Survey Says 92% of Political Ad Buyers Choose Facebook Over Twitter



When it comes to advertising political campaigns on social services, Facebook is the tool of choice for political ad buyers, according to software company Strata. So if you start to realize there are more political ads on Facebook compared to other networks, you can't say we didn't warn you.

Strata recently conducted a survey that found 92% of political ad buyer respondents choose to spend money on Facebook ahead of Twitter (46%), YouTube (31%), LinkedIn (31%) and Google+ (23%). Overall, digital ad spending has doubled since the 2010 election.

When we recently logged into Facebook, we immediately noticed an anti-Mitt Romney ad by Endorse Liberty, a political action committee for Ron Paul. As reported by ClickZ in December, Endorse Liberty appears to be using its entire spending budget online. 

The organization spent more than $207K on Google search and Facebook ads between Dec. 21 and Dec. 28, according to Federal Trade Commission reports. But just over $3,250 went to Facebook, while the rest went toward Google ads. 

Other Strata findings include that digital ad spending has doubled since the 2010 election and fewer than a quarter of respondents' political clients choose to advertise on mobile devices.

"Survey respondents perceive YouTube as a source for video only, while LinkedIn is a professional networking site, which made its high total surprising," David Cohen of All Facebook writes. "Google Plus shares Facebook’s characteristics but is still too new, people said."

Unsurprisingly, most political campaigns are currently targeting Iowa, where the first caucus of the 2012 presidential elections is taking place today.

Based on Ron Paul's viral reach on Facebook, All Facebook predicts that he will win today's Iowa caucus. Out of all of the Republican presidential candidates, Paul has the highest overall viral reach, with 59,554 people talking about him on Facebook. Among the GOP candidates, Mitt Romney came in third followed by Rick Perry.
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