Brands Exit Facebook Ads, Should Local Candidate's Stop Advertising Too?

Facebook is under siege by large corporations, demanding that they take ownership and accountability of the hate speech and radical posts across its network. Most have learned over time that Facebook rewards those who post outrageous claims and "click bait" by pushing up these results in the feed. Any press is good press... well that time has come to an end.

In the last 3 days major brands including Coca-Cola, Unilever and Honda have all backed out of Facebook Ads and some are pulling out of social media all together until the end of the year! (Unilever to Halt US Ad Spend on Facebook and Twitter Through 2020) This is a big deal because not only do these major brands spend millions of dollars on advertising but they create an immediate association of Ads running on Facebook to be unauthentic.

• Do local political candidates want to be viewed as unauthentic?

• Do local political candidates want to be taking sides with Facebook?

• Facebook has become the place for hate speech and radical views - do local political candidates want to be next to these posts?

Houston... We have a problem? Is Mark Zuckerberg going to wake up and do something about it? Maybe...

Facebook did uncouple Instagram Ads from Facebook Ads. This means you don't need a Facebook account to create an Instagram Ads account. many questions arise about the timing of this change... the same week of the boycott?

Facebook has repeatedly gone against the status quo in Silicon Valley and stayed hands off. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg met with the president, squarely placing his bet on the right? So now he's found himself, Facebook, and the entire social media ad space in a pickle. This is all happening on what is setting up to be the biggest election in modern US history. One that will surely be fought over and one that will set records for online ad spend.

Who wins in a world without legitimate ads on social media?

How do local candidates prepare for the 2020 election, not knowing if Facebook and others will just turn off ads?

Or worse yet, what happens if the government steps in... as it already started to with the executive order on section 230 ?

Electable Advertising believes having a presence on Facebook is important. Facebook can act as your town hall for your constituents. It is the place where your supporters can interact with you, in essence, its an echo-chamber of you and your supporters.

Now being able to get to those who aren't your friends is and always will be a challenge. You need to engage these folks but at this point, Facebook looks like the wrong place to be doing this. The stigma of Facebook today, along with the ad boycott, gaining recognition on Facebook platforms could put your reputation at risk.

Local Candidates need to back up a bit and look across the rest of the Internet. Website traffic and online video traffic has surged, especially across news, cooking and family sites. There is a massive opportunity for local candidates to move Facebook ad budgets to display and video ads and be seen and recognized in a safer environment.

What are your thoughts on advertising on Facebook?

No Political Ads on Facebook & Instagram for the 2020 Election? Really?

There was a change to advertising on Facebook and Instagram last week, profiles can now limit and opt-out of political advertising. So, what does that mean for the local politician trying to build their name ID?

Like it or not over the last four years, Facebook (and Instagram) have tried to do its best to ignore the fact that their platforms have become a hotbed for political advertising. (How Russia weaponized social media, got caught and escaped consequences). Mark Zuckerberg and his policy team is never quite sure what do about the problem, so they have shifted from supporting the freedom of speech strategy, to the new opt-out policy strategy.

This new “opt-out option” is in response to the mounting pressures they face in the political arena, but falls short in their attempt at “doing something”. So for now, they have chosen to launch a big splashy headline and PR to “Protect Us” from political ads.

Yes there is now an option for you to go into Facebook and opt out of political ads, BUT this option has been a part of online advertising for a long time and the numbers of opt outs is usually less than 15%!

To Learn how to Opt-Out of Political Ads See Video

The reality is that your friends and relatives are still going to Facebook and are going to leave their post. Companies will still buy ads and Facebook will still be an echo-chamber in people’s daily life. And yes, we will still see political advertising.

But how does this affect a local candidate?

If a local candidate planned to include Facebook as a part of their paid advertising plan, they must consider the effects of these changes.

1. Will the opt-out policy at Facebook reach fewer voters?

2. Will opt-out options increase as the November election cycle heats up?

3. Will further barriers to political advertisers affect the value or results for Facebook ads? Most likely, political advertising being overly scrutinized by Facebook which causes delays to their release or for the links to websites page no longer working, which defeats the desired interaction most local politicians are looking for.

To sum it up – The idea that this change within Facebook/Instagram will end Political Ads is just not true.

• Unless Facebook places the opt out front and center when everyone logs onto the app, few will go into their settings to opt out.

• This is a big splashy “opt-out” headline that just brings more attention to the political ads on the site and in most minds, delegitimizes the political ads posted.

• Facebook Advertising should still be a considered be a part of your 2020 Local Political planning but should continue to be questioned as to the value and net worth.

We would love to hear if you have opted-out of political ads or if you knew of the policy change and how to turn these ads off?

Why We Started Electable

Electable Advertising was founded on the simple premise, local Municipal Candidates across the country need an effective and cost effective way to leverage online advertising. Prior to Electable Advertising, Municipal Candidates wasted over 50% of their online ad budget by either advertising to non-voters or voters outside their district. This was due to the ineffective poor targeting and outdated marketing tactics.

In recent years a Candidate campaign game plan looked like the following;

1. Find the local printer, print yard signs

2. Figure out the local direct mail company (most likely the same company that had been printing mail pieces before the Internet was in every home).

3. Arrange to have T-Shirts or vote 4 me buttons made

4. Start a Candidate Facebook page, engage with your audience - most likely your friends and neighbors who know you and are voting for you anyway

So why would a Candidate in 2020, use tactics that were successful in 1984?

Local Candidates in 2020 can NOW leverage the tools and strategies large national campaigns have been using for the past 10 years. Today's campaigning tactics are available online and can create targeted awareness and introduce you and build your name ID, influence voters and get your message out to voters in your area.

So how do they do this?

The New Candidate campaign game Plan looks like this;

1. Own your Facebook presence - The Candidate should be active on Facebook treating it as a “town hall” to engage with voters and communicate their story.

2. Build a Website, if your budget allows. Your website should not cost more than 5% of your advertising budget. If it does, you can save your money and just link any messaging to your Facebook.

3. Still visit your local printer but spend roughly ½ of what you had planned. Realizing people are now staying home more due to Covid.

4. Invest in a digital direct mail campaign/Digital Walk List program. This is what Electable has created, specifically to AMPLIFY the direct mailers, the walk lists and the Facebook engagement.

5. You will need to allocate and shift an extra amount of your budget based on a tight/competitive race spending more on digital walk lists to get out to those crucial voters. Another suggestion is to sponsor a local event, fair or gathering to generate votes. Also leave enough budget to be ready to for a final push leading up to those final days of the election.

The team at Electable Advertising is focused on helping Local Candidates execute household level campaigns, eliminating waste and moving them into the world of strategic advertising.

• Yes, this level of targeting is available!

• Yes, it is budget conscious!

• Yes, we are here to help and can get campaigns live in less than 5 days.

We started Electable to help the Local Candidate with the strategies and tactics State & National Candidates have been using for over ten years.

Visit www.electableadvertising.com to reach an Electable Representative near you.