Andy Burnham's plan to collaborate with social media creators

Andy Burnham is a past master at using social media to create a political brand - and it seems he has no plans to let up now that he is prime minister.One Downing Street source told the BBC they planned to take a "more social first" and "authentic to Andy" approach, with "less high production, polished" content than might have been seen from a prime minister in the past.This means we can expect more clips of Burnham in casual mode, chatting into a handheld phone or answering questions on policy in an apparently spontaneous fashion on X, Instagram or TikTok.There will also be a focus on collaborations with social media creators.In an earlier age, political leaders liked to court TV stars and other celebrities to help get their message out.Now the Holy Grail is online influencers, who are seen as more authentic, and trusted, by hard-to-reach voters who don't watch much TV or read newspapers.Sir Keir Starmer's government had already begun experimenting with giving access to influencers, with ministers appearing on some of the more popular channels.Downing Street also held receptions for influencers and during Tim Allan's tenure as director of communications content creators were invited to Downing Street press conferences.Some critics saw this is a way of avoiding serious scrutiny of polices in favour of softball questions from non-specialists. But Burnham's advisers see collaborations with influencers as a way of getting the government's message to audiences it might not normally reach.A Downing Street source said "the vast majority" of the public will not see or interact with content that is coming from government or the prime minister's social media channels.In the hours before and after becoming prime minister, Burnham co-authored two posts on TikTok and Instagram, including a running video with Sir Mo Farah.Young TikTokers were also invited to Downing Street to thank them for their work on his Makerfield by-election campaign.One of the social channels Sir Keir Starmer appeared on was run by Ukrainian online personality Max Klymenko, who won TikTok Creator of the year for his viral "The Career Ladder" series, where he quizzes people about their job history.Klymenko was first approached by Burnham's team around two months ago to collaborate on content.His team filmed the video quizzing the former Greater Manchester mayor on his first job, before he entered politics, a week ago, then planned to post it on his first day as prime minister to capitalise on the buzz.The creator's core audience are aged 18 to 24, according to his team, while the majority of people who watch his content are aged between 25 and 30.A member of his team pointed out this is far younger than the audience for a traditional TV interview, while his cumulative subscriber and follower count across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook is more than 16.3 million accounts.While there is some paid-for content on his pages, Klymenko said no payment or contract was exchanged with Burnham's team and they did not request changes to the content before it was posted.Meanwhile, Sir Mo Farah's uploads, running while discussing sport, education and mental health with Burnham, went to his three million followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, a far bigger reach than the prime minister's personal channels.The strategy is the brainchild of Abby Tomlinson, who ran Burnham's digital communications during the by-election, and who the BBC can confirm has been kept on for a new role in Burnham's administration.She began her career in social media aged 17 by starting a "Milifandom" campaign on social media for Ed Miliband over a decade ago.In more recent years, she has worked in digital communications for the Labour Party, and for Keir Starmer in Number10 before quitting last year.Tomlinson has been credited with how Burnham connected with voters across platforms in recent months.The new PM has rationed interviews with traditional media since returning to Parliament, in favour of vlogs, a question and answer session on Reddit and X posts clapping back at political opponents.Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch took to Reddit to urge him to "come out from hiding, face a proper press conference and submit yourself to scrutiny and some tough questions".Burnham responded to it by saying it had only been two weeks since he faced questions from "74,000 members of the public of Makerfield".Another key strand of Burnham's campaigning strategy has been connecting with and organising grassroots social media activists.Among the politicians and staffers invited to stand outside Number 10 to watch Burnham become prime minister on Monday were teenage TikTokers whose video edits have brought him to a new social media audience.Between them, Will, Lottie, Megan, Ellen and Poppy, all aged between 17 and 19 have racked up millions of likes on TikTok, and across platforms share memes, trends and nostalgic edits of New Labour footage, including of Burnham's time in office.The Labour activists were invited to canvass with him and make edits of his time on the Makerfield by-election campaign trail in a language and style that resonates with people online.One way they got thousands of likes was by getting him to sign and pose with red pre-made cocktails popular with Gen Z.Megan Cassidy, 19, from Havering, started making Labour content a year ago and said it was "surreal" to have found herself at Downing Street: "I really felt like I was witnessing history around me".The young Labour activists said they were given access to Burnham and footage of him by his team, but are not paid and can choose to edit the material how they like.They saw it as an opportunity to gain ground from social media savvy parties like Reform, whose leader Nigel Farage has an exponentially bigger following on social media, and the Greens who have experienced large growth in recent months.It helped that Burnham was "natural" and happy to spontaneously appear in content, they told the BBC."I do think he gets it, absolutely compared to other politicians, compared to Starmer for example, I think he's a lot more charismatic," said Megan.