qualitative Content Analysis of their posts and audience contents, selected materials were coded and analyzed. The study found Marcos to appeal to themes revolving around the concerns of the masses like agriculture and basic commodities. In contrast, Robredo appeared to be the more direct in addressing the policy needed to change the system of government to improve the services for everyone. This further argues that social media can persuade the electorate and involve them in co-creating content for them; thus, using an adequate platform for a specific message, either policy or non-policy related, should be planned strategically.

KEYWORDS:

Electoral Campaign, Social Media, Philippine Elections, Qualitative Study, Content Analysis

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VOlUME 06 ISSUE 07 JULY 2023