Free Political Resource Guide
In 2020, amplifying your field strategy with an equally robust digital strategy is more important than ever. But, building a website, establishing your online presence, and reaching your potential voters shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. There are many low-cost and free ways to get started, even for the smallest campaigns.
Whether you’re a volunteer, a paid staffer, or a candidate running your campaign solo, you can use this list of resources to ensure you are taking the best steps to get your digital presence underway!
Website
Websites are a critical part of every political organization’s message and brand. They’re a great place to share your story and inspire action, but they can also be a tool to understand more about your audience, measure the impact of your message, and track your campaign’s success. Any campaign website should include the following:
Volunteer Sign-ups
Clear Call-to-Action (CTA) on the homepage
Separate landing page
Collect emails & other information (name, phone numbers, zip codes, etc) with consent to receive future correspondence
Donate Page
Large CTA on the homepage
Stand-alone landing page
A/B test different messaging types for donation pages
ActBlue is a great resource for free fundraising tools
Policy info
Social Media links
Calendar of upcoming events
Required legal disclaimers
While building out your site, you’ll also want to take the time to consider:
Basic SEO - SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing visibility of a website or a web page to users who are utilizing a search engine such as Google.
Dealing with SEO can feel a bit overwhelming, but luckily Moz has compiled a list of 60 SEO tools that are completely free!
Images - Images are super important to include on any website. They help break up text, draw attention to certain parts of the page and frankly, make a website more interesting to look at. However, purchasing images can get expensive, but Unsplash has thousands of high-resolution images you can use for free.
Search
Search advertising gives you the opportunity to get your website, name and messages in front of people & voters when they search keywords related to your candidacy. For example, if someone wants to learn more about the office you're running for, your search ads can be the first link people will see. You can even establish daily & monthly budgets ensuring you will spend as little or as much as you want.
Getting Started
Google has conveniently created a Guide to Google Ads that will help you learn the basics. If that’s a bit overwhelming, you can start by:
Conducting Keyword Research
The right keywords can get your website and search ad in front of the right potential voter. You can utilize Google’s Keyword Planner, Keyword.io, and Moz Keyword Explorer to research what keywords people are searching for.
Craft an effective message
If you’re unsure of where to start with crafting ad copy, this blog has some essential best practices. Also, Keep in mind the character limits for each part of the ad. Using a character counting tool can be a big help when drafting messaging!
Get verified to run political ads
Google requires anyone looking to run election ads to apply for verification. You can find more information about getting verified here. Please keep in mind that this process can take up to 5 business days.
Social Media
Social Media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) have the largest audiences of any website/network. This gives you the best opportunity to get your message out in front of more people and leverage the nature of social media to constantly test and evolve your messaging/creatives/etc.
Organic
Facebook Profile
Profile image
Banner image
“About” Section
Link to your website
Basic candidate/organization info
Email contact & phone number
Links to other social profiles
Disclaimer info
Utilize Call-to-Action (CTA) button: Donate/More Info/Message/Other
Settings
Set up auto-reply messages, language filters, allowing others to post
Instagram Profile
Account name matches Facebook Page name
Turn Instagram into an Instagram Business Account
Profile Image
Bio
Disclaimer
Official hashtag
Link to your website
Twitter Profile
Profile Image
Banner Image
Bio/about (under 240 characters)
Disclaimer
Include campaign website
Official hashtag
Content
Images - Canva is a free graphic design platform perfect for creating posts to share on your social media channels. No need to have a design background, Canva has hundreds of templates to choose from.
Best Practices - Sprout has compiled a list of social media best practices for political candidates that you should consult before you start crafting posts and responding to messages.
Paid advertising
Before you get started, you’ll need to get political verification through Facebook in order to run ads. Keep in mind, Twitter no longer allows political ads on their platform.
Running paid advertising can be tricky, so if you’re having difficulty along the way, let us know and we’d be happy to run your social media ads for you!
Digital Ads
Programmatic Digital Ads have the capability of being hyper-targeted and testing different creatives/messages across different mediums. You can set up banner, video, audio, and native advertisements, to appear across mobile, desktop, and almost any device connected to the internet.
The basics - There are many resources available online describing the benefits of digital advertising and provide a guide to understanding programmatic 101. This video from IAB and whitepaper from DWA are both helpful to understanding the basics.
Creative types & messages - Digital programmatic ads offer you the ability to put a variety of different types of ad formats with various types of messages & CTAs in front of your specific target audience.
Display
Video
Audio
Native
Identify target Audiences - Who do you want to see your ad? You can create your target audiences based on voter files, custom lists, geo-location, contextual, demographics or 3rd party data.
Campaign tools
Education
The National Democratic Training Committee is a fantastic resource for candidates running at all levels, campaign staff, and local leaders. Their free trainings cover topics ranging from fundraising to campaign leadership.
Campaign Management
BlueVote is a campaign management software with data visualization, canvassing, and financial reporting tools. Their options for pricing make them suitable for a campaign of any size.
Need Help?
Let us be a resource! RTBiQ Political is dedicated to empowering progressive candidates, causes, and organizations with cutting-edge digital tools and unrivaled support. RTBiQ Political offers an array of digital advertising services including social media management, search optimization and search engine marketing (PPC), audio, video, and display ad placement including connected TV, to supplement your field, direct mail, and television campaign strategy.
If you’re looking for a true partner to take your digital to the next level, please get in touch!