This is part 3 of 3 blogs posts Past, Present and Future of Political Digital Marketing. You can find part 1 here, Is Your Campaign in the Past? Using old political digital marketing tactics is a sure sign you’re behind the times, and you can find part 2 here, Is Your Campaign Using Modern Political Digital Marketing Tactics?
This blog post is going to tell you whether your campaign is ready for the future of digital political marketing to raise money and lockdown votes. Make an appointment with Ryan Gravatt at Raconteur Media if you’re already concerned about your campaign’s political digital marketing.
These are predictions for the Future of Digital Campaigns based on trends and observations.
Less Facebook
Facebook may be less of a force for political campaigns in the future. By when? Maybe as soon as 2022. Large news outlets are reporting that Facebook is reducing its emphasis on political advertising, which is the main tool modern campaigns use to build lists and raise money. And other existing news and social sites are building platforms to compete with Facebook for advertising dollars that campaigns spend.
More Email List Building
Because Facebook is not a tool for reaching voters and your supporters in the future, campaigns will return to the very reliable tactics of List Building and sending email. Without the reach and consistency of Facebook as a tool, smart campaigns will start building a list of voters, donors, and supporters they can touch and mobilize.
Peer to Peer Mobile
Peer to Peer Mobile allows volunteers and supporters to use text messages through a platform to other supporters or to help you reach and contact voters. Think of it as blockwalking by text message. Any supporter can do it from anywhere. Here’s an example of a California county Democrat party using a Facebook Group to recruit locals to text for Beto O’Rourke in his 2018 U.S. Senate race.
Delivering Targeted Video
Want the power of TV without the cost? Then you’re looking for targeted video. Make an appointment with Ryan Gravatt to learn how to get it. Delivering targeted video will leap from social media to the living room TV. The media industry calls this “Over The Top” (OTT) and it refers to any content people view via a high-speed Internet connection instead of using a cable or satellite provider.
We can analyze any audience, determine their OTT viewing habits and craft a budget to sufficiently reach them with video advertising they consumer only with OTT viewing. This eliminates the guesswork of how much of your audience is seeing your ads. We can also mix traditional TV media buying and distribute the budget efficiently.
How? We connect our network partners to our voter data and place the ads to target our data segments. Already in the 2020 cycle, our team is planning targeted video campaigns that touch voters across the county from January 2020 to Election Day.
Multimedia Websites
Campaigns will need Websites to load quickly and have more video than images and text. Voters are becoming more accustomed to watching messages instead of reading political messages. With OTT growing, voters will expect the candidate to have videos. This trend helps those campaigns that rely less on Facebook and more on their own direct communication that drives voters into their engagement funnel.
A Larger Role in Fundraising
Campaigns should start planning a path toward a positive ROI with digital fundraising. The days are gone when you throw something on social media to see what happens. This jackpot style fundraising is past its prime and it’s no longer attracting the eyeballs and clicks it once did. Smart political digital marketing teams know how to build a list that raises money for campaigns. It takes time and investment, but starting now will ensure your campaign is ready for the future of fundraising. The hallmarks of a good trajectory are a gradual increase in the donors on your list and a gradual increase in the number of donations.
Your campaign is ready for the Future IF your…
- Email list building strategy depends less and less upon Facebook
- Voter targeting strategy depends less on Facebook
- Digital outreach is across many channels and platforms
- Delivering OTT video to voters
- Fundraising increases and provides a positive ROI