Traditionally, political parties tend to think about election campaigns in terms of months, or a year at most. Between elections, on the other hand, politicians and parties typically focus more on articles in the morning papers, press conferences, and television appearances. These are important media for communicating policies and messages, of course, but they can leave gaps in terms of building a sense of connection with voters – gaps which can be hard to overcome when an election campaign finally starts.

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Adapting to the new media landscape

As the media landscape shifts, it’s vital that progressive political parties explore new modes of communication with voters. Between Sweden’s general elections in 2018 and 2022, we in the Social Democratic Party increased our activity on social media, posting daily content, rapidly responding to news items and media debates, and experimenting with always-on advertising on digital platforms. Our goal was to build engagement and improve fundraising by using digital tools to talk to voters directly about the issues that matter most to them.

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One key initiative was Folkrörelse.nu. – our own petition platform integrated into our internal digital infrastructure, members platform, and email systems. Launched in 2022, the platform generated 20,000 new, non-member leads in the build-up to that year’s general elections in September. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to really engage with these potential supporters before polling day – a realization which played a major role in our decision to continue work on the platform after the elections and, more generally, to prioritize engagement with new and old supporters on digital platforms throughout the electoral cycle.

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Folkrörelse.nu (the people’s movement.now)

Folkrörelse.nu makes it possible for us to build engagement, collect email leads and – in the long run – persuade more people to become voters, funders, active party members, and campaigners.

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Today, if a member of the Swedish Social Democratic party wants to start a campaign, they can easily create a petition to publicize the issue and gauge potential support. It’s as straightforward as visiting the Folkrörelse.nu website, clicking on Start a petition, and signing in to the members platform. Then they fill out a form with the name of the campaign, a description, the political issue category, and some information about whether the campaign is national or local. Once that’s done, the national party office approves the petition and publishes it on the platform.

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When someone wants to sign a petition, they fill out a form with their name, email address and postcode. At the end of the form, they give their consent for the Social Democratic Party to send them newsletters via email (with the option to unsubscribe at any time). This allows us to connect with new supporters, sort them by location, and associate individuals with the political issues which move them.

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To take just one example, in 2022 we launched a petition about stopping corporations from making unlimited profits from our school system. The petition attracted approximately 15,000 signatures in 2022. Whenever the media ran stories about schools going bankrupt or being forced to cut back on teaching materials, it gave us an opportunity to email everyone who signed. We could respond to the story, provide an update on the petition, and remind people of our continuing commitment to prevent profiteering.

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Two years later, the petition is still generating new signatures (unfortunately, because corporations are still making unlimited profits from our school system). As the next election approaches, we can encourage these supporters to become party members and donors.

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Thanks to Folkrörelse.nu, we’re connecting with more and more non-members who care about the issues we care about. We’re engaging with people who aren’t party members and responding to events more quickly. Our messaging is tailored, relevant, and our campaigns are generating more grassroots support.

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It’s only halftime in Sweden’s election cycle, but our campaign is already up and running – in fact, it makes more sense to say it never stopped. We’re convinced the relationships we’re building now will translate into electoral success in two years’ time, and hopefully for many more years after that!