Political Campaigns Adapt To New Digital Realities

It won’t by itself determine who wins the election. It may not even reflect who is running the most effective online campaign operation overall. But it’s worth noting that Rep. Tom Cotton’s Facebook page has more than 239,000 likes, while Sen. Mark Pryor’s has 19,000.

And that’s important because Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of digital media have become a vital part of campaigning at all levels.

“You can harvest and mine this data on voters, learn what makes them tick, while also at the same time communicating your message to these voters, and you’ve really just started a discussion and a dialogue,” said Skot Covert, director of digital media for the Republican consulting firm Impact Management Group.

“So whereas before, people said, ‘OK, we’ll mess with it, we’ll do it, but we really don’t truly believe in it,’ I think now, just about everyone on all sides, they really do believe in the power and the effectiveness of digital media,” Covert said.

LINE ITEM EXPENSE
Certainly, TV advertising is still king in the biggest races. According to the Center for Public Integrity, more than 50,000 television ads have run this year to convince voters to elect either Pryor or Cotton.

But digital media enables campaigns to do what traditional advertising doesn’t – target specific voters with specific messages. It allows voters to interact with campaigns and then spread the campaign’s message with their likes and shares.

It’s an effective fundraising tool. And it enables campaigns to collect data that they can use to build a profile and then target voters with individualized messaging.

“Even as recently as four or six years ago, smaller campaigns beyond the presidential level were using social media as an add-on in some ways,” said Bruce Sinclair, director of campaigns at The Markham Group, a Democratic strategic firm. “Now it’s an integral part of a complete campaign operation. … It’s a line item that gets written in on day one, not an add-on based on funds available.”

During an interview on Sept. 29, Covert pointed out that a post by his client, Rep. Andrea Lea, on her Facebook page 16 hours earlier already had 105 likes. Her opponent in the race for state auditor, Democrat Regina Hampton, had not posted since July 30 – two months earlier. In fact, as of Oct. 23, she still hadn’t.

Covert knows this because he’s paying attention.

“It’s easily the cheapest yet most effective medium to talk to voters, but for whatever reason, they’re just not making a push,” he said. “Down-ballot races can’t afford TV, and even if they could, they’re going to get lost in the mix.”

ONLINE SUCCESS
What makes a successful online marketing campaign?

You’ve got to get people’s attention, said the Markham Group’s Sinclair. According to Covert, online efforts must inspire interaction and engagement.

Campaigns must give voters something to share.

“When that happens, they’re lending their name to your candidacy, your campaign, what you believe in, and when that happens, politics becomes personal,” he said. “Whereas before, it was just some guy with a lot of yard signs or a lot of TV ads. Now it’s, well, my cousin, Joe, he supports this person, and I know that because I’m seeing him share his content online. And so it becomes personal, and I think at that point you convert a lot more undecided voters or even voters you might not otherwise have to your side.”

In order to get attention online, a campaign must post engaging, current content. Good candidates were prepared for the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision with graphics already designed and emails already drafted, Covert said.

Back when everyone was pouring buckets of ice water on their heads – candidates had to do that, too.

“Stale content about old news stories, to me it’s irrelevant,” he said. “You’ve got to be in the today. … I live in the day. It’s what are we doing today to win? And then the next day is, what are we doing that day to win?”

Covert said campaigns typically gravitate toward one type of digital media tool based on the skills and preferences of campaign operators. He praised the Facebook campaigns of Republican candidate for governor Asa Hutchinson and Cotton, while he said Pryor is running a strong email effort “almost to the point it’s annoying.”

“I don’t think there’s any one campaign that’s just soaring off the charts,” he said. “I think they’re all performing very well. They have high-profile digital firms consulting their races, and they just have different strengths.”

HEAD START
Nationally, Democrats got a head start in digital media with President Obama’s groundbreaking 2008 campaign, but in Arkansas it’s been the other way around. At one time, Republicans had far more of a presence on Twitter, but Democrats realized they were losing the narrative and have picked up their efforts.

Mike Ross, Democratic candidate for governor, often encourages his audiences to like his page on Facebook. Like Covert, Ross spokesman Brad Howard said the key to online campaigning is giving supporters something they can pass along.

“You can pay for all the likes you want on social media, but it’s the organic nature of it, that you always want to post content that people are going to like and share and share with their friends,” Howard said.

Ross’ campaign has a text message list of about 1,000 people. Subscribers are asked for their zip codes when they sign up so the campaign knows where they are and can alert them to Ross-related events in their areas.

Howard said it’s an effective get-out-the-vote tool in an election where turnout will be key.

“You can’t ignore a text message,” Howard said. “So once you voluntarily sign up for it, and you get an alert, you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, I need to go vote today.’ So I think that’s going to be particularly helpful, especially with the younger demographic.”

Facebook’s treasure trove of data can help candidates target and communicate with voters.

Jon Gilmore, Hutchinson’s campaign manager, said if his candidate has a meet-and-greet in Forrest City, the campaign can target the news feeds of every person who has liked the page within 30 miles with an invitation. Twitter doesn’t reach as many people or provide campaigns with nearly as much data, but it’s an important tool for reaching influencers in politics and the media.

The Ross and Hutchinson campaigns both said that online campaigning is merely a tool.

While the use of online marketing has expanded dramatically, television still reaches a larger audience. Gilmore said the Hutchinson campaign “will spend well over six figures on digital and online advertising and websites and all of that.” While that’s a lot of money, it represents only a fraction of the campaign’s total expenditures.

“Not everybody in Arkansas is on Facebook and Twitter, but I would go as far as to say that nearly everyone watches television,” Gilmore said.

OLD WORLD, NEW WORLD
Meanwhile, old-fashioned retail campaigning still has an important place. “I still think that people would rather hear from a candidate in person than hear from them in a digital ad that gets in their way when they’re trying to click on something else,” Howard said.

Looking to the near-term future, digital media’s influence will continue to grow, though Covert expects more evolution than revolution. Campaigns will improve at using the tools and platforms that already exist. Facebook really wasn’t built for politics, so professionals during the 2016 election cycle will create better practices and strategies to integrate it with their voter files, reducing waste.

And in the long-term? Could a campaign eventually skip old-fashioned media entirely and advertise only online?

“I think you can absolutely make a dent with that social push,” Covert said. “Is it going to be enough? I haven’t seen it be enough yet, but again the world is changing. Every day we’re getting new tools, new features, new ways to communicate with voters. So, again, I don’t think it will seal the deal this cycle, but who knows?”