Emmanuel Macron’s digital diplomacy : his social media strategy

As president, Emmanuel has influenced public opinion through his posts, engaging with citizens and connecting them to the political process.

Engaging the Public through online platforms

Macron, president of France, uses various digital platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Macron uses these platforms to communicate with the French, share his views on current events, promote his policies, engage with other world leaders, and promote France’s interests abroad.

From the beginning of his campaign to his election, Emmanuel Macron has been very active on social networks. The head of state continues to adopt a social media strategy.

Of the three social platforms, Twitter is the preferred place for Internet users to question or denounce the president. With 141 million tweets mentioning him, a French politician has never been so much in the news on the social network. A fun fact noted by Visibrain, Emmanuel Macron even dethroned the queen of R’n’B, Beyoncé, regarding the number of mentions.

Since the beginning of his mandate, Internet users have not hesitated to mention the president directly to comment on his actions. Among the topics that have generated the most reactions, the Yellow Vests issue comes first, with 8.4 million tweets mentioning the president. This is followed by issues related to Europe (8.1 million tweets), the coronavirus (6.8 million tweets), employment (4.9 million tweets) and education (4 million tweets).

Social media for better change : a closer look

Also, to target the youngest, the president took over TikTok in July 2020. On the social network popular with teenagers, he already has 1.5 million followers. Not very active for the moment (eight videos posted in ten months), he is nonetheless the talk of the town: 54,300 videos published to carry the hashtag #Macron, that’s 25% more than #OhNaNaChallenge, a popular dance challenge on the app.

During the first containment, the president had hosted a Facebook live from her home, in casual dress, to answer questions about the pandemic. This is an intervention very appreciated by Internet users.

With fourteen months to go before the first round of the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron has therefore launched the hunt for votes. The government seeks to show that it is popular with young people.

Emmanuel Macron can say, “I have 10 million views with Mcfly and Carlito (famous french YouTuber ), so I’m popular; young people love me.”

The French president has understood the importance of direct communication with his fellow citizens.