Rustem has a supermarket in Barcelona and 700,000 followers on TikTok. Ada Colau invited him to her own account and asked him about his personal story: the video in which he explains how he arrived in Spain from Pakistan is one of the most viewed on his TikTok profile. It is one of the examples of how some politicians and the electoral campaign have entered this social network, the favorite of the youngest.
TikTok, with fresh ways of communicating and with potentially viral content, in addition to having a prominent part of the young audience, offers politicians a window of opportunity. In Barcelona, Colau tops the ranking of followers and views, ahead of Eva Parera, from Valents. In the Community of Madrid, the most successful profiles are that of Mónica García, from Més Madrid; that of the regional PP, and that of Alejandra Jacinto, from Podemos.
The rise of this network among political leaders is explained by the "fragmentation of socialization spaces", so that it opts for "specific networks in which some of the public" are looking, such as young people, explains the political scientist Pablo Simón. However, the professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid warns that it is a "simplistic view" to believe that young people will be attracted by the simple fact of being present. Xavier Tomàs, a political consultant specializing in digital communication, agrees.
Answers to users' questions, compilations of everyday moments, summaries of events or visits, interventions in the media or in legislative chambers, everyday scenes of a personal nature... These are some of the contents that candidates and parties spread on TikTok . They are mostly short clips with a lot of rhythm, ephemeral shots, background music and subtitles. And in order to achieve success, a good use of hashtags and choosing the geolocation of the video well is required, explains Tomàs.
Colau began his foray into TikTok in September 2022. He did it after leaving Twitter and having to gain a presence on some other network and to reach "young people and people disenchanted with politics or who are not informed through from the media", explain from their communication team. Since then, the mayor has attracted 31,000 followers. Their content is varied, but the hits have undoubtedly been the collaborations with influencers or other public figures such as Sílvia Abril or Marc Giró. Featured are viral clips with over 100,000 or 200,000 views. An example, already mentioned, is the video with Rustem.
For the Barcelona en Comú candidate, this is a way to reach people who do not follow her or who are not connected to politics, sources in her communications office acknowledge. Absolute success culminates when it is the influencers who spread their own content, as happened with Rustem (he published a video in which the mayoress congratulated Ramadan) or with streamers and Gerard Romero.
Another common type of content is talking to the camera explaining a proposal or how the campaign day went. We see it in profiles such as those of the candidates for the presidency of the Community of Madrid Mónica García, Alejandra Jacinto and Juan Lobato. The spokesperson for Més Madrid has 118,400 followers, while the leader of Podemos has 34,000. The socialist candidate, for his part, has much less notoriety (1,300 followers).
One of the reasons for these differences is the time of entry to the network: while García started in October and with regular activity, Lobato did it at the end of February and with more specific content during the first weeks . Miquel Pellicer, director of digital communication at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, believes that for a social media strategy to be successful it must be "long-term". "To do it only in the campaign and pre-campaign, don't do it", he says.
Beyond wanting to convey his political ideology, there is an intention on the part of the candidate to present himself as another citizen. Walking down the street, attending a celebration or recommending books are some of the actions with which leaders try to show themselves more humanized. Simón attributes this to a context in which private life is exhibited and to the "personalization of politics". That is to say, the figure of the politician has more and more weight compared to the acronyms and, therefore, showing himself "normal" is a way to "generate a favorable feeling" towards his political choice. "When people see a candidate in a personal context, their defenses go down," sums up the political scientist.
Showing the most personal face on TikTok has risks, such as falling into the mistake of creating inappropriate content for the candidate, experts warn. The consultant Xavier Tomàs assures that "it makes no sense to do something strange and far from the character of the politician". “They must be genuine and as natural as possible; they don't have to do challenges that don't belong to them", stresses Miquel Pellicer.
Who seems to dominate the TikTok records more is the extreme right, on the one hand, and several left-wing parties, on the other. Vox has more than 142,000 followers on the account for all of Spain. Pablo Simón attributes this dominance to the fact that "one is more embedded in those media that are predominant when the party emerges".
The generational component identified by Pablo Simón also serves relatively new parties such as Més Madrid or Barcelona en Comú. Both formations generate very viral content. This can be explained, in part, by how they "strengthen the community", says Miquel Pellicer. That is, how they involve spheres (beyond the party) of followers and influencers.
Not all politicians and parties devote a certain amount of time and resources to TikTok, but it is already a consolidated tool and it can be seen that it can go even further in the coming months and in future electoral disputes. The political battle, therefore, will also be fought on this social network.
