For many years, we've been hearing about political campaigns being run on social media and the increasingly important role these platforms play in persuading citizens of a country which political option to choose. The so-called “meme wars” of 2015 and 2016, as many FB pages involved in the presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton called it, marked the first major impulse demonstrating the importance of social media in campaigns. 👨🏼‍💼

However, issues with algorithms and broader demographic representation on certain platforms prevented campaigns from focusing on just one network. Instead, multiple platforms had to be used—but that didn’t necessarily mean reaching more citizens. That changed with the rise of TikTok and its rapid growth in recent years.

Initially a platform that primarily attracted a younger audience (up to age 25), it experienced a massive demographic expansion after the COVID lockdowns, spreading widely among older users and now even the oldest generations. It offers content for absolutely all age groups, and thanks to its unique algorithm, you can reach them even if you're not a large page. 📈

The recent presidential campaign in Romania is a good example of how one candidate was massively "pushed" through TikTok accounts and "buzz" (information triggers) on the X network. Independent candidate Georgesku reportedly reached nearly 50% support in the first round, according to some estimates. After the controversial decision by the Constitutional Court to annul the previous election and detain the candidate, Romanian intelligence services began investigating his online campaign. It was concluded that one of the main factors behind such success was precisely the online campaign, along with political marketing videos that attracted voters to his movement.

The future is arriving faster than ever, and we already have many examples showing that online campaigns are among the key success factors in modern societies and political campaigns around the world.