Arc 3 Communications

Arc 3 Founder Patrick Burns Quoted in Hartford Courant Story Regarding Election 2014

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Arc 3’s Founder Patrick Burns was recently quoted in a recent Hartford Courant story regarding the ramping up of social media, digital and technology efforts by the respective political parties in the upcoming Gubernatorial election in Connecticut. The article discusses how the aggressive use of technology pioneered by the Obama campaign nationally is now moving to the state level. Below is the quote from the article:

“The president and his team did a masterful job using Facebook as a big megaphone to reach voters,” said Patrick Burns, president of Arc 3 Communications, an Atlanta firm that advises right-of-center candidates and political parties, as well as local governments and trade groups, on how to use social media to spread their messages.

But unlike the attack tweets, news conferences and Facebook likes, some aspects of modern politics occur behind the scenes, through sophisticated data-mining strategies and the micro-targeting of voters. “On the consumer side, companies have been doing this for a few years now,” Burns said. “The political parties are catching up.”

For the full story, please click here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Arc 3 Communications

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Thank you to our clients, friends and colleagues who have helped to make Arc 3’s 2nd year a great success. We set out to do ambitious and interesting work in 2013, and our clients have entrusted us to do just that.

Over the last year, we have done innovative work in the area of content marketing, digital and social media for clients in the political, public affairs and government space. It has been our passion to help trade associations, right-center campaigns and local and state governments evolve their communications and marketing strategies to fit the digital age.

Content and measurable data are both important to us. Arc 3 has helped clients to develop and implement effective strategies and campaigns that help them to achieve their organizational goals in a complex media and public affairs landscape. Content marketing and digital and social media only work if they help an organization to reach those real world objectives that result in a return on their investment.

The golden age of mass media communications through print, television and radio has begun to fade, and a new multi-platform and digital age has begun. The digital age has resulted in new ways in which people – especially millenials – are processing issue and policy information.

Over the last several years, businesses have been going through a transition from traditional marketing to content marketing out of necessity in order to reach consumers. Our civic institutions, campaigns and trade associations will have to change as well in order to sustain their key roles in the public square.

As our agency grows and evolves in the dynamic landscape in media and public affairs, we look forward to another year of fun, interesting and purposeful work.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Patrick L. Burns, Founder and President, Arc 3 Communications

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arc 3 Communications’ Monthly Top News Reads in Digital, Social and Public Affairs – November 2013

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Digital and social media are changing how government institutions, political campaigns and trade associations communicate and achieve their goals. Below is a roundup of the more interesting stories that we have read over the last month:

Digital and Social Media

Business Insider provides an analysis of social media demographics and the surprising identity of each major social network.

Gigaom reports on Google’s new ad policy and how to avoid appearing in Google ads.

Alan Mutter of Reflections of a Newsosaur , asks the question “Are newspapers losing their mass media mojo?”

Gov 2.0 and Public Affairs

Nextgov reports how thwarted users vent about the Obamacare website on Facebook.

The Atlantic Magazine reports how the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee developed its own font “Chatype” through a Kickstarter campaign.

Nextgov reports how Congress.gov replaces Thomas.gov as the source for legislative bills and committee information on Capitol Hill.

Campaigns and Elections

Advertising Age examines how data is redefining political TV ads.

TechPresident analyzes the role of digital and big data in election 2013.

Politico reports how Twitter is a mixed blessing for political flacks.

In a Foxnews.com  opinion piece, John Jordan, a member of the Hoover Institution’s Board of Overseers at Stanford University, offers a donor’s guide to making your money count in politics.

These were some of Arc 3’s most interesting reads in digital and social and public affairs over the last month. What were your favorite stories? Let us know if there is a neat story that we missed! We’d love to hear from you.

 

The Top Ten Most Social Media Savvy State Parties in America

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With the 2014 election approaching, the role of state party organizations will become increasingly important as the primary election season ends and the general election season begins. Most of the primary election season wraps up by June with the majority of states concluding their primaries.

In the 2012 election, the Obama campaign skillfully used social media to target key constituency groups, amplify its message and get out the vote. It was commonly acknowledged that a “geek gap” existed between a more tech savvy Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party conducted a months’ long review of the 2012 election that resulted in a report entitled “The Growth and Opportunity Project”.

How have the parties across the country done at the state level socially in 2013? Does the “geek gap” still exist? Arc 3 looks at the top ten most social media savvy state party organizations. The list was compiled analyzing the Klout scores and number of Twitter and Facebook followers for all of the state party organizations for all 50 states.

1. Michigan Republican Party (Klout score 66) Led by Chairman Robert Schostak, the party has over the years been a leader in innovation and recently held its 30th Biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference where insightful technology panels were held. The Michigan GOP is the most social media savvy state party in the country with over 8K followers on Twitter and 11K likes on Facebook.

2. Texas Democratic Party (Klout score 65) Led by Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa, the party’s social media prowess was on display nationally with the ascendency of State Representative Wendy Davis’ filibuster into the national spotlight through the Twitter-verse. The Texas Democratic Party is at the social media forefront with over 14K followers on Twitter and 51K likes on Facebook.

3. Florida Democratic Party (Klout score 64) Led by Chairman Allison Tant, the Democratic party of Florida operates in a state that has long been on the national radar, especially since the 2000 Presidential election where the state decided the Presidency. With 24K likes on Facebook and over 17K followers on Twitter, the Florida Democratic Party shows that it is innovative in its use of social media.

4. Florida Republican Party (Klout Score 64) Led by Chairman Lenny Curry, the Florida Republican Party is tied with its competitor, the Florida Democratic Party, in the area of social media strength and innovation. The Florida GOP has over 15K followers on Twitter and 15K likes on Facebook and will need to utilize its social media strength in what is shaping up to be a competitive election year.

5. Georgia Democratic Party (Klout Score 61) Led by new Chairman DuBose Porter, the Georgia Democratic party has been wrought with internal controversy that led to the resignation of its most recent Chairman, Michael Berlon. Despite serious financial woes, the Democratic Party of Georgia has a strong social media presence with over 10K followers on Twitter and 12K likes on Facebook.

6. Virginia Democratic Party (Klout Score 61) Led by Party Chair Charniele Herring, the Virginia Democratic Party is coming off a successful election year in 2013 with the election of Democrats to Governor and Lt. Governor. With over 7K followers on Twitter and 10K likes on Facebook, the Virginia Democratic Party’s effective utilization of social media was a part of their victories in 2013.

7. California Republican Party (Klout Score 61) Led by Chairman Jim Brulte, the California Republican Party has a rich GOP tradition, but in recent modern times, California has been a blue state.  With over 13K followers on Twitter and over 9K likes on Facebook, the California Republican Party has in place the channels to begin to get its message out and rebuild.

8. North Carolina Republican Party (Klout Score 61) Led by Chairman Claude Pope, the North Carolina GOP operates in a red state whose influx of new residents and changing demographics has resulted in some success for the Democrats at the state-wide level, though not consistently. The NC GOP has a strong social media presence with over 10K followers on Twitter and over 10K likes on Facebook.

9. Republican Party of Virginia (Klout Score 60) Led by Chairman Pat Mullins, the Republican Party of Virginia has faced challenges in recent elections. Once a reliably red state, Virginia has become a purple state. With over 5K followers on Twitter and 8K likes on Facebook, the Republican Party of Virginia is one of the most social media savvy state parties in the country despite its recent losses.

10. Missouri Republican Party (Klout Score 60) Led by Chairman Ed Martin, the Missouri Republican Party has the advantage of a state that has been growing Republican over the years. With over 5K Twitter followers and 5K Facebook likes, the Missouri GOP effectively and consistently publishes content that results in the ability to recruit volunteers, donors and supporters.

At the near the end of 2013, these are the top ten most social media savvy state party organizations in the U.S. The list reflects gains by Republican state party organizations that have strengthened their social media presence for what will be a very competitive upcoming election year. America remains an evenly split country as far as party identification. No one party dominates. However the state parties that leverage the power of social media for message amplification, get out the vote and targeting efforts can do much to move the needle in their respective state.

Are Governors or College Football Coaches More Social Media Savvy?

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In the Southeast, college football is venerated and beloved. The head coaches of the football programs of a state’s flagship institutions are arguably the most influential people in a state. In 7 of the 10 Southeastern states, the highest paid public employee is the football coach at a public university.

The head football coach at a Southeastern public university has a very high profile. The coach is either praised or vilified depending on the outcome of a Saturday game. Successful football coaches in the South have enormous political capital that could translate to public office. However, many such as former UGA head football coach Vince Dooley, who considered a bid for U.S. Senate in 1986, decline to pursue a career in politics.

In today’s age of ESPN and round the clock media coverage of Southeastern football, many across the country can name a Southeastern state’s football coach, while not knowing the state’s Governor. For example, Nick Saban, the head football coach at the University of Alabama has high name recognition across the nation. Yet, how many can name the State of Alabama’s, current Governor, Robert Bentley?

However, in today’s new media environment, social media can level the playing field. Does the notoriety, celebrity and wealth of Southeastern football coaches translate into the social media space? Or are there Governors who are social media savvy enough to outpace the head football coaches in their state? Arc 3 performed an analysis of the Klout Scores and number of Twitter and Facebook followers for 10 Southeastern Governors and the head coaches of the collegiate football programs in their state. Here are a couple of Southeastern Governors whose social media prowess outpaces their football programs:

1. Governor Rick Scott (Klout Score 84): The first term Governor of Florida has over 40k followers on Twitter and 85k likes on Facebook. A successful entrepreneur before becoming Governor, he is credited with reducing the state’s unemployment rate from 11 percent to 7 percent. In the social media sphere he outpaces University of Florida Head Football Coach Bill Muschamp (Klout Score 65), Florida State University Head Football Coach Jimbo Fisher (Klout Score 27) and University of Miami Head Football Coach Al Golden (Klout Score 64). According to PeekAnalytics, Governor Scott has 156 times the social pull on Twitter as the average user. Social pull is a good measure of how influential an account’s audience is compared to the average Twitter user. Governor Scott’s social media prominence will be an asset as he runs for re-election in 2014 in the very competitive state of Florida.

2. Governor Pat McCory (Klout score 69): The recently elected Governor of North Carolina is social media savvy with over 18k followers on Twitter and over 47k likes on Facebook. A former Mayor of Charlotte, the pragmatic Governor has made economic development a focal point of his administration with some notable results. Forbes Magazine recently recognized North Carolina as having the nation’s 4th best business climate. As an excellent marketer for his state, he outpaces socially the head football coaches for both the University of North Carolina, Larry Fedora (Klout Score 62) and North Carolina State University, David Doreen (Klout Score 62). According to PeekAnalytics, on average, each of Governor McCory’s twitter followers has 631 connections across all social media platforms to make for a strong audience reach.

3. Governor Nikki Haley (Klout Score 84): With over 64k Twitter followers and 54k likes on Facebook, Governor Haley is a social media powerhouse. The daughter of Indian immigrants, the Governor was a speaker at the 2012 RNC Convention and is one of her party’s rising stars. The Governor’s social media prowess outpaces her state’s football program accounts, Clemson Football (Klout Score 66) and University of South Carolina Football (Klout Score 68). The head of the football programs for the respective schools, Dabo Swinney of Clemson and Steve Spurrier of South Carolina, have both demurred from Twitter usage, but their chief assistants have taken up the mantle. Governor Haley outpaces these top assistants, Chad Morris (Klout Score 51) and Jeff Scott (Klout Score 58)  of Clemson and Steve Spurrier, Jr. (Klout Score 82) and G.A. Mangus (Klout Score 49) of South Carolina. Running for re-election in 2014, Governor Haley has 200 times the social pull on Twitter as the average user according to PeekAnalytics. In addition, each of Governor Haley’s twitter followers has 1,578 connections across all social media platforms, which makes her audience reach 3.8 times the average twitter user.

The majority of head football coaches in the Southeast outranked their Governors in social media prowess. A head football coach’s success is largely based on his ability to recruit key players, and social media has become an important part of the recruiting process. Today’s players are now the first generation to have been born into the internet age. Social media is a vital way to reach and persuade them. The Governors of the states of Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina have recognized the power of social to recruit voters and market their states. It is no coincidence that these three Governors are also rising stars in their party. These Governors understand and appreciate the power of social media to build loyalty and create fans in the dynamic new media environment of today.

 

7 Ways to Use Facebook Hashtags in Politics

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With the introduction of hashtags and graph search by Facebook, hashtags have grown in their effectiveness as an advocacy and mobilization tool.  Hashtags have long been an effective tool on Twitter, helping to organize people by shared interest. Facebook, which has organized people by shared connection, had an inability to mobilize people by shared interest. With hashtags, Facebook allows users the ability to connect by interest in an expansive way.

With over 1 billion users, Facebook has a dynamic network in which a campaign or organization can utilize hashtags to reach extended, adjacent and far-off networks of people with similar interests. Once only great to organize people online and offline after you make a connection, Facebook with hashtags is an effective tool in organizing people of a shared interest, value or belief who are not yet socially connected.

Here are some tips for incorporating hashtags into Facebook page posts to promote your political content and connect with those of a shared interest.

1) Ideology: One of the easiest ways to promote your organization’s content is to reach those of a like ideological mind. The most popular ideology hashtags are #tcot, ‘top conservatives on twitter”  and #p2, “progressives who prioritize diversity and empowerment” and #tlot, “top libertarians on twitter”.

2) Party affiliation: Although there is a close correlation between ideology and party identification, in order to ensure that you reach all of those with a shared party affiliation, include a reference to your local, state or national party. The most popular hashtags are those associated with the respective state parties. For example in Georgia, the Republican Party hashtag is #gagop and the Democratic Party hashtag is #gadems.

3) Issue: In the promotion of a issue or policy, utilization of a hashtag to build support for the issue is an effective tool. Providing quality insights and updates on timely issues is a way to build supporters and followers. The Google QDF rule (quality deserves freshness) applies to search on social media networks by hashtag. People hunger for meaningful content on timely issues and will search to find it. For example, #Syria, is one of the most popular hashtags on social media, due to it being a timely and relevant issue as the U.S. considers military intervention there.

4) Location: Geolocation is critical in social media. As social, location and mobile merge together, the ability to connect with those in your immediate vicinity is important in the promotion of a post. Placing a hashtag that indicates your location can not only build credibility in your posts, but can draw the interest of those in your local area. People hunger for local news around them, and the power of connecting with people in your local area on social media cannot be underestimated. For example, state and local specific hashtags such as #gapol and #atl ensure that you are reaching people in your local area. If you are attending a place, event or conference see if there are hashtags that have been developed for that specific site. For example, at the national party conventions last year, #gop2012 and #dnc2012 were the respective hashtags for these events.

5) Social TV: There is a strong correlation between live television and social media. People love to share insights on TV programs on their 2nd screen and watch alongside others online to see their feedback. During last year, some of Twitter’s most trafficked moments occurred during the Presidential debates between President Obama and Governor Romney that aired on live TV. Utilizing hashtags for specific events that air on television is way to connect with followers and audiences and promote your posts. During the first Presidential debate, the Obama-Biden campaign utilized #ForwardNotBack effectively in promoting their candidate.

6) Look to the Past: History and sentimentality about the past is a fundamental part of the human experience. People love to remember and are drawn to content that reminds them of the “way things were”. Our civic institutions and political parties have a rich history in which content can be pulled. One of the fundamental parts of being a candidate is telling your biography and life experience. Utilizing a hashtag such as #TBT (Throwback Thursday) or #FBF (Flashback Friday) can be very effective in gaining followers as they are some of the most popular hashtags on social media.

7) Humor: Humor disarms and is a powerful weapon to articulate a point of view to someone who may or may not agree with you. Use of humorous hashtags can enlist followers and supporters for your cause in more subtle way. For example in the 2012 Presidential election, the Obama campaign utilized the #Romnesia hashtag to describe Governor Romney’s inconsistent policy stances over the years. Many hashtags or slogans that are started in earnest by a campaign or group can become hijacked by the opposite side who use the hashtags in a humorous way. In the 2012 campaign, the Obama-Biden team had put out the hashtag #forward, a key campaign slogan. The RNC quickly utilized the #forward hashtag to describe moving “forward” to $491 billion in higher taxes for Obamacare; deficits over $1 trillion; and $1.9 trillion in higher taxes.

With the continued integration of search and social, hashtags are becoming an increasingly important part of content and social advertising strategies for Facebook. The use of hashtags can connect your organization in a timely manner with the audience you are trying to reach and promote your content. So don’t forget the #hashtag in your next post.

 

 

 

Vine, Instagram and the Role of Short Video in Politics

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Candidates, elected officials and the media are beginning to experiment with short video platforms such as Vine, Tout and Instagram Video. Because of the shortness of the videos created and shared on social networks, these platforms are ideal for the emerging mobile market, which is growing exponentially.

C-SPAN used Tout at the 2012 GOP Convention in Tampa. Delegates to the RNC Convention were encouraged to submit 15-second Tout videos of their experience. Several submitted videos by RNC Delegates were aired on C-SPAN. Earlier in 2012, C-SPAN sent its Campaign 2012 bus on a week-long tour of universities and towns in North Carolina to get feedback from students and citizens on the Presidential campaign, asking them to submit their thoughts and ideas via Tout.

Vine, a mobile app owned by Twitter has grown significantly in popularity.  Vine allows users to create six-second videos and share them via Twitter and Facebook. President Obama recently signed up as a Vine user and has posted short videos ranging from the White House Science Fair to a note commemorating the anniversary of the Library of Congress. Several members of Congress have used Vine to mark everything from the submittal of legislative bills to the welcoming of constituent visitors to the Capitol.

The National Republican Congressional Committee produced one of the first political ads on Vine in April targeting Elizabeth Colbert-Busch in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District special election. The ad focused on Colbert-Busch’s support from Union groups after a recent controversy regarding the National Labor Relations Board and its initial opposition to the location of a Boeing plant in South Carolina. The ad received a good deal of earned media coverage.

Instagram video is new to the short video platform scene having been just released by Facebook in June. Instagram video allows users to create 15-second videos and share them via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursquare and e-mail. In another differentiation from Vine, Instagram has a “cinema feature” which helps to stabilize video shot within the app. Those elected officials who have long had Instagram accounts such as the White House and members of Congress, are starting to utilize the Instagram video feature. First Lady Michelle Obama recently uploaded videos of her South Africa trip with the President to her Instagram account. House Majority Whip, Kevin McCarthy recently uploaded an Instagram video of him playing Frisbee with the family dog at his home in California. Congressman McCarthy’s video received over 2k likes on Instagram.

Will other campaigns and elected officials follow suit in using  short video platforms? Only time will tell. One current challenge with using these platforms, are that they only allow you to shoot video with a mobile device and do not allow for the uploading of professional quality video shot separately. This results in less quality production of video for an ad. For example, Vine political ads have the quality of early release bootleg video recordings of movies playing in theaters, as they are a smartphone recording of a video produced elsewhere. Campaigns may be well-advised to use Vine and other short video platforms for  “insider” type shots and quick interviews that are shot originally on a smartphone.

Due to the continued growth of mobile, platforms such as Vine, Instagram and Tout are idyllic for the sharing of short video which users can view quickly while running errands or taking a break at work. Short video fits into the BuzzFeed news model of heavy and light content that the news is evolving into. However, these short video platforms are best for producing light hearted content until they have the capacity to upload production quality video.

Social Data and the Future of Politics

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Arc 3 Communications recently participated in Big Data Week in Atlanta. The goal of Big Data Week was to hold community events focusing on the social, political, technological and commercial impacts of Big Data. One of the many discussion items of the week among data scientists, marketers and social media experts was the impact of social data, primarily in the examination of consumer behavior and the ability to predict sales and craft marketing messages.

However, social data is also a powerful tool for understanding the American voter, and like traditional phone surveys can help in the understanding of voters’ opinions on an issue and their intensity.  Social data which consists of the analysis of tweets, posts and discussion items on social media channels, forums and blogs, may also be a future indicator in predicting voting behavior. A recent study by social scientists at Indiana University of 800 competitive Congressional races in 2010 and 2012 revealed that getting more tweet mentions relative to your opponent meant higher vote margins. The social scientists found that the frequency with which a Republican is named correlates with the Republican vote margin in the subsequent election, independently of other factors such as incumbency, media coverage, partisanship and demographics.

While the ability of tweets to predict the vote is a topic of much discussion, the use of social data as a tool in understanding the opinions of  voters and how to develop targeted messaging to them is well established after the last election cycle. The Obama 2012 campaign through its 200 digital and 50 analytics team members was able to utilize social data to develop effective message development and targeting strategies while also identifying advocates for the campaign.

In the area of advocacy, the Obama campaign developed an algorithm to score over 5oK accounts by political id on Twitter. This identification of accounts favorable to the President utilized the text of the tweets and did not look at @mentions. The analysts at the Obama campaign discovered that @mentions referencing the President were largely negative.  However through text analysis of tweets, the Obama campaign was able to identify Twitter users favorable to the President. The Obama campaign also looked at Twitter influence (number of tweets and followers) to score and identify favorable accounts. The Obama campaign then sent a direct message on Twitter from President Obama to the scored accounts asking them to advocate for the campaign, which in turn many of them ended up doing.

Another powerful use of social data for advocacy by the Obama campaign was the development of a Facebook App that enabled supporters to match their Facebook friends with the Obama campaign’s various lists and then send a message to undecided voters in key swing states asking them to take action such as sharing viral content, signing up for the campaign or voting on Election Day. This tactic known as Facebook targeted sharing, was developed by the Obama team to offset the 50% drop in landline usage among 18 to 29 year olds. Despite being difficult to reach by phone, 85% of this same group were friends with an Obama 2012 Facebook App user. Through the Facebook targeted sharing app over 600,000 Obama supporters were able to reach over 5 million people by Election Day. 20% of the 5 million reached took some action, such as registering to vote. Hundred of thousands used the tool in the days leading up to the election. The Obama campaign’s Facebook targeting app represented a significant  advancement in voter contact – overlaying traditional voter file data with social graph information and relationships.

The supplementation of a voter file with social data will become the norm by the 2016 election cycle and innovative campaigns are already taking this task on for 2014. One of those chief innovators on the Republican side is U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky whose campaign is creating a statewide voter file that adds social data so that the campaign can track and target individual voters based on what they’re saying online. According to Senator McConnell’s campaign, it has already matched the voting records of close to 40 percent of Kentuckians – more than 1 million voters – with their online persona. Senator McConnell’s campaign plans to monitor in real time the social and online outputs of voters in Kentucky in order to understand voter perceptions about issues and the candidate. Through this process, the campaign will be able to measure voter sentiment and the level of engagement on various issues.

Social data is the future of campaigns and a powerful new tool that can help a candidate understand voter opinions on key issues and serve as an advocacy tool. In time, social data may be able to accurately predict voting behavior in a race. As campaigns begin to experiment with social data, it will be critical that the proper metrics and algorithms are established. Campaigns will need to ensure that they connect their social media and social data operations to their off-line grassroots and get-out-the-vote operations in a meaningful way that translates into supporters and votes. This will become an increasing challenge for national and statewide campaigns in the immediate future.

 

 

 

 

The Effectiveness of Political Social Advertising

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Political advertising in national and statewide races has historically been dominated by large media buys on television. Of the billions spent on election ads, a small percentage has been spent on social media advertising, but that is about to change. Voters have gone off the grid.

In election 2012, over 40% of likely voters preferred other video sources to live TV, including laptop or PC and streaming devices such as DVD and DVR.  The majority of live TV watching was sports related. The average time spent watching video was still high at almost 20 hours a week, but nearly half of that time was not spent on live TV. Also, nearly half of likely voters owned a smartphone and 32% of likely voters owned a tablet.

We are moving to a new advertising paradigm in politics, and social advertising is a key part of it.  With candidates using Twitter and Facebook to stay connected with voters, keep up on news and contrast themselves with opponents, paid social is a natural fit for politicians. Social advertising is powerful as voters spend on average 10 hours per week on social apps and interest graph targeting helps candidates zero in on key voters. In the time that it takes to create 1 political 30-second spot, 15 paid social campaigns can be launched. These social ads can be created from breaking news and events in real time.

While Tumblr and LinkedIn offer ads, the overwhelming majority of social advertising is on Twitter and Facebook. Both Twitter and Facebook ads have proven to be effective in the area of politics.

Facebook messages have been shown to be an effective tool in get-out-the-vote efforts. In the prestigious journal, Nature, political scientist Dr. James Fowler found that a single get-out-the-vote message could produce a 2.2 % bump in voter turnout. More importantly, 80% of the impact came from friends sharing the message with others. This is the first definitive proof that social networks, as opposed to television or radio, have uniquely powerful political benefits. As Facebook bleeds into older demographics, campaign messages could have a much larger impact than the study found. Another key finding of the study was that candidates need users to voluntarily share the ads and messages with their friends for maximum effectiveness.

Many campaigns initially used basic Facebook Marketplace type ads, with a 25 character title, and a 90 character body, a 100 x 72 pixel image, which are the least ideal message delivery vehicles on Facebook. However a growing number of campaigns have found greater success at using ad units such as “Like” ads and sponsored stories, which encourage both current and potential fans to interact with page content.  Facebook has also recently allowed ads to be placed directly into Newsfeed which has resulted in better results.

Mitt Romney’s campaign for President utilized Facebook mobile ads last election cycle. These ads, which showed up in a Facebook user’s news feed, linked to Governor Romney’s page and indicated which friends were fans of the candidate. Zac Moffatt, digital director of Governor Romney’s campaign, claimed a remarkable click rate of 10% among people who viewed the ads.

Twitter ads have been proven effective to drive get-out-the-vote messages and target voters. Political campaigns are spending on the “promoted tweet,” which looks like a regular Twitter post and which advertisers pay to have show up at the top of a stream of tweets, or to people who might not see the tweet otherwise. Other political Twitter ads that may be placed are for Promoted Accounts and Promoted Trends. Like business ads on Twitter, political ads are clearly labeled as promoted with a purple promoted icon and information about who has purchased the ad. Based on demand from political campaigns, Twitter has allowed advertisers to tailor paid messages to people by state or region.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who faced Milwaukee’s Mayor Tom Barrett in an historic recall election in 2012, used Twitter political ads successfully. Governor Walker’s campaign utilized Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts to drive a get-out-the-vote message to targeted voters and influencers. The Walker campaign’s use of Promoted Tweets drove voters to landing pages with details on the Governor’s stance on key issues and strong calls to action to pledge to vote. A week before the election, Governor Walker’s campaign also used Promoted Accounts to grow followers among targeted influencers who could help spread the campaign message through retweets. Governor Walker’s Promoted Tweets campaign garnered an average engagement rate of 6%. In addition, the Governor increased his followers from 16,600 to over 23,000 with his Promoted Accounts campaign. Overall his Twitter ad campaign reached 946,000 potential voters. Governor Walker’s effective use of social advertising was a key component in mobilizing voters in his defeat of a recall.

The use of social advertising by political campaigns will continue to increase. Social ads are an attractive selling point to campaigns looking for a way to maximize their impact for little cost. However, these ads should only be run as a part of a larger digital strategy that promotes great content such as a video, an image or interactive experience. Great content and socials ads to promote it is a winning combination for candidates  that have a need to get their message out in a cost effective way.

 

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