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

January 26, 2014 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Civic Innovation/Gov. 2.0, Digital Marketing, Public Affairs, Social Media Audits and Listening analyses, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized Tagged With: Election 2012, Election 2014, Facebook, Social Media and Elections, Social Media and Political Campaigns, Twitter

Arc 3 Founder Patrick Burns’ Interview with KCAA Radio regarding Political Marketing

December 15, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Our founder, Patrick Burns, recently appeared on KCAA 1050 News Talk Radio to discuss the evolution of Political Marketing. In a wide-ranging discussion with Eric Holtzclaw, the host of the program “Laddering”, Burns discusses how campaigns market to voters is changing rapidly. Once a business that relied on gut instincts and mass media buys, major campaigns are beginning to utilize big data for targeted messages to voters through digital and social media. To listen to the program, please click on the link below:

Patrick Burns Interview with KCAA 1050 News Talk Radio regarding Political Marketing

 

 

Filed Under: Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Government, Public Affairs, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized Tagged With: Barack Obama, Big Data, Content Marketing and Elections, Election 2008, Election 2012, Political Marketing, Social Media and Campaigns, Social Media and Elecitions

The Effectiveness of Political Social Advertising

March 30, 2013 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

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.

 

Filed Under: Business Advocacy, Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Coalition Building, Government, Grassroots Mobilization, Social Media Audits and Listening analyses, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized Tagged With: Dr. James Fowler, Election 2012, Facebook, Governor Scott Walker, LinkedIn, Mitt Romney, MittRomney2012, Nature, Tom Barrett, Tumblr, Twitter, Zac Moffatt

The Ohio Vote for President 2012: A Choice Between Michael Jackson and The Beatles?

November 6, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Is the vote in Ohio for President between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney really a choice between Michael Jackson and The Beatles? In a recent social data study by Arc 3 Communications of supporters for the two candidates for President, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, utilizing Facebook’s Wisdom app, it was revealed that despite a statistical deadlock in the polls, a cultural divide exists between the most ardent supporters for the two candidates for President in the state of Ohio.

With Ohio being the battleground state most likely to determine the Presidency, hundreds of traditional Presidential polls have been taken among Ohio voters to measure their candidate preferences. Polls have consistently reflected a very close race with the most recent poll by Rasmussen Reports reflecting a statistical tie among the candidates. However, through the use of Facebook social data, Arc 3 was able to identify a significant cultural divide among the most ardent Ohio supporters for the candidates for President that provides deeper insights into the race.

For the study, Arc 3 Communications examined the Facebook pages of the two candidates, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney utilizing Facebook Wisdom app’s detailed demographic profile data and breakdown of page likes. Arc 3 analyzed Facebook Wisdom Network data on basic demographics; political ideology and interests; sources for news; interests in music, television shows and authors; sports favorites; and consumer choices. Among the key findings in each category:

  • Supporters of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have a four point variation along gender lines with more men supporting Romney and more women supporting Obama with slight variations in age and education level. However, significantly more supporters for Mitt Romney are married than supporters of Barack Obama.
  • The Obama and Romney groups break out along ideological lines with Obama supporters self-identifying as liberal and Romney supporters identifying as conservative.
  • Ohio supporters of the two candidates rely on very different news sources. Obama supporters’ favorite news source is National Public Radio, while Romney supporters prefer Fox News.
  • In the area of entertainment tastes, the candidates’ supporters differ in favorite musician/band,  television show and book author. The Obama supporters favorite musician/band is Michael Jackson, while the favorite musician/band among Romney supporters is The Beatles.  Obama supporters favorite television program is The Family Guy, while Romney supporters program of choice is House. Favorite authors for Obama and Romney supporters are Maya Angelou and James Patterson respectively.
  • A dichotomy exists in the preference for sports leagues – supporters of Obama are NBA fans, while Romney supporters are NFL fans. Obama supporters favorite sports team is the Cleveland Cavaliers , while Romney supporters favorite team is the Cincinnati Reds, with the Cleveland Browns being a very close second.
  • Both sides tend to agree in the area of prominent consumer choices, with both groups most favorite food and beverage product being Starbucks and favorite retailer being Walmart. Favorite restuarant of choice among both groups is Subway.

While the many traditional polls conducted by various media outlets, universities and polling firms have left the American electorate stumped and full of trepidation as to the outcome of the race in Ohio, the additional layer of Facebook social data offers deeper insights into the race. The social data reveals preferences not only in ideology but attitudes toward cultural issues. Obama supporters clearly have cultural preferences indicative of urban tastes, while Romney supporters have cultural preferences indicative of suburban and exurban tastes. This points to and reaffirms the old adage in politics, that elections are truly about getting out the vote. If signs on election night point to high voter turnout in the urban areas of Ohio, such as Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County and Toledo’s Lucas County it may be a long night for Mitt Romney. However, if turnout is high in the suburban areas of Ohio such as Cincinnati’s Warren and Butler Counties and Columbus’ Delaware County, Romney may be the next President of the United States. With Ohio being decided by just 262,000 votes in 2008, it will be vital that each campaign turnout their base in those areas of the state where they are the strongest in order to win.

 

Arc 3 Facebook Social Data Study Tables 

Basic Demographics

Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Male  54%  58%
Female  46%  42%
Married  36%  60%
Single  41%  25%
Average Age  33  39
College Education  58%  60%

 

Political Interests (Most Likes)

Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Ideology  Liberal  Conservative
Political Organization  Obama for America Ohio  RightChange
Government Official  Rep. Marcia L. Fudge  John McCain

 

News Sources (Most Likes)

Media/News/Publishing  NPR  Fox News
Magazine  Movie Drawer  Weekly Standard
News/Media  Yahoo!News  Newsbusters.org

 

Entertainment Interests (Most Likes)

Television Show  Family Guy  House
Musician/Band  Michael Jackson  The Beatles
Favorite Author  Maya Angelou  James Patterson

 

Sports Interests (Most Likes)

Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Sports League  NBA  NFL
Sports Team  Cleveland Cavaliers  Cincinnati Reds
Athlete  LeBron James  Michael Jordan

 

Consumer Interests (Most Likes)

Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Food/Beverage  Starbucks  Starbucks
Retail and Consumer Merchandise  Walmart  Walmart
Restaurant/Cafe  Subway  Subway

 

 

 

Filed Under: Campaign Management, Campaigns and Elections, Data Analysis, Public Affairs, Social Media Audits and Listening analyses, Social Media Relations, Uncategorized Tagged With: BarackObama2012, Butler County, Campaigns and Elections, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cuyahoga County, Delaware County., Election 2012, Election 2012 Ohio, Facebook, Fox News, House, James Patterson, Lucas County, Maya Angelou, Michael Jackson, Mitt Romney, MittRomney2012, National Public Radio, NBA, NFL, Ohio, Ohio Election 2012, Presidential Election 2012, Rasmussen Reports, social media, Starbucks, Subway, The Beatles, The Family Guy, Walmart, Warren County

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Husband, Father of 5, Founder of Arc 3 Communications - a public affairs agency. Over 30 years in politics and public affairs. Follow me on twitter and instagram at @patricklburns. I live, work and play in the community I grew up in. Read More…

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