Increasingly, given the importance of social media in today’s world, the activities of liking, commenting and sharing posts can have real effects on policy issues, political campaigns, raising awareness and leveraging support. In this blog, I will explain how to become an activist by supporting your chosen political candidate on popular social media platforms such as socialmedia X, Twitter X and Instagram, and provide you with the best tags so that your posts can go viral!

Liking, commenting and sharing may seem inconsequential when it comes to politics, but they are essential to making sure a political campaign message gets heard. Liking a post makes it visible to others, increases reach, and sends a signal to share. Commenting allows for two-way interaction and conversation, which can make the next round of posts more meaningful, and the candidate more human. Sharing ensures a message is spread to an even larger audience and, importantly, multiplied. Taken together, these actions create a community that can provide critical momentum for a political contender.

Here are the social media specific guidelines for political advocacy.

Based on a platform, here are simple guidelines for supporting a political candidate on Facebook, Twitter X and Instagram:

Twitter X:

Like: Tap the heart icon to like a tweet.
Comment (Reply): Click the comment icon to write a reply tweet.
Retweet: Tap the retweet icon to send the tweet to your followers, then decide among various options: ‘Retweet’, ‘Retweet with comment’ to add your thought.
Tags to Use: #VoteFor[CandidateName], #Election202, #Support[CandidateName], #Retweet, #PoliticalAdvocacy, #MakeADifference

Facebook:

Like: Click the thumb icon below a post to show your support.
Comment: Write good comments or questions to answer the post and involve yourself with other users.
Share: After clicking on ‘Share’, a pop-up window will appear to decide if you want to share it on your timeline or add it to a specific group.
Tags to Use: #VoteFor[CandidateName], #Support[CandidateName], #PoliticalCampaign, #Election2024, #Vote

Instagram:

Like: Double tap on post or click the heart icon to like it.
Comment: Tap the comment icon to write your comment and join in conversations with other users.
Share: Tap on the paper plane icon to share it on your Stories or send it via Direct Message to your friends.
Tags to Use: #VoteFor[CandidateName], #Election2024, #Support[CandidateName], #MakeADifference, #YourVoteMatters

You can also leverage the power of social media to change politics. By liking, commenting on, and sharing a candidate’s messages, you can expand the audience for the candidate’s message and mobilise others to support him or her. Use the information in the tags (and in the text above) to maximise the contribution you make on social media, and shape politics. The future of politics really is shaped by your social media activity.