50 lakh WhatsApp groups and transmission anywhere in 12 minutes — What BJP is doing on social media for 2024

The ruling party is dominating the digital space this election season, too, but with a few change.

New Delhi: Continuing its prowess in electoral messaging digitally in the 2014 and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is dominating the digital space this election season, too, but with a few changes. WhatsApp and Twitter today are making way for shorter visual content, influencers call the shots and the party is diverting resources to Instagram and YouTube. The aim, leaders involved in the process, is to drive engagement. 

Despite the changing patterns, WhatsApp continues to be the mainstay for poll time messaging. Currently, as per leaders of the party privy to the process, the party’s IT Cell manages over 50 lakh WhatsApp groups to disseminate poll-related information. The wing has also perfected a backend system where dissemination from Delhi to any remote place across the country takes only 12 minutes, down from 40 minutes a few years ago. The aim, those involved said, is to bring this down to 5 minutes in the near future. 

Consumption patterns have changed over the time. Till the 2019 elections, FaceBook (now Meta) used to be the biggest consumer of the ad budget of the party; it no longer is. While Google still continues to own a chunk of the resources, Instagram reels and YouTube shorts are where now money is being spent. “Longform videos are no longer watched; and short videos are made to weave in trending memes and music. The content is designed to mirror people’s preferences,” says Nikhil Srivastava of the party’s IT Cell. 

On Saturday, for instance, the party ran a reel on instagram where Opposition leaders were seen as profiles of a dating app,  which were being swiped left on. A lot of the content also has comparative data, since many on social media are young users. To reach out to young and first time voters, while the party’s youth wings have carried out programmes and campaigns, the messaging on social media has a then-and-now on several sectors.

While WhatsApp is the platform where most of the resources are diverted, Meta’s changing rules where mass messaging is discouraged makes it difficult to ascertain if the message has reached the mass or not. “There is no way of knowing if the end user has read the message or not,” Srivastava adds. Within the party, the focus is now on engagement. “We are no longer just reaching out, the aim is to drive content.”  

This change has now brought in influencers in the picture. Celebrities are no longer needed in the content, if an influencer has followers and viral native content, then they are engaged for regional videos. For instance, PM Modi was seen in a video with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya in October last year and union minister Smriti Irani was in a video with Kamya Punjabi recently. The MyGov portal also instituted an influencer award this year where influencers like Ranveer Allahabadia were felicitated by PM Modi. 

With the provision of reaching out to Instagram users via sponsored ads, the visual platform is making its presence felt in electoral messaging. Broadcast channels, too, are coming in handy. An Instagram broadcast channel the party launched two days ago already has more than 2 lakh subscribers, leaders said.

THE NUMBERS

7.5 million

BJP handle's followers on Instagram

85 million 

Modi handle's followers on Instagram 

21.6 million

BJP handle's followers on X

96.5 million 

Modi handle's followers on X 

Rs 1.77 crore

BJP main handle's ad spent on Meta in the past 30 days

Rs 30 crore 

BJP's total ad spent on Google ads between February 1 till March 4