Tunisian presidential elections are around the corner and everyone in Tunisia including ROCK THE NET seems to be hesitant about their vote. Since the net is our playground we've decided to know more about candidates' use of digital in their campaigns hoping it would help us tolerate one more than the other.
To do so, we've selected the most popular candidates according to shady statistics, and we've judged the hell out of their digital efforts.
Note: this article was written for pure entertainment purposes.
Here we go:
NABIL KAROUI
The candidate's got his basics right. An instagram account filled with pictures of him kissing foreheads, hugging and holding hands of 'dem poor'. But also suits, a lot of suits and swag going on.
A very active Facebook page created in March 2015. Hmmm. We haven't seen any ads campaigns but then again maybe we're not poor or rich enough to be his target.
We've also visited the candidate's website. It's a .com and it is in Fr and Ar, nothing fancy, clear and easy to navigate. The mobile version still needs a little work though.
Nabil Karoui also has a Youtube channel featuring him, featuring himself. We found the link to his channel on the "About" section of his Facebook page. Just a weird link thrown out there. Strange for a branding guru. The channel was launched in May 2019 has 394 views, 12 videos posted - the last one was posted on September 12th 2019. Unlike the Facebook and Instagram pages, the Youtube channel is not advertised on the official campaign website.
Oh and there's also an official Twitter account which we were super excited about. So we clicked on the link. Anticlimax. But then we searched allover and found this one.
ABDELKRIM ZBIDI
Wow can we please take a second and talk about Abdelkrim Zbidi's instagram account? Someone just discovered Insta layout.
Zbidi's Facebook page was created on July 2019, which makes sense considering the elections' timelines. Not like a certain weirdo up there. Nothing to comment on. The page is well-maintained and updated regularly.
Annnnnd there's a Twitter account! This time it's not a PG rated one. Zbidi's digital campaigners seem to have missed the point of having a Twitter account: sharing thoughts and statements. Rather, the account is just sharing updates about the candidate's achievements. Tweets involve speaking about himself at the third person.
There's also a Youtube channel with 6 videos, 2 subscribers and an average of 10 views. Videos involve Abdelkrim Zbidi being awkward.
So far we think Zbidi's website is the best of the average websites we've seen so far. In terms of UX and responsiveness. It is a .tn and only in Arabic.
YOUSSEF CHAHED
Just like other candidates, maybe a little more, Youssef Chahed's links to his digital platforms are scattered and we had to dig into different sources to find them.
He has an Instagram account with 6,099 followers but no, Youssef doesn't follow anyone. Boo!
He also has a Twitter account that he started in 2016, 152 Tweets, 60.8K followers and 4 likes. Unlike Abdelkrim Zbidi's, Youssef Chahed's Twitter account seems to be more personal which is great. We've learnt that YC likes Soul King. Tastes.
When opening Youssef Chahed's website we thought we had mistakenly landed on Zbidi's. This is a call to all branding agencies. Let's be more creative.
Otherwise his website is easy to navigate, responsive and straight to the point. Just don't translate it to English. Ok yeah do it.
Similarly to most of the top most popular candidates, Chahed's Facebook page is very active and well maintained.
OUR FAVORITE TWITTER ACCOUNT: ABDELFATTAH MOUROU
We'd like to jump straight to our favorite part of the Islamist party candidate's campaign: his twitter account. It is fabulous!
PS: this link is the official one you will find on his wikipedia snippet.
After the Twitter account debacle, the rest of his digital presence seemed quite underwhelming to us. We just wanted more of the Twitter content.
His Facebook account is fairly active with plenty of pictures of him screaming. In terms of UX, his website is decent, no major mistakes, just ok. It is a .tn and only in Arabic because you know, the only language spoken in heaven is Arabic so yeah. The mobile version seems to also work well.
WHAT WE'VE LEARNT
We've learnt that overall, candidates to the presidential elections in Tunisia have laid out the basics for their digital presence: Facebook, website, Instagram and for the most edgy ones: Youtube and Twitter.
What is interesting to note is the weight of Facebook in the presidential race. In fact, across all candidates, and in terms of digital, most content efforts are concentrated on one social media: Facebook.
This comes with no surprise since in Tunisia, the 3 most visited international websites are Google, YouTube and Facebook. Facebook is extremely popular; 3.4 million Tunisians use Facebook, for a penetration rate of 33%, making it the 47th biggest country in the world in terms of Facebook users. Besides, let's not forget the role Facebook played in Tunisia's 2011 revolution.
Looking at our candidates' digital presence as a whole (website and social media), we can safely say that it sucks. However, if we look at their choice of tools for war, all of them got it right: Facebook. And that follows international standards.
PS: we've also learnt that some of our friends like Mourou's page.
DID THIS HELP US IN OUR CHOICE? No.
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