Mobilizing Effects of Online Campaigning

Mobilizing Effects of Online Campaigning – The Swiss CaseMarianne Fraefel – Cedem, Krems, 03.05.2012

2

Introduction

Campaign management

Communication strategies Political enagement

Voluntary enagement

Party internal communication

E-campaigning

Supply Demand

Type of party

Suppo

rter g

roup

sCantonal elections 2009/2010 3 cantons 5 parties

inform / mobilize

Channels

websitessocial media

Image: twin72.typepad.com

4

Swiss cantonal parties

Semi direct democratic political system with pronounced federal structures

- Competences and right of self-determination of Swiss cantons are far-reaching

- Campaigning in elections and popular votes (up to 4 times a year)

Decentralised structure of Swiss party system

- Large number of small and heterogeneous party units at local level

- Cantonal and local parties contribute to establishing linkage to party base

Cantonal political parties as organizations

- Mainly self-financing through member fees and donations

- Limited budgets & limited paid staff

- Reliance on voluntary work

- Approximately 4% of Swiss residents active in political parties (Freiwilligen-Monitor 2010)

- Around ¼ of party members engage themselves as volunteers (Freiwilligen-Monitor 2007)

5

Methodology

Three perspectives and methods

1. Semi-structured interviews: 25 campaign managers

2. Content analysis: party websites

cantonal parties: 15, local parties: 27, cantonal youth sections:13

3. Survey: party base

distributed: 9472, response: 1989, considered: 1920

female: 31%, male: 69% / candidates: 14%, non-candidates: 86%

age:

below 20

20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 over 800%

10%

20%

30%

participants in survey (n=1920)

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Functions and design of party internal communication

Functions

- content-oriented vs. activity-oriented mobilization

Communicative strategies and target groups

Relate to parties’ expectations of supporter base (distribution of tasks)

Relate to assumed engagement of supporter base (necessity of mobilization)

Design of internal campaign communication

Broad range of communication channels

Target-specific communication towards younger voters

Information Supporter base (plus electorate at large)

Mobilization Supporter base: voting for party / viral campaigning

Activists: candidature, party stands, flyers etc

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Supply side of e-campaigning

Party websites

Heterogeneous use and design

- Differences relate to size and type of party unit

Focus on Information

Opportunities are not fully exploited

- Continuous communication on demand

- Multimedia design

- Participation

- Generating resources (members, donations)

- Information on campaign and candidates

- Mobilizing volunteer campaigners

- Popular votes: 36% signature lists (similar across types of party units)

- Elections: 38% campaigning material (mainly cantonal parties)

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Supply side of e-campaigning

Social Media

Usage

- Confined to Facebook and different video platforms

- Presence on social networks differs across types of party units

- mainly cantonal and youth parties

- relates to resources (know how, staff/time)

- Experimental usage and restricted interaction

- Candidates’ presence is not systematically promoted

Assessment by campaign managers

- Heterogeneous and tentative

- Based on assumptions and personal experience

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Demand side of e-campaigning

Communicative preferences of the supporter base

- Traditional channels and mediated communication are highly appreciated

- Acceptance of online communication diminishes with age

- Differences between social media and other online communication channels

%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

-2930-4445-5960+

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Demand side of e-campaigning

Sources of information on elections

- Many channels are equally important for all age groups

- Party websites are more important to the younger supporter base

- Supporter base at large considers a “professional” Internet presence as important, irrespective of personal usage

party office n=1790

party stand party event

n=1790

local newspaper

n=1790

web site n=1788

information via mail n=1790

friends and family

n=1790

media in general n=1332

other%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

-2930-4445-5960+

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Demand side of e-campaigning

Party websites

Usage

- More than half of the members and supporters use party websites at least once a year

- The percentage of (regular) users is clearly bigger among the younger supporter base.

Mobilization

otherorder party press

donation informationblog / discussion forum

party intranetvideo- / audio partyorder e-newsletter

download / disseminate campaign materialdownload signature lists

information on party representativescontact information

calendar party eventsparty information in general

information on elections and popular votes

3%

4%

4%

5%

5%

6%

11%

16%

30%

42%

45%

60%

68%

81%

type of usage n=1365

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Demand side of e-campaigning

Social Media

Connectivity

- Parties do not necessarily pursue a social media strategy

- Mismatch between demand and supply side of communication

- Overall demand for contact via social media is rather small (n=245)

ChannelSupplycontact via channel

Demandnot at all / rather not rather / very much

Party pressno 31% 6%

yes 69% 94%

E-newsletterno 73% 29%

yes 27% 71%

Social Mediano 99% 66%

yes 1% 34%

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Demand side of e-campaigning

Social Media

Usage

- Many members and supporters are not & cannot be reached through this channel

- 23% of the surveyed persons have at least one profile in a social network

Mobilization

Supporter base uses social networks to engage themselves in e-campaigning (44%)

Candidates use social networks in the context of their party affiliation more actively

coordination dates / events

exchange with other members and supporters

political persusasion - elections and popular votes

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

7%

19%

16%

16%

32%

56%

candidatesnon-candidates

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Relevance of e-Campaigning

Voluntary Campaigning

Active volunteers among supporter base

- Relevance of e-campaigning in relation to other campaigning activities

- Motivation

- Parties‘ general appeals to become active in campaigning work as a driver

- Personal invitations to engage in certain activies work as strong driver (including e-campaigning)

Campaigning activity% of candidatesn=259

% of non-candidatesn=1625

Campaigning committee, action group 51% 8%

Presence at party stand 76% 13%

Distributing posters, flyers 77% 24%

Discussions with family, friends 78% 57%

Online campaigning 41% 6%

Donating for campaign 52% 38%

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Relevance of e-Campaigning

Voluntary Campaigning

Potential volunteers among supporter base

- 1/3 of inactive members and supporters can potentially be mobilized

- Motivation / Conditions- Being personally addressed by party (48%)

- Activities in a limited time frame / with little efforts (49%)

- activity performed from home (22%)

- being provided with campaigning material (14%)

- Affordances could be met by using ICT in a target and goal oriented way

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Mobilizing effects of e-Campaigning

Content-oriented mobilization

- Exploitation of opportunities in e-campaigning relates to size and type of party units

- Parties lack knowledge on communicative preferences of their supporter base

- Parties and supporter base both make use of a broad range of communication channels

- Communicative preferences and behaviour differ across age groups

- Specific online communication channels are clearly more important to younger supporters

Activity-oriented mobilization

Addressing volunteer campaigners adequately is important for inciting engagement

Parties’ support for voluntary e-campaigning is limited

In relation to other voluntary campaign activities, e-campaigning plays a subordinate role

There is an interest for instruments that allow supporters to become active as multipliers

Some supporter groups engage themselves in e-campaigning more extensively

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Concluding remarks

Parties need to stay tuned to their supporters

- Trends towards eroding party bases and increase in volatile voters

Communicative demands are diversified

- Parties need to find ways to address voters and support their volunteers adequately with limited resources

Focus on already active members and supporters

- Communicative affordances may differ with view to the electorate at large

- Voluntary e-campaigners may contribute to integrating new supporters communicatively

What next?

- ICT may lead to reassessing prevalent concepts of membership and voluntary engagement

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Thanks for your attention

Contact

Marianne Fraefel

Berner Fachhochschule Wirtschaft

Morgartenstrasse 2a, Postfach 305

CH-3000 Bern 22

[email protected]

www.e-government.bfh.ch