Persuasive appeals, thematic content, and affordances on TikTok: evidence from the 2023 Turkey presidential elections

TikTok has become a central arena for political communication, especially in engaging younger voters. This study examines how Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu employed TikTok during the 2023 Turkish Presidential Election by analysing 265 videos through quantitative content analysis. Rather than directly measuring voter attitudes, we focus on how leaders’ use of affordances (association, editability), thematic content, and rhetorical appeals related to audience engagement (likes, comments, shares). Results show that both leaders prominently highlighted the economy and relied on pathos-driven appeals, consistent with personalization in Turkish political campaigning. Regression analyses revealed that Kılıçdaroğlu’s ‘other’ and ‘law/justice’ themes significantly boosted engagement, while high use of association features (hashtags and mentions) reduced it. In Erdoğan’s case, ethos and pathos appeals strongly decreased engagement, whereas logos-based messages performed relatively better. For both leaders, longer videos predicted lower engagement. These findings illustrate how affordances and persuasive strategies interact to shape engagement on TikTok.