Why The UK’s TikTok Election Should Prioritise Substance Over Meme

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SWINDON, UNITED KINGDOM – MARCH 30: Labour Party leader Keir Starmer takes a selfie during the …

Remember when TikTok used to be a politics-free zone? A place where you could scroll to your heart’s content, either detaching yourself from the real world via dogs behaving badly, GRWM videos and Harry Potter illusions, or keeping up with your favourite TikTokers and the micro-trends they’re sporting.

Entertainment isn’t the only factor driving users in their droves to the social media platform. Since the pandemic, there’s been a significant shift in how and why users engage. TikTok has emerged as Google’s successor and a preferred search engine for the under 30s, meaning it has evolved into a hub for breaking news. This has subsequently increased interest amongst both legacy and micro publishers.

However, the new social status quo was disrupted on the 22nd May this year. Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a general election didn’t just rock the political landscape, it also kickstarted the TikTok election. For this UK election, smartphones have quickly replaced television screens as the best arena in which to trade political wit.

But this isn’t where the tactical shift ends. Policy-centric barbs have been replaced by memes as the political weapon of choice — the reasoning being that this is the most ‘effective’ way to get attention and generate conversation. And parties, regardless of whether they’re blue, red or yellow, have been unable to resist jumping on this bandwagon.

What does your audience actually want?

From the Labour Party mocking Sunak’s National Service policy with a clip of Cilla Black’s iconic Surprise Surprise tune racking up 4.8M views and counting, to the Conservatives throwing shade at Labour’s apparent lack of innovative policies, TikTok has become a political battleground where things are getting messy. Even the Liberal Democrats have been in on the action, using soundbites from cult classic Peep Show episodes and floating their Deputy Leader on a boat behind the Prime Minister as he campaigned in Henley-on-Thames.

Pop culture references and poking fun have become the order of the day for the UK’s political parties this election. But unfortunately, this just highlights an alarming disconnect between political parties and the general population, especially younger audiences.

For many of the so-called political masterminds, substance has been replaced by their idea of style. As of the 31st May, Labour had posted 54 videos on TikTok, a vastly superior amount to the Conservatives’ 14. However, few of these (if any) actually highlighted a party policy or spoke to a key party decision-maker, reinforcing the fact that every party seems to have lost sight of what voting truly hinges on: aligning an audience with a political agenda.

Don’t just create memes, deliver policies

No one is disputing the elevated, important role that social media has to play in the forthcoming UK election. TikTok is ingrained in the public’s daily routine, often being the first app opened in the morning and the last thing scrolled through at night.

This means that its share of screen time is only trending in one direction. Android owners spend an average of 49 hours per month on TikTok. The closest contender, YouTube, only accounted for 19 hours.

However, if parties want to tap into the channel’s full potential, their first point of call should be to stop patronising audiences. That’s because the next generation don’t want memes when it comes to their politicians. Indeed, a 2023 study found that TikTok is the most favourable single source of news for teenagers in the UK. This generation wants well-informed political content that speaks to what they care about in a way that feels organic to the platform.

It’s not the party that achieves the biggest laugh that will be sitting pretty in Downing Street come 4th July. Irreverent memes that poke fun at the opposition don’t instil confidence. Social media managers should be looking to create value-driven content via high-performing formats.

Fostering community and trust

Following this vein of thinking, don’t be afraid to utilise the features that make social platforms such as TikTok unique and stand out from traditional formats — namely, their ability to facilitate greater interactions. Q&A sessions, live streams, vodcasts, and interactive polls all provide opportunities to engage directly with and get feedback from next-gen audiences.

Political parties shouldn’t be quaking in their boots at the thought of hearing from their constituents. After all, they’re meant to be accountable to the people. Encouraging real-time dialogue makes people feel heard and genuinely involved in the political process. What’s more, this isn’t a one-stop shop. Highlighting responses and adapting audience-led content into future instalments can foster a sense of trust and community.

Finally, the conversation doesn’t always have to be kickstarted by political content. Topics may not automatically stand out as relevant, but if they’re already generating widespread conversation, they can prove to be the optimal gateway to capture audiences’ attention. Take the recent virality of our ‘man vs bear’ video on TikTok.

By paying attention to the conversations happening online, we were able to take the temperature of the cultural mood and deliver a piece of content that didn’t just generate millions of views around the world. More importantly, it sparked a global conversation about women’s safety and even some powerful, if not heartbreaking, graffiti.

This conversation is one that political parties should be paying attention to. Ultimately, understanding what social audiences care about helps politicians develop policies that the next generation might actually vote for.

By presenting political alignment within these conversations, parties can further bring their policies home and stay positionally in touch with the next generation.