Elections and Resignations: The Effects of Nanotargeting

In the past decade, the use of the internet for political campaigns has evolved and become more sophisticated. What started with a basic website with an allotment of possibly a mere 1 percent of a campaign’s funding has turned into full-fledged online campaigns utilizing not only websites, but social networking and social media sites, and online advertisements. With every institution looking to go the furthest with their funding, it is important for campaigns, too, to be able to gauge how effective these online campaigns are, if effective at all.

In his article The Digital Playbook: Can online ads move poll numbers, Peter Greenberger explains a study proving that online advertisements have the ability to increase awareness and action for a campaign. The study showed that for this particular campaign had an increase of donations from 42 percent 50 percent and individuals seemed to have a strong recall of the ads. These findings showed better results than a PSA campaign which was also studied and had no measurable effect on awareness to advertisement recall.

A benefit to online advertising, as Josh Koster outlines, seems to be the advertisers’ ability to use long-tail nanotargeting. Long-tail nanotargeting means targeting an extremely fractured segment of the audience with ads that are highly targeted towards that type of person. For instance, it is easy to find basic demographic information about an individual online, but with this, keywords are also targeted. If a person does a search for say, healthcare, certain ads will be triggered that concern healthcare matters. Koster notes that Google and Facebook “represent the pinnacle of targeting technology” because so much information can be garnered through individuals’ searches and profile information. Koster explains how Al Franken’s Senate race proved the advantages of targeting niche markets in order to get his message across.

In another article co-written by Koster, he and Tyler Davis explain how nanotargeting assisted in pressuring Lou Dobbs to resign from CNN. This case showed how a group targeted CNN employees through Facebook advertising, pressuring them to stand up against Lou Dobbs whose coverage of the immigration debate was often controversial. This case showed how even with a small budget, a strategic campaign, targeted toward the right people and utilizing the right resources can make a huge impact.

As nanotargeting and online advertising progress, as is sure to happen with more and more campaigns catching on to the techniques, it will be interesting to see how campaigns take this process to the next level and personalize messages to stand out even further.