How has the media reduced the cost of election campaigns?

Just as the cost of advertising is an important element in the promotion of any product or commodity, it is the most important element in electoral propaganda, which is valued at the size of the target audience.

In the past, election propaganda started from signs and publications and extended to propaganda programs, which needed large amounts of money, to the extent that they were one of the most important obstacles for a large segment of those who have the aspirations to contest any elections, whether trade union, local or legislative elections.

With the development of technology, Social Media has begun to play the most prominent role in advertising campaigns. It has reduced the cost, but at the same time needs professionals to manage these campaigns, which may begin and end only on social networking pages.

It is no longer limited to private pages that turn into ad spaces to identify the candidate, or to communicate directly with the target audience, but they are extended to pages running some campaigns for candidates with a fee set in agreement with the candidates.

Dennis McCoyle defines the campaign as" communication efforts spanning a period of time based on institutional or collective behavior that is consistent with prevailing norms and values, to guide, support and motivate public attitudes towards socially acceptable goals such as voting. " The campaign is characterized by a range of characteristics from other media campaigns, as a political campaign with propaganda content. The election campaign is based on propaganda methods, a group of elements capable of creating a specific intended reaction to the future, through emotional and cognitive influence, to convince the target audience and thus achieve the objectives of the election campaign.

And may reflect the keenness of a large group of social networking sites to retain the largest number of friends, the interest of this segment using these friendships in future election campaigns, as confirmed by Tarek Ali, a campaign specialist in his page on "Facebook"

Michael delGonzo, the owner of a company specializing in campaigning and election campaigns on social networking sites, said that the Social Media community has become an important part of advertising campaigns. Despite the low cost of this type of advertising, Share of total cost.

He explained that it is no longer limited to the promotion of new products or improve the mental image of a particular commodity, but exceeded the management of campaigns from the ground up, both on the sites of communication or advice on other types of advertising, but the problem that the majority of companies that work In this area is not specialized, increasing the likelihood of some exposure to the monument.

Some of the companies specialized in campaign management have taken their pages on social networking sites as a platform for promotional campaigns for their activities, not only to offer and provide their services, but sometimes to warn those who claim to specialize in campaign management without having the tools and the adequate staff To achieve the desired goal.

A company warned on its Facebook page that some of the candidates have been put to use by campaigners and have nothing to do with how to deal with the elections. She wrote on her page: "Important advice to all our dear candidates: Stay away from the losers and fraudsters. Campaign management is not body movements, hand signals and a tone of voice. These are just required formalities, but they are never enough and do not guarantee and do not sing out of hunger. Some dear brothers have spent their money and effort on programs. We do not add to their public balance anything. We have already mentioned this and we are constantly answering questions and complaints from candidates who are inquiring about the importance of these programs and whether they are really useful, and unfortunately they pay attention to this imbalance after too little time and effort. Partially But the formal root arthropods that achieve the quality of the gears in the preparation of the public and the percentages of votes achieved. "