Parties turn to digital tactics in general election battle

Back in 1979, the Conservatives declared "Labour Isn't Working" in an iconic poster that heralded the arrival of aggressive, US-style political advertising in the UK.

Three decades later, the UK's political parties are still importing tactics from America. But this time round, the methods are digital and the battlegrounds are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

"This election we've seen a huge shift in the ways that political parties are trying to deliver their messages," says Benedict Pringle, author of the blog Political Advertising.

Among other things, this election marks the first time that the UK's political parties have spent significant amounts of money on paid-for advertising on Facebook and YouTube, he says. They may have dabbled in the past, "but nothing on the scale of this".

Accurate data about how the parties have been allocating their advertising budgets will only become available after the election. But insiders say there has been a clear shift towards digital. While spending on direct mail and door drops is still the core part of any campaign, spending on other forms of traditional media is down from the 2010 general election, when the Conservative party alone spent almost £7m on posters.

One of the most striking innovations in this election is the use of online video, which has enabled the parties to get around Britain's ban on paid-for political television adverts.

The Conservative party, for example, has paid to promote videos attacking Labour leader Ed Miliband and linking him to Alex Salmond. Its YouTube videos have been viewed millions of times over the past few weeks thanks to a pre-roll advertising campaign.

Labour party insiders grumble that the Tories have an unfair advantage because they are better funded. Though that has not stopped Labour from spending its own campaign funds on digital advertising.

"We're targeting people we know are Labour supporters on Facebook to get them to donate and volunteer," says a party insider. Much of Labour's digital advertising is aimed at "harvesting" email addresses, which allows the party to build deeper relationships with its supporters.

Another thing that Labour and the Conservative party have in common is that they are both advised by digital supremos who previously worked for Barack Obama on his data-driven presidential campaign. In the US, political parties have for several years been using sophisticated targeting techniques to deliver tailored messages to different segments of voters.

While the UK parties are far less technologically advanced than their US counterparts, they have started to use some of the targeting capabilities offered by Facebook and YouTube.

These platforms allow the parties to target adverts at internet users who fit a desired criteria such as age, gender, location and online behaviour. That means the parties can concentrate their resources on the particular demographics whose support they need to win seats.

Leaked invoices have showed that the Conservative party was spending more than £100,000 a month last year buying adverts on Facebook. One of the aims of that spending was to encourage people to "like" the party's official page on the social network. The strategy appears to have worked: the Tories now boast more than 400,000 "likes" on Facebook, compared with about 240,000 for Labour and 110,000 for the Liberal Democrats.

While sceptics may question the value of a "like", it offers the party several benefits. One of the most compelling is that Facebook allows advertisers to target the friends of people who "like" a page with a tailored message that carries the friend's endorsement.

With less money to spend than the Conservatives, Labour has focused less on paid advertising and more on generating a buzz on social media for free. This strategy was on show ahead of the party leaders' television debate last week.

In a carefully choreographed move, Mr Miliband tweeted: "David Cameron has decided not to attend tonight's debate. If you're applying for the job of PM, you should turn up to the job interview." The message was retweeted more than 13,000 times, reaching a huge audience on Twitter.

Paul Hatley, data strategy expert at Acxiom, a marketing technology group, says: "The popularity of social channels with under 25s means that it is the most powerful platform political parties can use to get their message in front of key voters in that age group."

The Tories, for their part, have also been encouraging supporters to share content on its behalf. Through a website called "share the facts", the party allocates points to supporters whenever they post a pro-party message on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. A leaderboard shows which party members have shared the most, encouraging competition.

Last week, the Conservative party called on its supporters to share its new poster, which depicts SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon dangling a puppet of Mr Miliband. Whether the poster actually appeared on a billboard somewhere mattered little, as the main objective was to get it out in front of people on social media.

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