How Digital Campaigning is Shaping Elections - from TikTok to AI

The way political campaigns operate has changed dramatically with the rise of digital tools. In an episode of the Campaign Lab podcast, Kate Dommett, Professor of Digital Politics at the University of Sheffield, shared her insights into the evolving digital landscape in politics. From TikTok to AI, her analysis of the 2024 UK general election provided valuable lessons about how political parties adapted to the digital age.

The Rise of Digital Campaigning

Kate's interest in digital campaigning grew out of her academic research. Her work tracked how political parties increasingly relied on digital tools to organize, communicate, and mobilize voters. While content creation and online ads were critical, digital innovation also affected how activists organized and collaborated. Digital tools reshaped everything from campaign logistics to grassroots efforts, enabling new levels of engagement.

One key finding was that digital was no longer an optional extra for campaigns. While in earlier elections digital tools might have been seen as secondary to traditional methods, by 2024 digital strategies had become essential for reaching and persuading voters, particularly younger demographics who consumed most of their information online.

Digital Leadership Among Parties

In the 2024 election, Labour demonstrated strong digital capabilities. The party made significant investments in digital infrastructure, including hiring digital trainees and organizers across the country. Labour maintained an active presence across multiple platforms, ensuring its message reached as many people as possible.

The Liberal Democrats also carved out unique digital campaigns, often using creative content to engage with voters. Their Ed Davey memes, which showcased the Liberal Democrat leader in various outdoor activities, provided a refreshing twist in what was otherwise a serious election season.

Tiktok's Impact on Political Messaging

Known for its viral videos and younger user base, TikTok became a key channel for reaching younger voters. While major political parties were initially slow to adopt TikTok in the UK, Labour eventually gained significant traction on the platform.

TikTok operated differently from platforms like Facebook or Twitter, offering unique opportunities for political messaging. Unlike Facebook's emphasis on interaction, TikTok focused more on sharing and quick bursts of content. This made it particularly effective for political explainers or viral content that could spread quickly across platforms. One notable aspect of TikTok content was how it often migrated off-platform, reaching people through WhatsApp and other social media.

Scaling Digital Campaigns

Dommett's research identified different types of digital adoption among political activists. Some constituencies had "digital entrepreneurs"—tech-savvy individuals who created their own systems and tools—while others relied on top-down approaches using official party tools. However, a significant number of activists viewed digital campaigning as an add-on, struggling to incorporate it fully into their campaigns.

The 2024 election demonstrated how digital tools had become embedded in the fabric of political campaigns. Candidates recognized the need to create personal content, such as campaign announcement videos, to connect with voters. This shift reflected an understanding that digital was not just about broadcasting but about building relationships with voters in the same way as traditional community engagement.

AI's Role in Modern Campaiging

From AI-driven letter-writing tools to chatbots, AI proved useful for streamlining campaign operations and connecting with voters in more personalized ways.

Campaigns found that AI could help sort through large datasets, automate repetitive tasks, and provide real-time analysis of campaign performance. The adoption of AI was approached thoughtfully, with attention to ethical considerations and transparency.

Organic vs Paid Campaigning

While political parties had spent over £7 million on paid advertising on Facebook and Google in the previous election, the 2024 cycle saw paid spending grow more slowly than expected, reaching around £4 million.

This slower growth in spending indicated a potential resurgence of organic digital campaigning. Some political parties invested more time and effort into creating content that resonated organically rather than relying heavily on paid ads. This shift may have been influenced by increasing scrutiny on platforms like Meta (Facebook's parent company), pushing parties to lean more heavily on unpaid content.

Lessons for Future Digital Campaigning

While some platforms like Snapchat fell out of favor politically, others like TikTok rose to prominence. This highlighted the importance of staying agile—political parties need to adapt quickly to changing digital trends and be ready to meet voters where they are.

The election also revealed evolving relationships between paid and organic strategies. While paid ads continued to play a role, the power of organic reach, particularly through personal networks like WhatsApp, became increasingly apparent. AI's role in campaign analysis and voter engagement also pointed to future innovations in political campaigning.

Conclusion: A Digital Campaigning Revolution

From TikTok to AI, the strategies that parties used to connect with voters demonstrated how digital tools had fundamentally changed campaign operations.

The election showed that digital innovation will continue to shape how campaigns are run. Whether through AI-driven tools or viral TikTok videos, the way parties engage with voters has transformed, requiring political organizations to stay agile and creative. As Dommett's research showed, the digital revolution in campaigning is likely to be a permanent one.