Meta’s Facebook & Instagram platforms represent Canada’s lion’s share of political advertising. On the one hand, their massive user base & engaged audiences offer a lucrative opportunity for political advertisers to engage with voters nationwide. On the other, restrictive Canadian government regulations and decisions by other popular social media platforms (such as TikTok & Snapchat) effectively leave Meta as the most accessible, viable, and scalable platform for political advertising in Canada. At EOK Consults, a leading Digital and Social Media Marketing Agency for Political Campaigns, we recognize how pivotal Meta has become for effective political advertising. New to the world of Facebook Political Advertising? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Facebook Political Ads in Canada here.
This blog highlights the different types of Facebook political ads that are permissible in Canada as well as the variety of ad types, campaign objectives and ad formats available for political advertisers to leverage in their campaigns.
5 Types of Facebook Political Ads
Common types of political advertising on Facebook include the following:
- Candidate Ads – These are sponsored posts that promote a specific candidate or individual running for public office across municipal, provincial or federal levels of government. These are typically done to promote brand awareness for a candidate, their background and profile, policies, platform/ideas as well as reasons to convince voters to elect them. Candidate Ads are generally run before and during an election cycle to ensure maximum reach and engagement with the voters in a specific riding or constituency.
- Issue Ads – Issue ads represent a form of political advertising which focuses on engagement and action related to a specific political issue. It could be a local issue like library funding or a provincial one like the building of a new public highway or mass transit service. It could even be a macro policy issue such as immigration or interest rates. These ads can be sponsored by individuals (including candidates) or organizations (including political parties) and these may advocate for or against a particular policy or stance on an issue.
- Advocacy Ads – These ads are similar to issue-based ads in that they promote a particular cause of advocacy group at a mass grassroots level. However, these aren’t always tied to an election cycle but may seek to influence public opinion on a certain matter over a longer-than-typical-election-campaign period. Common examples include massive public policy decisions such as urban planning, real estate development, and sale of restrictive goods such as tobacco & alcohol as well as transit decisions on ride-sharing and community driving.
- Election Campaign Ads – All political advertising on Facebook during or just before an election cycle with information on the voting process, political parties, campaigns & their leaders fall under this category. When sponsored by parties or individuals, these ads encourage people to vote for them as well as provide voting information to make it easier for them to head to the polls. A major advertiser behind political ads that encourage more voter participation is regulatory bodies such as Elections Ontario or Elections Canada which use Facebook to engage the public en masse and encourage higher voter turnout.
- Social Issue Ads – Social issue ads are a category that Facebook typically associates with issues of mass society or national importance. These are typically advertising on major social issues including race/identity, housing, social change as well as matters of general public safety and wellness amongst others.
Types of Facebook Political Campaign Objectives
A successful political campaign connects with the most eligible voters in a defined region and then builds on that connection through engaging content that ultimately translates into votes and ballot decisions. Facebook advertising can help with every stage of a political campaign and offers a wide variety of campaign objectives to choose from, depending on the strategic goals of a political campaign. These include:
- Brand awareness: Advertising that aims to increase the visibility and recognition of a political candidate, party or idea/cause.
- Reach: Campaigns that aim to maximize the number of people who see the political ads of a political advertiser. Reach campaigns are designed to deliver the highest number of ad impressions to as many unique users as possible within a specified target audience.
- Engagement: These political ads encourage user interaction with the ad content such as likes or comments. Engagement campaigns help create a buzz or viral effect around political campaigns that further help increase the organic reach for political content.
- Traffic: Traffic ads drive users to a specific website or landing page set up by the political advertiser. These are useful to help people engage more in-depth with the candidate or the party and their platform, donate, sign up for communication or volunteer and join a campaign.
- Video Views: Ads set up to boost views of video content fall under this category. Video is one of the most effective formats of political advertising and sponsored ads help increase the number of views and reach a larger audience for political campaigns.
- Lead generation: Political ads that aim to collect user information for possible support, as well as action items on key policy issues, are lead generation campaigns.
- Messages: Any political ad that encourages people to initiate conversations via the unified Facebook messenger falls under this category. These ads help bridge the campaign and voters together.
- Conversions: Any ad campaign that is focused on helping users take specific actions on a website such as donations, vote pledges or sign-ups are called conversion campaigns. These are measurable campaigns that can be very effective in voter engagement and momentum building.
- Event responses: Political advertisers use Facebook advertising to promote attendance at campaign events, fundraisers, town halls or other gatherings and these ads can help mobilize supporters and community engagement.
5 Popular Ad Formats for Facebook Political Ads in Canada
To ensure that political advertisers have an effective and engaging way of communicating with potential voters on Facebook, a variety of ad formats are available. These are generally the same formats as available for other commercial advertising on the platform.
- Image Ads: Static image ads are one of the most popular formats of political advertising given their simplicity, cost-effectiveness and widespread reach. Images ads often include text overlays that can be effective in capturing user attention.
- Video Ads: Video represents the fastest-growing and most popular ad format for political advertising in Canada. Whether it is a short-form (15 seconds or shorter), a LIVE video or a long-explainer type of content, video offers a powerful way for political campaigns to engage users, showcase candidates, share key policy messages and woo voters.
- Carousel Ads: Carousel ads allow political advertisers to display multiple images and videos in a single ad, each with its unique link or call-to-action. This format is useful for issue-based or platform-focused advertising with multiple messages.
- Slideshow Ads: Slideshow ads are a lighter alternative to video ads. These are easy to set up and use multiple still images that play in a sequence, creating a video-like experience without the need for sophisticated video production. These are often deployed to share voting information or multiple aspects about a candidate or political party’s message in a unified content format.
- Instant Experience Ads: This new format enables advertisers to create an immersive, full-screen experience using a combination of images, videos, text and interactive elements to tell a story or present complex information in a manner that engages and retains the user.
Given the dynamic nature of political advertising with a consistent regulatory overview, it is important to note that while advertisers can leverage these formats and campaign objectives currently in Canada, they must comply with specific guidelines, policies and transparency measures as laid out by Meta.
Get Started with Political Advertising on Facebook in Canada
Interested in learning more? Check out our ultimate guide to Facebook political advertising in Canada here. If you are a political candidate or organization interested in leveraging digital marketing in your projects, get in touch with EOK Consults, the trusted Digital and Social Media Marketing Agency for Political Campaigns, and find out why political leaders rely on us for winning campaigns.
