The Influence of Social Media Influencers in Political Campaigns in Kenya During the 2022 Presidential Elections

Abstract

Political campaigns have been transformed by social media as a form of communication used by many organizations and individuals. There is an increase in the utilization of social media as a tool for political campaigns communication as illustrated by this development. The pioneers in this development are the so-called social media influencers. These individuals are known to explore emerging media to influence communication and the behavior of consumers. This study therefore sought to investigate the influence of social media influencers in political campaigns in the 2022 presidential elections in Kenya. The specific objectives were to: explore how Twitter was used in presidential political campaigns; strategies used by social media influencers to disseminate presidential political campaign message; and how electronic word of mouth (eWOM) was used by social media influencers in political campaigns during the 2022 presidential elections in Kenya. The study used Agenda Setting Theory together with Technology Acceptance Model. Descriptive research design was used. Qualitative data was collected through key informant’s interviews together with content analysis. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented in a narrative form. The finding of the study were that: social media influencers were actively engaging with their audience to create awareness, social media influencers were using Twitter as a platform for discourse, social media influencers considered use of Twitter in political campaigns in the 2022 presidential campaigns as successful, Twitter's role as a marketing tool empowered candidate to connect, communicate, and persuade voters on a large scale, social media influencers used campaign-specific hashtags, real-time coverage, that by employing eWOM strategies, the social media influencers were able to create significant awareness around the 2022 Kenyan presidential elections. It is therefore recommended that longitudinal studies be conducted to assess the longterm impact of social media influencers' efforts in shaping political awareness. Also, that comparative studies be conducted to analyze the effectiveness of different social media platforms in influencing political awareness and voter engagement.