Does your candidate ‘listen’ to your Facebook status?

THE BATTLE for the nation’s top post is being fought not only in the campaign trail, but also on social media. As the elections draws nearer, social media has become a red-hot battleground for the candidates, and for good reason: Social media shapes opinion and spurs action, possibly all the way to the ballot box.

Yet, social media is also an incredibly noisy place where opinions can easily be drowned by a slew of inconsequential things, including the tantrums of long-forgotten celebrities or memes of the day’s most ridiculous quotes—unless, of course, what you say truly matters and sticks, and possibly triggers more conversation online.

Knowing what to talk about and how to engage people meaningfully, however, is both an art and science that can put brands, or personalities for that matter, at the center of public interest. Believing that social media provides leads on what these issues are, we at EON have created DiG Quakes, which uses social media listening tools to identify such issues.

Using our Social Command Center, a proprietary digital listening and monitoring hub that extracts real-time data utilizing a suite of cutting-edge tools, we looked at the issues that matter most to Filipinos.  From March 2015 to March 2016, we listened in on all public conversations, articles, forums in real time all over the world, regarding the upcoming elections, eager to make heads or tails out of the election-related conversations that have erupted.

The results, compiled in Pulse to Polls, a special edition of DiG Quakes, proved interesting.

For one, the results revealed that contrary to conventional thinking, issues, more than personalities, generated more conversations online. Second, we saw that some issues may be seen in a different light on social media compared to conventional thinking. Third, we found out that there was also a lack of alignment between what candidates actually do and what social media is saying.

Let’s look at some examples:

First is Daang Matuwid, the Philippine government’s main platform that also underpins the campaign of presidential candidate and former Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas. Rightly or wrongly, Daang Matuwid has received more than its fair share of brickbats on various channels. Online, however, 53 out of 100 conversations viewed it in a positive light.

Second is federalism, a hot topic online and a campaign platform of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Historically, any proposal to shift the form of government is met with overwhelming skepticism. However, half of mentions of Duterte’s planned shift to federalism has been positive.

Third is the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) performance. Despite gaps in previous election planning that  earned them the ire of some government officials, social media has, in fact, been praising the Comelec for being ready and transparent.

Fourth is campaign ad spending. Our candidates are spending enormous sums on campaign ads, with Nielsen Philippines estimating this to have already reached P1.6 billion. Yet on social media, these ads are largely received negatively, with over 97 percent trashing the whole practice.

Clearly, candidates have to carefully consider how social media regards their moves and actions if they want to win the trust of people. At the same time, they have to speak out more on issues that matter the most to Filipinos if they would like to leverage on the power of social media en route to the polls.

Unfortunately, none of our candidates seem to have identified the stickiest issues for our citizens, at least based on what we can glean from social media.  Although we’ve heard the candidates talk at length about national security, the economy, and graft and corruption, they have failed to address topics that generate a lot of conversations online, and which we think the candidates should spend more time talking about.

Just how important is it to listen to people’s concerns, you may ask? Last year, the Philippine Trust Index revealed that the top requirement of Filipinos is for their leader to address peace and security issues. Did you ever wonder why Duterte has the most number of mentions on social media (while also showing strongly in all surveys across all economic segments)?

From our online listening, we have identified four important topics that matter a lot to Filipinos.

First is the traffic problem. Social media timelines are full of complaints on the carmaggedon. There was a 62 percent increase in complaints registered between the first and second half of 2015.

However, candidates have not spurred enough conversation on their solutions to the traffic problem. Considering how close this topic is to Filipinos’ hearts, it is critical for the candidates to come up with concrete solutions apart from naming their respective traffic czars.

Second is contractualization. We found that 86 percent of more than 5,000 conversations about contractualization is negative. The practice is closely associated with lack of job security and benefits and low wages. Considering that 44 out of 100 Filipino workers are nonregular employees, this issue is something that candidates have to address—a balancing act of easing public clamor to end the practice while taking note of the interests of big businesses.

Third is health.  According to the World Health Organization, the Philippines has one of the highest growth in terms of HIV incidence. However, only 1 percent of conversations about HIV talks about its prevalence and severity. Definitely, there is a need for the next administration to improve overall understanding of HIV and AIDS.

The fourth issue is tourism. In social media conversations around the world, the Philippines is the third most mentioned possible travel destination in the Asean region, next to Singapore and Thailand. But based on actual 2014 data, the Philippines only ranks sixth among Asean nations in terms of tourist arrivals.

Obviously, our candidates have to focus on converting this consumer intention into actual visits through concrete and actionable tourism programs that go beyond slogans.

Having said all these, let me point out that social media will never exist in a vacuum. It complements, but never replaces, traditional platforms.

But because social media affects the way perceptions and conversations are shaped in traditional platforms, it is important for brands and personalities to navigate social media masterfully in order to steer the conversations about them, correct misinformation, engage followers, and ultimately build trust.

As Filipinos prepare to choose the leader who would take them through the next six years, it pays to listen and know those issues that are closest to their hearts. In the end, a true leader will do so not to hog social media conversations, but address the real needs of the nation.

(The article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or MAP. The author is chair of MAP CEO conference committee, vice chair of MAP health and wellness committee, and co-vice chair of MAP trade, industry and tourism committee. He is the CEO of EON The Stakeholder Relations Group. EON’s Thought Leadership program includes propriety research and digital initiatives, such as the Philippine Trust Index and DiG Quakes. Send your feedbacks to <[email protected]> and <[email protected]>. For previous articles, please visit map.org.ph)