Political Campaigns Turn to Twitter in a New Era of Advertising Wars
By Karla Robinson
August 30, 2012
August 30, 2012
- Politicians are spending about $10,000 to $100,000 or more for 140-character Twitter ads, bringing politics closer to consumers — and faster, too.
- “Twitter has become a central tool for most political campaigns, letting campaigns reach voters nearly instantly, whether for fund raising or political messages, as well as simply to gather more Twitter followers to build audience for future tweets,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
- “Now, paid ads — which make a campaign’s message more prominent, and less likely to get lost in users’ ever-churning news feeds — are moving into the spotlight ahead of the parties conventions and the November election.”
- Twitter enables a rapid response from campaigns, allowing advertisers to take advantage of developing changes. For example, Democratic senator Claire McCaskill quickly launched a tweet saying, “Don’t let Todd Akin get elected. He thinks ‘women can’t get pregnant from #legitimaterape.’ Donate to @clairemc now” — after her rival made his now famous gaffe.
- But, as the article points out, Twitter’s offerings go beyond just pinning paid tweets to the tops of news feeds or search results. “Aside from buying ‘promoted tweets’ in users’ Twitter news feeds or on certain searches, advertisers can also buy spots known as ‘promoted accounts’ and ‘promoted trends’ — accounts and trends that are listed alongside other suggestions for whom to follow and hot hashtags,” notes WSJ.
- As the election draws nearer, expect to see more political Twitter ads, the article suggests. Fortunately for Twitter, this election could signal a notable switch in political advertising if the speedy campaigns prove effective.
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