[Originally published on the Linked-in Group, The New Media Congress]
If your member of Congressm doesn't have a Facebook page, they are squandering an opportunity to connect -- period. How about a case study:
Say you're a Senator from New Jersey (I picked this state because neither of the Senators have an active fan page.) Your state has a population of 8.7 million people. There are 2.3 million voting-age residents on Facebook; that's an extremely high percentage of your eligible constituents -- what percent reads a newspaper?
You can advertise to these would-be fans for pennies on the dollar of "old" media and the best part is, once they opt-in, you have carte blanche to regularly update them with news, events, and calls to action. This isn't a one-shot only opportunity.
Want to advertise only to people affiliated with the other party? You can do that. Have a specific city of set of cities you want to reach out to? We can do that. Need to nail down that elusive 18-21 year-old single female in college who is a fan of Twilight? No problem!
Now that you've built your page's fans up, you can advertise just to them -- super micro-targeted advertising that is non-invasive, cheap, and very effective.
One caveat of this is the questionable legality in negative advertising online, and the lack of clarity whether "I'm ... and I approve this message" must appear in an ad where you are only permitted 135 characters.
What do you think, has any one seen or run a Facebook-sponsored ad for a Politician?
Say you're a Senator from New Jersey (I picked this state because neither of the Senators have an active fan page.) Your state has a population of 8.7 million people. There are 2.3 million voting-age residents on Facebook; that's an extremely high percentage of your eligible constituents -- what percent reads a newspaper?
You can advertise to these would-be fans for pennies on the dollar of "old" media and the best part is, once they opt-in, you have carte blanche to regularly update them with news, events, and calls to action. This isn't a one-shot only opportunity.
Want to advertise only to people affiliated with the other party? You can do that. Have a specific city of set of cities you want to reach out to? We can do that. Need to nail down that elusive 18-21 year-old single female in college who is a fan of Twilight? No problem!
Now that you've built your page's fans up, you can advertise just to them -- super micro-targeted advertising that is non-invasive, cheap, and very effective.
One caveat of this is the questionable legality in negative advertising online, and the lack of clarity whether "I'm ... and I approve this message" must appear in an ad where you are only permitted 135 characters.
What do you think, has any one seen or run a Facebook-sponsored ad for a Politician?
