When Chris Luxon took the stage to give his victory speech as the new Prime Minister-elect of New Zealand, he had many people to thank. The most notable acknowledgement was not his campaign team or his family. It was TikTok.
As Luxon put it, his campaign “left no Tik un-Tocked.”
New Zealand had just elected Chris Luxon, after a hard-fought campaign against formidable opponents, including the incumbent Labour party. Luxon ran on the traditional conservative issues of tax cuts and a tough stance on crime, but traditional media tactics weren’t enough to secure victory. Luxon and his team had to find a way to get his message in front of young voters who might not follow traditional media coverage. Enter TikTok.
In many ways, this wasn’t a “new” strategy. For nearly two decades, candidates have used social media to reach newer and younger voters. The best example of this is likely Barack Obama’s use of Facebook in 2008 and again in 2012. At the time, Obama’s strategy seemed far-fetched, but in hindsight, that outreach played a major role in securing a second term in the White House.
The youth vote could prove even more decisive in this year’s American presidential election. Early polls reveal a decided lack of enthusiasm for the likely Republican and Democratic nominees. A recent survey from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School shows just half of 18- to 29-year-olds “definitely” plan to vote for president in 2024.
TikTok provides an avenue for candidates at every level of the ballot to reach these reluctant voters. More than 150 million people in the U.S. are regularly on TikTok. That includes more than half of 20-29-year-olds and roughly two-out-of-three newly eligible voters aged 18 and 19. Roughly a third of all TikTok users regularly get their news from the platform. Despite keeping an arm’s length from the app, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have generated significant activity from TikTok posts. Like Facebook in 2012, politicians ignore the platform at their own peril.
For Luxon, it was clear that to harness the power of the youth vote, he had to reach people where they were. Nearly half of all young people in New Zealand are on TikTok – that meant that Luxon needed to be too. In the three months leading up to election day, Luxon’s content on TikTok had 17 million views, compared to 1.3 million for Labour. Of that 17 million, a staggering 75% of them were from the 18 to 34 age group – a remarkable reflection of connecting with young people where they are. Exit polling conducted by the National Party a week after the election show that they beat the Labour Party 29% to 27% among 18 to 24 year olds. In that same poll, it was revealed that younger voters get their news more from the internet than anywhere else.
To create that connection with younger voters, Luxon’s campaign combined the recognizable hallmarks of TikTok when communicating around key issues – often mixing silly and entertaining creative with serious content. Followers could watch split-screen videos where one half showed Luxon and his Deputy Nicola Willis interviewing each other in serious conversation and the other half played satisfying videos of colorful sand being cut into weird and wonderful shapes to increase watch time. The new Prime Minister fully continued to embrace TikTok’s aesthetic and sometimes campy trends, from ASMR videos that had him whispering his economic policy to revealing his outfit choices at the start of a day campaigning with a ‘Get Ready With Me,’ a content format popularized by influencers on the platform.
Luxon’s strategy was an extension of the National Party presence on TikTok for well over a year leading into the campaign, generating over 60,000 followers, and reaching around a million voters every week- in a country of just over five million people. Young voters, on TikTok and otherwise, were likely a key turnout group for Luxon. In the months leading up to the election, a Guardian Essential poll found that just 20% of the 18- to 34-year-olds in New Zealand were set to vote for the Labour Party, a major reversal from 2017 when 65% of that age favored Labour over Luxon’s National Party.
Our own experience tells us that the global TikTok generation is assembled and eager to engage. Now is the time to reach out and include them. They want to be a part of political movements that are forward looking, encompassing a variety of points of view and relevant to their hopes and dreams.
They want candidates who connect in an authentic way, with seriousness, with creativity, and with a bit of personality.
There's no doubt that there are serious security and privacy concerns with TikTok (as with all other social media sites) -- and we need to address those. But if you are a candidate, simply ignoring TikTok for these reasons is a bad choice. This campaign proved just how essential TikTok is for harnessing the youth vote, and it’s an important lesson for politicians across the globe: the youth vote is on TikTok, which means you must be too.
Now is not the time to be afraid or shy away, otherwise you’ll just get left behind. Every aspiring elected leader must keep that in mind.
Sean Topham was a Senior Advisor on the election campaign and his creative agency, Topham Guerin, led the social and digital media.
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