Social Media

The Facebook official page of Honorable Sher Bahadur Deuwa was created on September 19 and his Twitter profile on October 1, 2018, used to post condolences, party press releases, his visits as well and his thoughts on government matters. Being in opposition, his questions on the issues in those periods were shadowed by then PM, KP Sharma Oli. Oli being a good content creator on social media almost shadowed all the questions that were against him. Good orator Oli concentrated more on video content whereas he did not have good verbal delivery, it seems PM Deuwa is more concentrated on Text-Photo content from the very beginning. In his social media profile, he has five videos out of which one video was while he was addressing people in his party program, one for a festival greeting, one enjoying moments at Bandipur, one was a documented video of his visits at vaccine centers after becoming PM and the latest one is appealing people to stay safe and help government solve the pandemic. It seems PM had started with a proper concept of Virtual Persona where he would lessen verbal delivery rather than present his activities on texts to the public. This is understandable with the consistency for more than two years with the writing pattern on various posts on social media. However, all of his posts were handled by mobile phones earlier. This signals that while in opposition, he had not implemented a proper social media team to handle his social online presence, unlike the previous PM who had a “Cyber Army” for the digital world.

Every cause has an effect, actions with reactions, and almost anything with pros comes with cons. This second persona of PM Deuwa does have pros and cons. His strategy with Text-Photo social media will definitely convey all his messages to his people but always lack the personal touch. Whoever may post on social media, the feelings conveying the message won’t equal the social media text posts. There are people who still remember Deuwa in his youth days while he used to cherish the people with his outstanding verbal delivery. Those people will all be waiting for PM Deuwa’s speech. We could see inside of PM himself; he is the same youth who used to deliver super hard. It can be taken into account that he urges people to listen to him in the same way. While people not understand his deliveries, his frustration with the audience is seen through his irritated response. Though he has a hard time conveying the message through verbal delivery, he has never stopped doing so. This has been the reason that has seen him being criticized.

On July 28, he started his official Viber community group and on July 30 he started an Instagram account to be in the loop with the public. With this movement, it suggests that finally, he has a proper team to look after his social media. The strategy of the PM over Instagram is yet to come but he would have thought of Instagram as a photo-video social media. Just like on FB, he could share his daily activities, his administration deliveries, and his plans on Instagram. More Youth are engaged on Instagram so his presentation here should be more focused on youth. He should focus on more energizing content here rather than soft content. With the fast-paced social media team of PM, I hope this all has been taken into account. In time to come, I am pretty sure he will have an official TikTok account as well. He would definitely not leave such social media where virality is quite easier.

Influencer Marketing

Just a few days back, I saw some of my friends who had always been supporters of the PM in NC share some common photos. Those photos narrate “Did you know Sher Bahadur Deuwa had done ……. (Something good) in his tenure?” In a few hours, all of the Deuwa Supporters shared the same in their walls. This raised a question in me, it has been done by some supporters or Deuwa himself is trying to portray himself that way? Then I tracked the source of that post. And to my astonishment, the same post has been posted by some people at nearly the same time on FB and Twitter. And after that, the post has been shared by others. Just two days later, another similar post started spreading the same way from exactly the same people. This signals that the PM has a motto of creating his own sort of “Cyber Army” following the trail of KP Oli but all he has made is a “Cyber Platoon” till date. The effort has been clearly seen but that level of impact has not been felt.

Another campaign just started with a person for Dadeldhura and a lady from Lalitpur who narrated I love Sher Bahadur Deuwa because ….. (her narratives to love Deuwa). And now this is a video campaign with a plan to have it raised by the public. There was a teaser photo released before it was launched so basically the thought process of this campaign in my belief was the same just like “Did you know?” campaign of PM with photo-text only. However, with the video the team exceeded my expectations. Well, the video was good as a lady was talking about women’s rights and the PM’s involvement in bringing those laws. The video was somehow related and, in my opinion, will easily connect to the public. After two videos, CNN Hero 2010 and Former Bagmati Province governor Ms. Anuradha Koirala were spotted on the same campaign. She amplified PM to be of strong personality who can make bold decisions at times. This video was brought on digital media to validate the opinions of the PM with influencers. I believe the strategy would be getting to every part of Nepal and making similar videos so as to connect with every person with a different ethnicity and locality. The person who has fought against the autocratic panchayat, one who had a major role in re-establishing democracy, one who had a major stake in making Nepal a republic, and who has been shaping Nepal politics for more than 5 decades is using state-of-the-art technology to spread his voice. The PM has a mega entrance on social media but the major concern is consistency. The former PM had a “Cyber Army” to manipulate the digital world. Oli’s strategy of  “Herd Information” through his army had somehow worked. But influencing message flow is different whereas manipulation is different. The PM has not started manipulation and he should learn from Oli that manipulation eventually strikes back when reality appears. However, he does have two major tasks in the digital world: one to correct his persona and the other to create impact. He has been working on both side by side. However, his single temper issue could flood this all. There is always an opponent’s “Cyber Army” waiting for the PM’s single mistake. The photo, and video campaign would definitely correct his persona among the general public if it can be spread throughout the digital world. The video from influencers with continuous positivity regarding the PM would definitely improve his persona. He has to be super cautious and continue what is being started in the digital world and rightly done, he will be the most loved PM.