If there is one succinct way to sum up a key difference between Viktor Orban and Peter Magyar’s social media communication strategy, you need not look further than their Easter posts.
First, let’s compare them, and then I’ll give you my take underneath…
Orban's Easter Facebook posts
The above photos were posted on Viktor Orban’s Facebook page for Easter. The photos themselves are rather flat and boring. No smiling faces. No family. Nothing thumb-stopping that would grab your attention to stop scrolling. The photos got about 14 thousand, 20 thousand and 10 thousand likes respectively.
Magyar's Easter Facebook posts
On the other hand, Peter Magyar shared eight different posts — including both photos and videos. He spent the weekend in Holloko for the village’s famous Easter traditions. He posed with his new girlfriend, he wore traditional dress, he took part in the tradition of throwing a bucket of water on the girls, he did a pottery lesson, and even released a video promoting the town as a tourist destination.
All up his posts got 333,000 likes within a week. That is almost 8 times the engagement that Orban’s posts got.
What it all means...
- Orban’s photos are “flat” and even have quite dark lighting. Compare that to Magyar’s which are bright and colourful and have the beautiful Holloko village setting as its backdrop — one is going to stop you from scrolling, the other is so boring you’d scroll on by.
- It’s very obvious that Viktor Orban uses a social media team as these posts are very ‘typical’ and safe. Peter on the other hand clearly posts himself. His posts are always in his very unique voice, he often comments on articles or other comments within mere minutes of them being post — often with a sassy or funny comment that it would be hard for a social media coordinator to be brave enough to do. One “wrong” comment and it could be Game Over so I’m doubtful Peter would outsource this.
- Peter thinks in terms of visuals — he knows photos of himself, his kids, and his girlfriend get the best engagement so his posts more often than not feature people. Take Easter for example, all of Peter’s photos had people in them — whereas Orban’s were basically stock photos. Even the one of himself was dark and looking off frame — not the kind of friendly family fun you want to see at Easter.
- Peter knows he needs to appeal to regional Hungary. Easter is the absolutely perfect time to highlight a regional village as Holloko is the heartland of Easter traditions in Hungary and Peter could be sure that the photos and videos would be phenomenal. Wearing traditional dress, taking part in the tradition of throwing a bucket of water on the girls all link him to regional tradition.
- The water thing and the video of him taking a pottery lesson all show his human and fun side — something he needs to cultivate among voters because he can seem very strict and severe at times. Orban does sometimes show his human side (e.g. he loves making gulyas soup and other dishes in a cauldron) BUT these look staged as opposed to something Peter uploaded took and uploaded himself.
- Peter thinks outside the box. In Orban’s 35 years in politics — why has he never thought to go to Holloko at Easter and actually take part? Peter is always thinking of little Easter eggs to surprise us with and this is no exception. While Orban’s Easter posts are rather dull and something a social media junior would smash out in 2 minutes without any thought whatsoever, Peter’s is always thinking hard about staying on top of the news cycle and creating a buzz around what he is doing. It worked — Peter’s weekend made the news while Orban didn’t do anything newsworthy losing this opportunity.
- By introducing his girlfriend in this way, Peter is allowing voters to get to know her as well. Afterall, if Tisza wins and if they stay together she will be the “First Lady” (there’s no such designation in Hungary but you know what I mean). He needs voters to find her likeable to not risk any votes. By having her in traditional dress (she was also one of the ladies on horseback in Tisza’s March 15 commemoration video) and in a no-makeup look with her beautiful hair flowing freely she comes across as a normal, plain, humble Hungarian girl. This is a far cry and da contrast to the Botoxed, fake, designer label-wearing wives of Fidesz’s most corrupt people. My understanding is that she is from regional Hungary, which is a big plus. She’s also youthful looking which, again, is a contrast to Orban’s long-suffering wife, Levai Aniko, who sadly time has not been all that kind to. Although, it might sound gross to compare women in this way — politics is also a visual game and all these “little” things count.
- Peter uses his social media to actually connect with voters. By doing this he seems accessible, responsive and human — just like you or I. I have doubts that Viktor Orban has ever actively posted on social media and it shows. There is a social media team between him and constituents. You don’t get the impression that he reads any of the comments, and he certainly doesn’t actively engage with them. In an era when people want to feel digitally connected (hence why people like Elon Musk, Donald Trump and a host of conservative YouTubers) flood their preferred channels with real comments and responses. If Donal Trump knows the power of a human voice — surely Orban can make the time for it.
- Peter’s use of video is also noteworthy. At the end of the weekend, he recapped his time in Holloko with a 5-minute video. People love video content these days — especially since Covid when we were all forced on our phones and laptops day-in-day-out. This video got 330,000 views on Facebook and more than 40,000 views on YouTube. If Orban is ever forced by his social media team to do a short video than Orban seems to do it under duress — as if he’s bemused by the fact that he has to do this social media thing. It doesn’t come naturally and it doesn’t seem like he’s trying to make a genuine connection with the voters through it.
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