Social Media Advertising for Politicians
Political parties around the world are now realizing that if they want to have any chance of winning their campaign, they need to make themselves known on social media. More specifically, political campaigning on social media in the United States has seen a drastic increase in the previous years. To drive this point home, let’s look at the last election:
Everyone knows that Donald Trump has a strong social media presence. Every day you can watch the news to learn about a new Twitter post that was put out by Trump. And while Trump’s presence on social media is definitely a controversial one, there’s no doubt that it is attracting attention — which is exactly what a politician wants.
How strong is Donald Trump’s social media presence? Very strong — some people even claim that it is what won him the election! Run by Brad Parascale, Donald Trump’s digital marketing campaign during the election consisted of over 100 staff including web developers, copywriters, data analysts, and so on and so forth.
How much did Trump put into his campaign? During the election, Donald Trump’s main focus was on Facebook, for which he invested over 2 million dollars on ads. He started by targeting his supporters and then started to target others similar to them. Alamo Digital Agency uses a tool called “look-a-like audience” on Facebook to build an advertising group that have like characteristics to whom we can serve our ads. Altogether, his digital team created over 100,000 unique content pieces. Then, in the weeks preceding the election, Trump invested yet another $150 million into advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, this time targeting African Americans and young women.
And though we’re sure that there were other factors that also contributed to Trump’s success in the election, there’s no doubt that social media definitely played a large role in his victory.
So exactly how is social media changing politics?
- It’s allowing for direct contact with voters
Social media is allowing politicians to create a line of direct communication with voters. In the past, two-way communication between politicians and voters was limited. But now, two-way communication is available at the touch of a button. This two-way communication allows for voters to speak their concerns, and for politicians to address those concerns directly. It also allows politicians to create a deeper, more personal connection with their voters, which will inevitably lead to more loyal followers.
- It’s Free Advertising (Kinda)
While Donald Trump spent multi-millions of dollars on social media ad campaigns, not all politicians have the same funds available to do so. The good news for politicians, however, is that social media can be utilized for free — or at a fraction of the cost of other advertising methods. Rather than spending millions of dollars to advertise on television commercials or other more traditional methods, politicians are now posting their videos on platforms like Facebook or YouTube absolutely free of cost.
Of course, politicians who want to see large successes on social media will need to run a full campaign, but even that can be done at a fraction of the cost of other more traditional marketing techniques.
- It allows for Targeted Messaging
When creating a social media campaign, politicians can access a wealth of data and analytics about their followers and supporters. Where are their supporters primarily located? How old are their supporters? What is the background of their supporters? What race supports them the most? By having access to this information, politicians can not only create content that appeals to the demographic but can also work on creating a campaign that will reach out to other demographics in an attempt to gain their support as well.
- It allows for more political engagement
The majority of the population is online, and over 70% of users in the United States have at least one social media account. So by creating a campaign on social media, politicians can now reach out to more voters than ever before. And by creating campaigns that are engaging, politicians can now work to sway opinions and votes in their direction.
There’s no doubt about it, social media is changing the world in which we live — and politics is no different. Whether it be opening themselves up for online discussions, reaching out to a broader audience, or gaining knowledge about their supporters, social media is changing the way politicians do business. Is social media the reason Trump won the last election? Who knows — but it definitely didn’t hurt his campaign!
Of course, we could dive into a lot more granular tactics but there just isn’t enough time on this blog post. Let me put this in lament terms. If you have a big enough budget, you’ll be able to create enough content to match with Ads and really dial in on your target avatar which makes your Advertising so much more effective.
This is the power of social media! Looking to up your social media game? Send me a message, I’m on every platform. You’ll be able to find me.
