Harneet Singh

Conservatives Leadership Race 2022- FB Advertising tracker

Conservatives: Leadership Race 2022 – Facebook Advertising spending tracker

Leave a Comment / Campaign Advertising Insights

In Canada, Facebook has emerged as a leading digital platform for political advertising over the past few years. Regardless of whether it is a federal, provincial, or municipal election campaign, candidates are taking advantage of the platform because of the high return on investment and wide audience reach that it provides. This holds true for party leadership elections, where a digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns can play a pivotal role in shaping candidates’ strategies. With the Conservative Party’s race for a new party leader around the corner (scheduled for September 10, 2022), each of the six verified candidates is taking advantage of Facebook to strengthen their positions and build the trust among their supporters. During the months before the elections, it is fascinating to observe how much political candidates are spending on social media advertising, on Facebook in particular. In order to make tracking the leader’s advertising expenditures easier for you, we present here a dynamic Facebook advertising spending tracker. With this tool, you can see the total amount of money spent on Facebook by the six Conservative party leadership candidates: Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis, and Pierre Poilievre. The data is directly sourced from Facebook’s advertising library and will be updated daily based on the last 30 days! Go ahead and take a look!  Our Insights: Currently, we observe an interesting dynamic between the six candidates vying to become the next leader of the Conservative Party. As of now, Pierre Poilievre is taking the lion’s share of spending, nearly $25,000. This amounts to almost $5K more than what all of the other candidates have spent combined. Digital and social media marketing agencies for political campaigns are likely to analyze these trends and adjust their strategies accordingly. Will this advertising strategy enable Pierre Poilievre to take over the reins of the Conservative Party of Canada and potentially form the next government? We shall see! Stay tuned to our blog for more insights and updates regarding digital media advertising in Canadian politics!

Facebook Advertising For Political Campaigns in Canada: 6 facts to consider

Facebook Advertising for Political Campaigns in Canada – 6 Facts to Consider

Political Digital Strategy

In the run-up to Ontario Provincial Elections 2022, digital political advertising is in full swing. During election cycles, political parties hire marketers and agencies to design and manage digital campaigns, including Facebook advertising, to help them woo voters across their ridings.  This article serves as a timely reminder of why Facebook advertising is essential to any successful political campaign that aims to grow the voters’ support. In failing to understand the benefits and challenges of Facebook advertising, you would be missing out on a potentially game-changing platform for your campaign’s success, especially when considering the insights from a digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns. Here’s a list of 6 facts that you should know and consider about Facebook advertising for political campaigns in Canada: 1. Advertising on Facebook is extremely popular Did you know that Canadians are the world’s most active Facebook users? Accordingly, about 72% of all Internet users in Canada are currently on Facebook, and most of them check their pages several times a day. Furthermore, people often use social media for more than two hours every day on average. Hence, political leaders cannot ignore Facebook since their voters – present and potential – are on it every single day. Given that, during last year’s federal elections in Canada (2021), the leading parties ran a total of more than 14,000 ads for a total worth more than $6.7 million between June 17th, 2021, and Sept. 14th, 2021. Facebook offers a very engaging and powerful platform for your campaign to find and reach your constituents. 2. Facebook provides precise audience targeting Facebook advertising has the advantage of reaching your target audience quickly and effectively. As an advertisement or micro-targeting platform, Facebook offers the best results. People can be selected based on their age, gender, interests, profession, behaviour, and location. Facebook’s targeting capabilities are unlike any other platform and you can combine its features to ensure you have a very targeted audience of potential voters in your riding. As audience quality is more important than audience size, you should reach voters who are likely to support you during the next election as opposed to random users. You have many options when it comes to selecting audiences. However, setting up those audiences as part of a specific strategy is certainly necessary to achieve your political objectives. 3. Facebook advertising is critical for your campaign In the last few years, Facebook has reduced the visibility of pages in news feeds, which is an unpleasant update of algorithms for all political organizations and candidates. Even Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that Facebook will prioritize publications from friends and family. To summarize, the days of organic reach and easy viral success on Facebook are over. Hence, it is necessary to utilize Facebook advertising to achieve success. Despite the fact that you are building a community of followers, you should be aware that only a few of them actually see your posts. If your political organization wishes to adapt to the current situation by expanding its reach and voter base, Facebook advertising is an absolute necessity. 4. Best ROI and Measurable Results In spite of Facebook’s wide range of audience targeting options and features, its advertising costs are relatively low. We should not forget that here, too, the price is determined by many factors, including the overall objective of the campaign, the advertisement quality, the size and relevance of the audience, as well as the level of competition. You are able to run ads for any budget you can afford, even as low as $5 a day per campaign. This means that Facebook’s Ads Manager is a great tool for you to experiment with political advertising and measure ROI before doubling down on a winning strategy. Facebook also provides measurable results, including metrics regarding demographics, click-throughs, messages sent, collecting leads, assessing a party’s awareness, measuring ad views, and engagement, etc.  When used wisely, all of these metrics can provide a wealth of information about current results, user behaviour, and more. As you can imagine, reading them and following up takes many years of experience, and this is why it is always valuable to engage a team of digital experts that can help you craft the winning strategy for your campaign. 5. Building and maintaining a presence is a big responsibility On a social networking site, users spend approximately two to three seconds on a post. If it does not catch their attention, they seek out more interesting content. Moreover, people scroll through 90 meters of mobile web content each day. Thus, an engaging mix of images, videos, and text is necessary to attract attention. Successful Facebook advertising for political campaigns requires a clear message with a vision that’s well-crafted in a short piece, but that can be difficult to achieve. In this context, engaging a digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns can provide the expertise needed to create compelling content that resonates with voters In a nutshell, it is crucial to consider how sponsored advertisements are designed to reach the specific audience – whether the political campaigns are aware of who they are talking to and who their potential supporters are, or whether the advertisements are simply “scrollable” and will have no impact on the audience. 6.   Facebook Advertising for Political Advertising isn’t easy to manage, despite improvements While Facebook has made many user-friendly updates to its ad manager and business manager tools, it still isn’t an intuitive platform for most users. Many political candidates and parties believe that a simple ‘boost’ post is the easiest and most effective way to get started. The reality couldn’t be far from that. Achieving good results and optimizing campaigns to bring the best returns for advertisers including political campaigns requires a great deal of experience and skills. A properly managed account and a well-structured campaign strategy can make it possible to advertise effectively on Facebook. Defining which metrics to monitor is yet another important task. Another critical component of any digital political

social media in Canadian politics

Facebook Advertising in 2021 Canadian Federal Elections: 4 Facts You Must Know

Political Digital Strategy

Over the last few years, political digital marketing has become more and more prevalent in Canada. In terms of social media platforms where political advertising is permitted, Facebook and its platforms have a lopsided share. Ever since new political advertising legislation in Canada mandating digital archives and other reforms was enacted, many platforms such as Twitter and TikTok responded by opting out of participation. Due to additional public pressure, especially after the 2016 US Elections, these platforms went a step further and banned all paid political advertising altogether. Therefore, Facebook advertising, particularly when guided by a digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns, presented an ideal opportunity for Canadian political parties and candidates aiming to woo the population online. Interested in seeing how this impacted the recently concluded Canadian federal elections? Here are four facts regarding Facebook advertising in the 2021 elections that you must know. Total spending by all parties combined In terms of digital marketing for political campaigns, parties and candidates did not hesitate to spend millions of dollars. As per data publicly available, the total budget for Facebook advertising for all parties combined was more than C$6.7 million between June 17th and September 14th, 2021. This doesn’t include the millions of dollars spent combined by all candidates and third-party advertisers. For comparison, the amount spent by the three parties on their entire digital campaign in 2019 totaled around C$9.7 million. As can be seen from these statistics, politicians are increasingly establishing an online presence on a continuous basis. Given the high engagement levels and measurable return-on-investment of digital platforms, we might reasonably assume that those numbers will increase in future elections.  Number of Ads placed on Facebook by all parties It is important to note that in 2021, the number of ads made on Facebook alone varied considerably among the three major parties. Based on information from Facebook’s Ad Library, the Liberals made over 12,000 Facebook advertisements during the last election. Comparatively, the Conservative Party ran only 1243 advertisements, while the New Democratic Party produced 1148 advertisements. As shown by the statistics, Liberals are the ones putting up more Facebook ads than any other party. In total, the Liberal Party placed five times as many advertisements as the New Democrats and the Conservatives combined. This speaks volumes (pun intended) about their sophisticated digital media strategy and resourceful social media team. The Liberal Party of Canada outspent its rivals Each of the three leading parties in Canada spent a proportionate amount on their advertising relative to the number of advertisements they ran. In the period between June 17, 2021 and September 14, 2021, the Liberal Party spent a staggering amount of $2.3 million. Comparatively, the Conservative Party had spent C$1.4 million during the same period while the New Democratic Party spent C$1.1 million. Taking these numbers into account, there are two important conclusions that can be drawn. First, the Liberal Party spent more on Facebook advertising than the Conservatives and NDP combined. Second, they spent twice as much as the Conservative Party which won the popular vote but still lost key ridings and their chance to govern. A/B testing and dynamic advertising: The winning formula In addition to a difference in the number of ads and money spent, there was also a key difference in the number of ad variations. While the Conservatives published over a thousand different ads on Facebook, the Liberals generated more than 5,000, and the NDP conducted approximately 750. This data demonstrates that the Liberals had a more sophisticated marketing strategy than their competitors. Having a variety of content layouts and messages indicates that the Liberal team was proactively responding to online engagement, voter preferences and demographic targeting. This dynamic digital advertising phenomenon clearly stands out as the winning formula employed by the Liberal Party of Canada, possibly enhanced through a digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns, to retain power for the third time. There was also an indication of this trend during the previous federal elections in 2019, where the Liberals ran 7500 ad variations, while the Conservatives ran about a thousand ad variations between June and October. During the 2021 Federal Elections, it was the Liberals who clearly dominated Facebook advertising and digital marketing when compared with its national counterparts. The data does not only relate to the amount of money spent on Facebook, but also the number of advertisements and variations on the ads. Our recent blog post provides further details regarding the last federal election in Canada, which gives some unique insights into digital advertising and campaigning. To learn more about our digital campaigning services, contact us today! Check out our blog regularly for the latest information on digital marketing for political campaigns in Canada.

Political Digital Campaigning - Canada Federal Elections 2021

2021 Canadian Elections Were Truly Digital: Here’s What We Learned

Campaign Advertising Insights

Canada’s 2021 federal elections were ‘special’ (pun intended). Not only was it the first ‘pandemic election’ in Canadian history, but PM Trudeau called it midway through his second term. Digital technologies became the norm as Canadians hunkered down in their homes to protect themselves and their loved ones. This transformation extended to the world of politics as well. Canadian political parties have embraced digital media wholeheartedly to make sense of a 36-day campaign period, the shortest possible election under federal law, and woo voters. A digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns can be instrumental in navigating this fast-paced environment, helping political organizations build effective strategies to reach voters through multiple digital channels. Here are our top takeaways from the 2021 Canadian Federal Elections and the world of digital political campaigning. 1. Digital campaigning was already gaining traction. The pandemic accelerated the growth to unprecedented levels With more than 85% of the Canadian population on social media, online political campaigning was already gaining traction. However, in the wake of Covid-19 stay-at-home orders, internet and social media use skyrocketed. Inevitably, parties naturally turned to social media and online advertising to tap into their base and first-time voters. Political organizations and politicians had to adapt to the changing environment. After all, they preferred the reach and high engagement of digital tools over the traditional methods of political campaigning. 2. Digital Political Campaigning: Record amounts of advertising dollars Spent Given all the interest social media and online platforms have attracted, political parties invested a record amount of advertising dollars. Just in the first half of the campaign, all the federal parties combined spent over $2.7 million, only on Facebook and Instagram! The Liberals consistently outspent their Conservative and NDP counterparts, especially when some initial polls found them lacking behind the Conservatives. Furthermore, analysts saw an increase in online political advertising even with parties who usually don’t spend millions on such campaigns. Namely, the Bloc Quebecois – 700+ ads during the 2021 elections compared to the 16 Facebook ads they ran in the 2019 elections. In the context of other online platforms (news outlets; media conglomerates), the online political advertising estimates for Canada’s 2021 election range from $10-15 million. 3. Facebook and Instagram took the lion’s share of political advertising online With the introduction of Bill C-76 in 2019 and the mandate for online advertisers to maintain a digital archive of all political ads, the options for political campaigning were limited. Importantly, Google banned all political advertising citing the new rules, while TikTok and Twitter had already made global ban announcements after the 2016 US elections. On offer for Canadian politicians and campaigns managers in 2021 were Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram and a host of news conglomerates like Postmedia group. As a result, the majority of digital advertising budgets went to Facebook and Instagram, with estimates pegged at 90%. 4. TikTok helped raise awareness and youth engagement but is not necessarily a vote-getter As TikTok gained popularity worldwide and in Canada, politicians scrambled to appeal to its younger demographic segment by setting up new profiles and ‘experimenting’ with viral content creation. For instance, a prime example is NDP’s leader, Jagmeet Singh, the only federal leader with a TikTok profile and over half a million followers. His unique style and catchy videos generated a lot of media interest at the start of the 2021 campaign and had his campaign strategists believe that “millions watched the NDP leader’s content and got involved”. Even so, Jagmeet’s popularity did not necessarily translate into the electoral success the NDP wanted. Singh and his team had to contend with one more seat and about 2% more vote share in 2021 compared with the 2019 federal election. To sum up, the hotly contested election in 2021 resulted in Justin Trudeau’s Liberals retaining power, albeit in a minority. The party spent nearly twice as much on social media and digital campaigning as the NDP and Conservatives combined. Electoral ideologies, strategies, and campaigns may change as we approach new elections (Ontario and Quebec in 2022; Alberta in 2023). However, one thing is clear – digital political campaigning is here to stay. A digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns will continue to play a critical role as parties adapt to the new realities, accelerated by pandemic and societal changes. Continue to read our blog to learn more about digital marketing for politics in Canada. Lastly, do not forget to contact us to learn how digital media can add an x-factor to your political campaign!

Is your campaign ready for a digital election in Canada?

Is your campaign ready for a digital election in Canada?

Political Digital Strategy

Canada’s Political Landscape A snap election has been called, and Canadians are heading to the polls on September the 20th, 2021. This represents the shortest allowable election under federal elections law for what will be the most digital election in Canada.  This will be the first Federal Canadian election that occurs during pandemic conditions in recent memory. Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party of Canada seems to be feeling confident on the back of their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Conservative Party of Canada under Erin O’Toole is looking to shake things up this election and attract more voters to their tent than the last federal campaign. Jagmeet Singh’s NDP has been supporting the efforts of the Prime Minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, but have acknowledged that they disagree on the fundamental strategies for helping the country heal.  What does that mean for Canadians? How will the election process be affected by COVID 19 restrictions? These are all important questions that we will endeavour to answer today.  Delta/4th wave and an Election? It seems that many Canadians aren’t particularly interested in politics right now. Certainly, this is uncharted territory, as Canadians have never voted Federally during a pandemic situation before. We did see some low voter turnout during provincial elections during the pandemic, meaning that election strategies could be very important as some ridings may be decided by historically low numbers of votes. As we go through this election cycle, it will be interesting to see what strategies the major players undertake.  Will we see a return to normalcy as the main talking point? Will Prime Minister Trudeau be criticized for calling an election even as Delta cases rise? What does a digital election in Canada mean? Only time will tell.  COVID-19 and Technology We’ve seen Canadians embrace the digital world during the pandemic. Between 66%-80% of Canadians spent more time on the internet since the pandemic began, meaning that this trend will likely continue until COVID-19 is no longer an issue in Canada.  What does this mean for an upcoming federal election? We can expect that an increase in digital advertising, paid media, and social media exposure will all be key elements of the major parties’ campaign strategy. We may even see innovation from candidates across the country as they attempt to reach Canadians who are spending more time on their computers and smartphones than ever before.  Voting in the COVID Age Elections Canada has a plan to address an election that occurs while COVID-19 is still an issue in this country. Certainly, social distancing, single-use pencils, and serious cleaning plans are all tools we expect to see deployed during this election. We can also expect an increase in mail-in ballots. These ballots can take longer to count but are less likely to lead to an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19.  Digital Election in Canada Best Practices Messaging and branding are going to be very important during this election cycle. With fewer Canadians attending in-person campaigning events, they might only be receiving limited information regarding a candidate’s platform and position on important issues. Because of this, having succinct information available online will be crucial for candidates looking to get their message out in a likely crowded digital space.  Digital marketing and online advertising has been popular in the Canadian political landscape for a long time and it simply works.  Parties should be looking now to experienced digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns organizations with political experience to develop more best practices for this digital election in Canada, set during a pandemic.  EOK Consults is a leading digital and social media marketing agency for political campaigns specializing in political campaigns and data-driven strategies for organizations and nonprofits. We have a proven track record of launching successful digital political and advocacy campaigns across municipal, provincial and federal levels of the Canadian political spectrum. 

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