Vijay C Roy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 10
With elections round the corner and candidates across party lines focusing more on social media to reach out to masses, there has been a significant increase in demand for social media handlers, content writers, videographers, video editors, data collectors and graphic designers.
In 2014 General Election, around 800 candidates from North and around 8,200 candidates from across the country contested the polls. On an average, 5-10 social media experts are needed to handle social media accounts such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and Google of a particular candidate.
Nationally, over 40% of the population is on social media. According to experts, social media helps politicians to understand voters better, which is otherwise not possible through other mediums such as TV and print media.
“Politicians across the party lines and even Independents are focusing more on social media this time to reach out to youth. This has generated demand for social media professionals across the region. We have also hired social media executives, including graphic designers and video editors, to serve the regional as well as national clients,” said DesignBoxed founder Naresh Arora.
The Mohali-based firm is a digital campaign management firm and handling multiple political campaigns. Recently, it has been chosen by the Congress to handle its digital marketing and social media campaigns.
The Northern region comprising Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir has 34 Lok Sabha seats. Keeping in mind the trend of last Lok Sabha elections, if we consider each candidate to hire around 5-10 social media professionals, there is a demand for 4,000-8,000 professionals.
According to social media experts, a candidate has an option to hire an agency and assign the job or form a team of professionals to handle his or her social media account. Major political parties in many states have appointed social media “warriors” to reach out to the public on digital platforms.
“There has been a sudden spurt in demand for social media professionals. At least five people are needed to run a campaign of a particular candidate. At times, candidates also seek updating their posts 24x7 and the demand for manpower goes up in such cases,” said Deepika Bahri, CEO, Antraajaal. Her firm is handling social media for certain candidates. However, she wishes not to name the candidates because of the non-disclosure agreement.
According to experts, in 2014 General Election, the role played by the social media was limited, but things have changed significantly now. According to estimates, contesting candidates across the party lines as well as Independents are likely to spend 80% of their advertisement budget on social media.
Though there is an opportunity for professionals, the industry is facing shortage of social media professionals in certain profiles.
“The Northern region (except NCR) doesn’t have influx of industries compared to other regions. To get requisite skills in a particular area here is a difficult task. For example, we are facing shortage of graphic designers in regional languages such as Punjabi and Hindi,” said Deepika.
Social media ‘warriors’
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Profiles in demand: Social media handlers, content writers, videographers, video editors, data collectors, graphic designers
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Requirement per candidate: 5-10 persons
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Hirers: Digital campaign management firms, politicians
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2uZynNC
via Today’s News Headlines
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