Running Political Ads on Facebook
When running political ads via Facebook there are several factors to hone in on. These factors include:
- Key terms and information you should know before getting started
- How Facebook ads work
- How to create an ad directly from your Page
- Learn about advanced options for creating an ad
- The powerful targeting options you can use to reach the right people
Promotion is simply an ad you can create right from your Page. (We’ll use both “promotion” and “ad” interchangeably throughout the course. You’ll be guided through the steps of creating your ad, including the following:
- Choosing an image or video (your creative).
- Selecting the type of people you want to see your ads (your target audience).
- Choosing how much money you want to spend (your budget).
- Deciding how long your ad should run (your schedule).
Boost post – Increase the number of people who can see your Page post. This promotion type is ideal if your goal is to increase engagement with your audience and get people interacting with your content, like watching a video.
These promotions can be shown on Facebook and Instagram. If your post includes a video, then you can also show your ads on Audience Network. This option allows you to deliver your ads off of Facebook and into third-party mobile apps and websites. Learn more.
Boost Event
Increase awareness of your event or drive ticket sales. This is helpful if you want to encourage people to RSVP so you can track headcount. You can also encourage people to purchase a ticket on the event website.
These promotions can be shown on Facebook only.
Promote Website
Reach people who are likely to click your ad and visit your website. This is ideal if your goal is to drive people to your website’s homepage, to your online store, or any URL you choose.
These promotions can be shown on Facebook and Instagram.
Promote Local Business
Promote your business in your local area and increase foot traffic to your store. This is a good option for you if you want to reach people who may be interested in visiting your business. You’ll be able to target people within a set radius of your address. People living in or visiting the area within that radius are eligible to see your ads.*
These promotions can be shown on Facebook and Instagram.
Promote Call to Action
Encourage people to take a specific action on your Page with a call to action — a button that appears below your Page’s cover image/video. For example, you can direct people to learn more about your business by visiting your website or encourage people to start a conversation with you on Messenger.
Whether your promotion can appear on both Facebook and Instagram depends on your Page’s CTA.
Promote Page
Encourage people to follow or like your Facebook Page, which can help you reach new customers while staying in touch with existing ones. You should consider this promotion type if your goal is to build your audience on Facebook.
Target the right audience
When you promote your website, you can target your ad to one of the following audiences:
- People you choose through targeting: Choose the location, gender, age range, and more of the people you want to reach
- People who like your Page
- People who like your Page and their friends
Keep in mind that content you post to your Page without boosting it will still appear in people’s News Feeds – boosting it simply helps extend your reach and you’re likelier to get more people to engage with your content, whether that means sharing it with their friends or commenting on your post.
Facebook is also launching the Archive of Ads With Political Content, enabling people to see all the ads with political content run from each Facebook Page. We’re making these changes to increase ad transparency and protect election integrity across the Facebook family of apps and services. To start, changes will apply to US advertisers running ads that target people in the US. We plan to expand the authorization process to additional countries in the coming months.
This course teaches you how to adhere to Facebook policies for ads with political content, get authorized to run such ads, link ad accounts to Facebook Pages, and properly label those ads. The label and disclaimer are among several policies and product changes designed to improve the transparency of ads including political content on Facebook.
An ad is considered to have political content if it:
- Is made by, on behalf of, or about a current or former candidate for public office, a political party, a political action committee, or advocates for the outcome of an election to public office; or
- Relates to any election, referendum, or ballot initiative, including “get out the vote” or election information campaigns; or
- Relates to any national legislative issue1 of public importance in any place where the ad is being run; or
- Is regulated as political advertising.
Advertisers are required to comply with applicable law — and that includes election-related laws that require disclosures. We’re providing new tools that will bring greater transparency around the ads on Facebook. While it’s up to every advertiser to assess their own legal obligations, we hope that these tools will help candidates, political parties and other organizations provide people with more information about who’s behind the ads they’re seeing.
