New data released AI platform HypeAuditor shows Instagram has become the new playground for Australia’s top politicians.
This year has been an eventful year filled with tension on the political front with state premiers each running their own race and/or political agenda to mitigate the effects of the pandemic from ordering snap lockdowns to state border closures, and other restrictions. Communicating directly with the public has never been more important and more frequent than it was throughout the year. Whether it was NSW’s former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s daily media conferences live streamed on Facebook or One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts taking straight to Instagram Live videos for his anti-vaxx campaign.
But having recognised the potential of social media platforms, many politicians and campaigners are also jumping on the Instagram bandwagon in the hope of winning support from social media-savvy Millennials ahead of the next federal election.
Alex Frolov, CEO and Co-Founder, HypeAuditor said: “This year was an important time for Australian politicians to be present and visible across social media platforms in order to reach all segments of the population, particularly younger Aussies. The growth some key politicians have experienced this year alone was quite significant and testament to an increase in social media activity on their part”.
Below are the Top 10 fastest growing politicians on Instagram in 2021:
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern however leaves all Australian politicians in the dust leading with a 117.9 per cent growth in 2021 and 1.7 million followers.
When it comes to Engagement Rate (ER), most politicians rate below average or very high. ER helps to measure the effectiveness of the influencers’ actions in order to better understand how frequently their audience engages with their content. Instagram interaction rate shows how good the quality of the posts is. A good Instagram engagement rate is between 2% and 3% and anything above 3% is considered high engagement rate on Instagram.
“While only one politician has good ER – prime minister Scott Morrison at 2.24 per cent, four out of the 10 politicians rate excellent ER, with Western Australia premier Mark McGowan leading the pack with an ER of 6.49 per cent, followed by former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at 6.19 per cent. It means followers are actively engaging with their content and these politicians are reaching the right audience through the right channel,” added Frolov.
