Social Media as a Strategy Political Communication

One of the key factors in gathering voter votes in general elections is an effective political communication strategy. The purpose of this paper is to describe how candidates develop effective political communication strategies to win the hearts of voters. The research model used is qualitative research with a descriptive analysis approach. Data obtained through interviews and literature study. The results of the study show that now, as time goes by and the development of communication technology is also very fast, the emergence of new media or what is known as social media causes a shift in campaigns. Many use social media during campaigns to attract as many masses as possible and to vote. For example, someone who has an Instagram account and has 105 thousand followers has the power to propagate, because there are so many people who see and read it. The 105 thousand readers are more than the number of readers of the daily Fajar newspaper which is only around 40 thousand people. Rudy Pieter Goni, a candidate for the DPR RI from South Sulawesi Province uses interpersonal communication techniques by utilizing social media, this is because he is aware of the important role of the media in shaping public opinion. Generally the role of social media is very effective in personal branding. Like the political communication carried out by Rudy Pieter Goni, who has succeeded in doing personal branding on his social media platform.