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Memes from the NSW election campaign. Photo: Supplied

Cats and politics. Not a usual association but it didn't stop NSW Labor from pairing the two on its Facebook page, with cat pictures captioned "Cuts to hospitals? You've got to be kitten me", and "Mike Baird says prices won't go up LOL".

Such is electioneering in 2015.

Both Labor and the Coalition have invested heavily in social media this campaign. For the first time, the state parties hired agencies to focus solely on digital advertising.

But is the NSW poll shaping up as the election in which social media campaigns play a decisive role? Once again the answer is: probably not.

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Five years after the 2010 federal poll was declared "the social media election", experts say there is little evidence that "likes" lead to seats. At the same time, they say many politicians remain too guarded online to be considered "authentic".

It is a case of no social-media risk, no social-media reward. But can politicians, in this age of absolute image control, ever really let their digital selves go?

NSW Liberal Party director Tony Nutt says "an election or two ago social media was just another billboard", whereas now it needs to be "deeper", "more complex" and specialised.

Memes for Facebook or Twitter are far quicker to make than traditional ads, allowing for greater experimentation. But Deloitte Digital's lead partner Frank Farrall warns that whatever the content, "you can't really control your message on social media".

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NSW state election 2015: the battle for 'likes' on social media