Social Media Tips 12-14.
Social Media Tips 9-11.
Social Media Tips 7-8.
Social Media Tips 4-6.
21 Social Media Tips for ’21.
Voter Contact: What Voters Want
When is it ever a good time to guess how voters want to hear from your campaign?
I can’t think of a good time either. Especially, not now.
When is it ever a good time to guess if voters are hearing your message?
I can’t think of a good time, either. Especially, not now.
When you start campaigning, Raconteur knows you may need to pivot your strategy and adapt to the pandemic environment. We hope these survey results help you with your planning. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do for you.
“Thinking about candidates campaigning for the November 2020 general election, what methods do you prefer to communicate and learn about candidates who will appear on the ballot?”
Direct Mail – 35%
E-mail – 35%
Social Media – 24%
In-person gathering or event – 12%
Text Message – 8%
Someone from the campaign comes to your door – 3%
Phone Call – 2%
If you’d like to see the crosstabs or any related data to these results, contact Ryan Gravatt.
WPAi conducted the poll and its CEO Chris Wilson had this to say, “As head of Digital Strategy for Senator Cruz in his 2016 campaign for president I saw first-hand the impact of effective advertising on social media as we took advantage of the evolution of traditional campaigning. Governor Abbott further proved this in both 14 and 18 with an unmatched data-driven social media-heavy digital effort. Any campaign that ignores that evolution does so at their own peril and will ultimately fail to be competitive.”
Our clients are implementing our recommendations and they are seeing good results. We continue to see large swells of traffic and engagement across social media and Websites during the pandemic. Contact me if you’d like a consultation about how you can do a better job with your digital presence in these changing times.
The COVID-19 pandemic will change the way we campaign in 2020.
Your traditional tactics to contact voters in one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many scenarios will change.
Are you willing to change?
Are you ready to change?
Answer ‘No’ and you are risking the success of your next election.
Geofencing and Geotargeting for Digital Advertising
Geofencing
Geofencing is an advertising tactic that draws a virtual fence around a location. Geofencing ads can be seen by all individuals within this barrier. This is useful for targeting people who are at an event, who are in a building or who come and go from a location. We can also use this to track individuals who visit a certain location so that later we can serve digital advertising to them.
Geotargeting
Geofencing Example
Geotargeting Example
Digital Campaign Tactics to Bolster During the COVID19 Pandemic
We hope you and your families are well. Exercise preventative measures and show grace as often as you can during this challenging time.
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way we campaign in 2020. Rallies, gatherings and door-to-door canvassing will be a smaller part of the 2020 elections. Further, the wake of COVID-19 is going to reduce how much campaigns will raise and spend.
Currently, across the board with our clients, we are seeing a double-digit lift for Reach and Engagement on social media in the last 14 days compared to the previous. Incredible considering that’s when many of our clients were campaigning. We also see 85% of the audience is using a mobile device. Raconteur will continue tracking the trend of higher Reach and Engagement and mobile device use.
When the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, campaigns still will need to contact voters but the choices will be reduced to what’s possible, what’s affordable and what’s sustainable.
Digital Tactics to Bolster Now for Your Campaign
Build Your Email List – Ask supporters on Facebook to join your email list. A paid list-building campaign is most effective, but a series of organic posts on Facebook can work, too. Some inviting language with a simple link to your Website’s Join or Volunteer page will work.
Build Your List of Cellphone Numbers – Because you can call AND text a voter with a cellphone, you can connect quickly, cheaply and efficiently. Build your list of cellphone numbers by asking supporters to provide their cellphone in a Join form on your Website. Voters read a text message within 5 minutes of receiving it. And voters read 95% of text messages. A warning here is to be careful of shortcuts. Sending unsolicited text messages can backfire.
Use Mobile Device Targeting – Raconteur is working with one of the most unique data sets in politics for voter persuasion and mobilization. With geofencing ( ads we deliver to people within a virtual perimeter ) and geotargeting ( ads we selectively deliver to people because of their location, such as their home, or where they visit, such as a gun store ), we can deliver messages for your campaign across all digital networks and tailor them to specific voters. This type of advertising works for you and the voter, who may be using technology to screen interactions at their front door.
Leverage AI for Engagement – You can use AI to reach individuals who are engaging with your social media. So while you’re working on other things, these tools can start a conversation with a supporter who Likes a post from yesterday, a week ago or a year ago. The AI can direct supporters to your Website to join your campaign.
Digital Communications allow you to speak directly to your voters in realtime. The flexibility of digital ads allows campaigns to launch messaging in a matter of minutes. Digital Communications can be paused when you need to shift your message. Voter contact, fundraising, how to vote, where to vote, when to vote… the changes are rippling through the system. Adapting is key.
Undoubtedly, you’re pausing or revising your campaign plans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When you resume your campaign, you will need to campaign differently. Voters may behave differently, which means your campaign will need to adapt.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions or thoughts about implementing any of this.
Thank you,
Ryan Gravatt
Political Advertising Changes From Google, Facebook and Twitter
In case you haven’t read this in the WSJ, Google, Facebook and Twitter are making changes to how political campaigns use these platforms for targeted digital advertising.
Fortunately, Raconteur is ahead of the curve, and none of these changes will hamper our efforts for our clients. We continue to deliver targeted ads to voters and donors to lock down votes, raise money and mobilize supporters.
Facts about Raconteur’s capabilities:
1. We identify, track and deliver ads to voters and donors without using these three networks. Like the presidential campaigns, we refresh our data daily.
2. We have a unified data system to deliver ads efficiently to voters and donors across the digital landscape and on Connected TV. This keeps our targeting very accurate and improves our efficiency.
3. We are experts in compliance on Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other networks. This is how we are confident that these changes won’t affect our clients.
Please make an appointment if you want to discuss this in more detail. I look forward to hearing from you.
Some other news on this:
Facebook Weighs Steps to Curb Narrowly Targeted Political Ads, Nov. 21
Tech firms are reversing a trend of offering ever-more precise tools that in some cases facilitated the spread of misinformation
Google to Restrict Political Ad Targeting on Its Platforms, Nov. 20
Advertisers will no longer be able to target political ads based on users’ interests inferred from browsing or search history
Here’s the good, the bad and the troubling.
The Good
These changes will keep bad actors out of elections.
– Misinformation campaigns will be a smaller be part of the 2020 cycle.
– This will also keep bad, ham-handed vendors out of elections. Those folks who say, “Oh yeah, we do digital” won’t be capable of running high-performing digital ads for your campaign. Google and Facebook are looking for agencies will a level of expertise and certifications that comes from experience on their platforms. These networks still will allow data for targeting, but just not in campaigns that have the hallmarks of amateurs or intentionally contrived. Again, these networks won’t judge the content of your ads. They’ll evaluate how the ads are done.
– Twitter has never been a valuable network for targeting voters with advertising. So nothing lost here.
The Bad
These changes can block legitimate advertising campaigns. Without smart planning and execution, the ads on Google and Facebook can sit in a holding pattern.
The Troubling
Digital advertising is still a frontier in political campaigning, and it has given many a share of voice that had been expensive to acquire. Google, Facebook and Twitter are curtailing innovation. They are treating campaigns differently than corporations, nonprofits and other organizations that target their advertising.
I hope this is good information for you. Please make an appointment if you want to discuss this in more detail. I look forward to hearing from you.
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