The campaign’s scheduled start on Sunday will herald five weeks of door-to-door press conferences and debates. But much of the battle ahead will also be fought through likes, shares and comments on social media as the battlefield becomes increasingly digital.

“In the last three or four electoral cycles, it has become increasingly important, especially in Quebec,” explains Thierry Giasson, director of the Department of Political Science at Laval University and an expert in political communication. “Since 2012, all major parties have been present on all digital platforms, and of course here we are talking about the internet, all social media, networking platforms, photo and video sharing sites.”

Communications officials from the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), Quebec solidaire (QS), the Quebec Conservative Party (PCQ) and the Parti Québecois (PQ) have all stressed the importance of being active online to a successful campaign.

The Coalition avenir Québec did not respond to inquiries from The Canadian Press.

Chameleon strategy

Although all parties appear on different pages, they will “reject the content that suits the specifics of each platform and the party’s strategy, according to the voters we want to prioritize targeting, we will prioritize actions on certain platforms over others,” says Mr. Giasson.

For example, according to data analyzed by Jean-Hugues Roy, professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal Media School, Éric Duhaime and the PCQ dominate on Facebook with a total of no less than 59.7% of all interactions made from January 1st to 20th May to August 11 were recorded on the pages of the five major parties and their leaders. In comparison, outgoing Prime Minister François Legault and his CAQ are second in the race with 15.6% of interactions.

According to the PCQ’s communications director, Maxime Hupé, this success is partly due to the fact that “Éric (Duhaime) has been doing a Facebook Live every Tuesday at 7 p.m. for almost a year,” which is becoming a habit and allows for direct communication with the public . He also claims that his boss “really found the right tone and words to ensure engagement on his posts.”

However, if you switch to sites frequented by younger internet users, QS has the upper hand. On Instagram, the accounts of QS and his two spokespersons combined generated 60.9% of engagements over the same period, followed by 26.6% for Mr. Legault and the CAQ.

QS social media strategist Julien Royal says he relies on “word of mouth” and “organic sharing” of content produced throughout the year. He cites videos by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, “depicting how politics works (…) or even topics that may have slipped under the news radar,” and others by Manon Massé, who are “live” with discussions on Instagram various Quebec personalities.” .

People who view and share this content “invariably form a long-term relationship with us” and are already subscribers by the time an election is called.

At the PLQ, the effort is “not based on a single account, that of the party, but on all candidates across Quebec” coordinating to relay announcements, says communications and digital marketing director Maxime Roy. He sees social media as a complement to traditional media, making it possible to reach Quebecers who may not follow political news diligently.

On the PQ’s side, the Internet is “one of our best means of communicating our positions, our reactions and also material that is a little more playful, to present our candidates in the heat of the moment”, affirms its director of communication, François Leroux.

Social media also allows you to go deeper than writing a column, for example, he says. When you have “a big proposal with a lot of material and multiple points, sometimes it’s much easier to meet citizens on social media where they can take their time” to fully understand the proposal.

Customized message

But we must not forget that online, data is the nerve of war, recalls University of Sherbrooke lecturer and policy and digital expert Emmanuel Choquette. These “are used to mobilize voters, to target, to reach out to voters who we will know might be more observant and have an ear that might be more favorable to the message,” he explains.

Not only age or gender are scrutinized, but also “place of residence, level of education, income” and even “preference items, sharing items” through to social media interactions are guessed. For example, if you like a meme that says poutine should be Quebec’s national dish, it might indicate that you’re sensitive to identity issues.

When parties buy ads on social media, they can choose an audience that “takes into account a wide range of socio-demographic characteristics of each person and that allows us to target people who, for all these reasons, are more likely to stick with our message,” says Mr. Hupé of PCQ.

“All voters, we want to join them, but it is certain that a certain audience is more attracted to a certain message, so social media is useful to reach these people with our proposals for them,” adds Ms Leroux of the PQ added.

But targeting is also a geographic issue, according to PLQ. As well as being able to “connect with a voter on a particular issue”, it allows “a candidate to make themselves known in their driving style” without flooding the lines with messages from people who live elsewhere, Mr Roy explains.

The algorithm itself is unknown to the parties as it is jealously guarded by the platforms.

In the street

Despite everything, the parties agree that nothing can replace face-to-face contact with citizens and that online communication is primarily intended to facilitate action in the real world.

“It is certain that the field campaign that the candidates are doing is the most important thing in reaching out to the constituents, in engaging with them,” said Mr. Roy.

“Local activist activities are at the heart of politics,” says Leroux. Social media is vital to a campaign these days, but it’s one element among others.

At QS, “the web is an integral part of our mobilization strategy, it’s not just a matter of advertising or just a one-way communication,” said Mr. Royal. It’s a way to get in touch with people to get them to get involved in the party, elections or demonstrations.

“We want to contact interested people who interact with our site by email, then we want them to register as members,” explains Mr. Hupé from the PCQ. Official membership in a party allows the party to know their phone number and address. The party can then “use the information as a form of larger-scale assessment to find out who is supporting us across the province,” he says. It also makes it possible to contact its members “so that we can get them out on the day of the pre-election and during the election”.