Rick Scott Facebook Study

8/8/2019 Rick Scott Facebook Study

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contents

introduction.................................................................................2

noteworthy statistics....................................................................2

the primary..................................................................................3

truth about Rick Scott...................................................................4

how we won facebook...................................................................6

YouTube.......................................................................................9

email list growth.........................................................................10

email sends................................................................................11

act.ivi.ist....................................................................................13

debate rapid response................................................................15

on the ground.............................................................................16

articles.......................................................................................17

testimonials...............................................................................17



introduction

How it all started

In April 2010, the Rick Scott for Governor Campaign brought on Harris Media toestablish the complete online branding and to execute all online communications andmarketing.

At that time the campaign had no official Facebook account, no Twitter account, noblog, no bulk email provider, and no recent email lists.

Over the next 7 months, Harris Media turned Rick’s campaign into a truly tech-savvyGOP campaign.

– Ten-fold growth of Activist Email List

– 2nd largest Facebook presence in the history of FL politics

– Innovative online advertising campaign and a hub for online activism

Our work has been featured in the CNN, Facebook, AdAge, Clickz and more.

noteworthy statistics

Republican Rick Scott leads Democrat Alex Sink on Facebook by more than 20,000 pages likes…

BusinessWire.com, November 2, 2010

This is a full-fledged, professionally run campaign.

Naples News June 16, 2010

Twitter

Rick Scott 3,614 Followers

Carl Paladino 2,611 Followers

Robert Bentley 2,569 Followers

Jan Brewer 1,797 Followers

Rick Scott Case Study

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Facebook

Rick Scott 57,311 Supporters

Rick Perry 50,117 Supporters

Alex Sink 30,079 Supporters

Carl Paladino 28,801 Supporters

You Tube

Rick Scott 209,031 Views

Alex Sink 204,348 Views

Online act.ivi.sts

Rick Scott 600 activists

Bill McCollum 0 activists

Alex Sink 0 activists

the primaryHow the web contributed to one of the biggest upsets in politicalhistory…

“How Rick Scott Shocked Florida Last Night” - St. Petersburg Times, August 25

Rick Scott entered the primary with virtually no name recognition. Hisopponent was a very well known Republican public official who hadrun statewide in two prior elections and was leading the legal

challenge to repeal Obamacare.The 2010 election cycle was ripe with an intense anti-incumbencysentiment. Our strategy was to capitalize on the national mood bylabeling Bill McCollum a career politician. We focused everythingaround the following themes: special interests, lying, raising taxes,pay for play, and using the state plane for personal use.


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We encouraged people to donate their Facebook profile picture to catchy images suchas the example below. We sent action emails to our email lists asking them to watchcontrast advertisements. Finally, we ran many online advertisements that helped brandour opponent as an ultimate career politician.

At our disposal were many contrasting TV commercials. To take full advantage, we ranmany online ad campaigns on conservative websites such as Drudge Report that linkedto the contrast ads on our website with email capture forms beneath them.

Also on FoxNews.com and Youtube we would play the actual spots as pre-roll or Instream ads with companion display ads. The success of these campaigns is

discussed in detail in the section titled YouTube.

All of these online initiatives reinforced the same message as the campaign mail pieces,radio spots, and TV commercials. When voters cast their ballots, they knew they had achoice between an outsider or a career politician. In the close election, every effortcontributed to our victory.


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truth about Rick Scott

Critical to the success of Rick Scott was the use of micorsites to defend his record,contrast himself with his opponents, and have a platform to control his message as he

faced a hostile press corp.The most useful tool throughout the entire campaign was TruthAboutRickScott.com tohelp defend Rick’s leadership at HCA/Columbia when the company was forced to pay$300 Billion dollar fine to the federal government for Medicare fraud.

Every time Rick was questioned hard by the media, attacked during debates and thethousands of people who called, emailed, left questions on Facebook were directed tothetruthaboutrickscott.com to get the facts.

This tool allowed the campaign to guide the conversation on the issue, and it wasperceived as Rick willing to confront his past head on and not run from it.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more thorough online defense against a political

attack.” – Peter Schorsch, St. Petersburg Blog

We ran search ads targeting keywords to ensure "the truth" was out there for publicconsumption. It was critical as people went to search newcomer “Rick Scott” that our Google Sponsored ad appeared above every news story and negative PR. These adswere critical to riving traffic to our TruthAboutRickScott.com microsite. Here is anexample of a search ad:


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In the early months of the campaign, we also ran Google contextual display ads. Thismeans that articles about Rick Scott & Columbia/HCA would most likely have one of thefollowing ads displaying:

facebook

How We Won on Facebook

Through our outreach efforts, we built Rick a fan base of over 57,000 supporters, thesecond largest Facebook fan page in Florida’s political history.

Throughout the campaign, our strategy was to keep an active, dynamic and engagingFacebook fan page. Visitors were given breaking news, videos, photos, poll questions,podcasts and chances to win various prizes.

Facebook, for instance, recommends that Profile Pictures be changed every 2-3 weeks.


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Through Facebook advertisements and fan pushes, we were able to systematicallygrow Rick’s supporter numbers and track the activity level of our supporters. One monthbefore Election Day, and continuing through Election Day, we had a larger Facebooksupporter list than Activist Email list.

The goal was not to simply have a big Facebook page. No, we wanted to create a baseof online activists that would help promote our message by taking specific actions. We

developed many innovative tools to empower supporters to spread our message.One such tool is the Spread Our Campaign Application:

Inspired by the success of Farmville, Facebook’s most popular application, we createdcutting-edge strategies such as custom Facebook games to increase interaction, spreadthe campaign’s message, empower activists to spread that message by word of mouthand help get out the vote, all the while we were collecting important data points such assupporters’ name, email address and zip code.

Here is a screenshot of our 7-7-7 card game application, which spread Rick Scott’s jobsplan and captured the feedback of Florida voters:


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Facebook wrote a comparison of Rick Scott & Alex Sink’s Facebook page. Here is whatthe company wrote about our use of the social network:

Scott has been extremely innovative and has utilized several applications toallow his fans to become active members of his promotional campaign. Scottoffers his fans the opportunity to share the reasons why they support him withanyone who visits Scott's Facebook page. Via the Mosaic tab on Scott's page,visitors can see a montage of profile photos of Scott's supporters. As you scrollover each photograph, you can see the personal reason why each supporter plans to vote for Scott.

Scott also created the 777 card game to highlight his seven-pronged approachfor job creation. Scott empowers his supporters to rank each of his seven jobcreating solutions in order, based on what they think will be most impactful. Morethan 5,500 supporters have participated in the game and provided the campaignwith direct feedback on its policy positions.


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Why Facebook

We invested 33% of Rick Scott’s online ad budget on Facebook. Why? Three veryimportant reasons:

1. It’s where voters are. U.S. traffic to Facebook has risen by a whopping 55% in

the last year, according to Mashable.com. In total web traffic, it only trails Google,which at one point in the 2010 Election cycle, it surpassed Google for mostvisited website a short period of time.

2. Micro-targeting. Facebook gives advertisers the ability to micro-target better than anyone else. This allowed us to target niche groups with very specificmessages.

3. Reach. The reach of the campaign’s message on Facebook is consistently 5-10times greater than on the website. In the month of September, the website wouldreceive ~7,000 visits a day. Meanwhile, a post on Facebook would receive

anywhere between 30,000 – 60,000 impressions per post.

YouTube

This may come as a surprise to most, but YouTube is the number two search engine inthe world. Therefore, it is critically important for political campaigns to have relevant,positive content.

Rick Scott was the only politician to utilize web videos to interact with Facebook users,thank people who just donated to the campaign, and turn out the vote utilizing webvideos.

In the month of October Rick Scott dominated Alex Sink in YouTube traffic: 104,265views to 22,598 views respectively. By the end of the campaign, the ScottforFloridaYouTube channel had a total of 209,477 views of all 115+ videos and commercials.

Advertising on YouTube – Promoted Videos

It was widely known how hard fought the primary and general elections were in theFlorida Governor’s Race. In order to combat the negative ads, we ran defensiveYouTube promoted ads to ensure that Rick’s positive message appeared above anynegative videos.

Conversely, we promoted the contrast advertisements against our opponents. When

someone would search “Alex Sink” our contrast video appeared first.These ads contributed to the outstanding traffic to our web videos, and are just one of the many ways we were able to capitalize on the campaign’s television spots online.


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Advertising on YouTube – Instream Ads

Instream ads offered through Google Adwords on YouTube are the most cost effective

way for a campaign to spread their television commercials.

In an age where people are finding more ways to skip commercials, an Instream adimpression is a guaranteed view for a fraction of the cost. Also, instream ads can targetspecific demographics and geo-targeted areas

Another benefit is that instream ads also include a companion display ad that asks theviewer to take action, unlike television.

Here is an example from one Instream campaign:

Rick Scott – “Forward” TV Commercial

Impressions: 172,288

Click Through Rate: 0.57%

email list growth

Organic Email Growth

We began the campaign with a base of a few hundred-email addresses from Rick’spersonal contacts and several lists of Republican leadership. We implemented a two-fold strategy.

1) Gain new email addresses through specific online ads, strategies and initiatives.

2) Segment email addresses to maximize list effectiveness.

Gaining New Email Addresses

Rick being a complete political newcomer, we began building his lists with MeetRick Iniatives, and we also utilized his conservative credentials specifically in theareas of healthcare reform and immigration reform to capture 9,443 names and


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build an initial foundation for our newly created “Activist Email List,” whichcomprised of active supporters and contributors.

Through issues landing pages, such as the one below, we were able to harvestnew email addresses, but also track the issues important to each email address.

Another way we grew our email list, and raised back our online ad funds, was fromdisplay ads.

One example to share from the campaign the first ad on the left we ran during the 3days prior to the announcement of the pick for Lt. Governor.

Rumors are flying in Florida political circles regarding whom Scott - a self-proclaimed"conservative outsider" who's self-funded his big-spending campaign - will choose as hisrunning mate. People searching for information about the lieutenant governor pick aremet with ads promoting the sign-ups. The campaign is also running display and text adsaround the effort in Google's content network. The ads started Tuesday.

In addition, the campaign is targeting ads on Facebook to Scott likers, along with thosewho like other Florida Republicans like Marco Rubio, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate,and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, whom Scott defeated in an upset.

- Clickz, Marketing News & Expert Advice, September 2, 2010


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Also, due to our over 10 years in running online campaigns, we have relationships withthe various search platforms and display networks, which means we are constantlyoptimizing and up to date with the latest cutting-edge advertising options.

email sends

Working alongside campaign staff we coordinated language, schedule, html coding andgraphics.

Two Important Observations from the Scott for Florida Campaign

E-mail is king for online fundraising. Using Piryx fundraising platform, we were able totrack the source of online donations. Second to the main contribution page was thedonate button in campaign emails.

Images are powerful tools and they help e-mails not only stand out from the typicalcampaign email but they also increaseinteraction.

Some of our most successful emails of the2010 cycle were image-based emails, like theexample to on the right.

All emails are personalized, segmented, andsent at proper times with proper subject lines.

Did you know that changing a subject linecan increase or decrease your open rates by10%?

Nearly all of our subject lines were four wordsor less, and our emails included attention-grabbing graphics. However, we were alsocareful not to take away from contributionasks with graphics or links that took arecipient somewhere else before they saw acontribution link.

Some our email graphics:


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act.ivi.ist

As previously mentioned, the goal for the Rick Scott campaign was not to simply havethe most Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers. The goal was to give our supporters who

want to help a platform to do so.Therefore, we selected the platform the David All Group called act.ivi.st because it is thebest tool that encourages sharing throughout the communities in which people arealready active, such as Facebook and Twitter.

It is best described as a dashboard that allows people to your message spread quicklythrough the world's largest social networks by giving impact points.

Throughout the campaign, there were 600 online act.ivi.sts, the largest group of onlineactivists in the country, that accumulated over 290,000 impact points by takingmeaningful online and offline action to support Rick Scott for Governor.

It goes one step further in promoting competition bycreating a leader board and indicating how manypoints separate you and the next person on theleaderboard to encourage more action. Here is ascreenshot of one of the ways act.ivi.st promotescompetition:


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“Tools like act.ivi.st that are built upon Facebook are definitely the future of online grassroots mobilization,” Vincent Harris, a social-media consultant withScott’s campaign told Battle ‘10. “I think you’ll see every presidential candidateuse something similar.” – National Review Online, September 20, 2010

While it is difficult to measure the reach of actions completed throughact.ivi.st, the following is an example of actions taken as a result of anonline act.ivi.st:

Two Keys to Success

There were two things we learned that were key tothe success of act.ivi.st. First, we integratedact.ivi.st into every part of our online strategy by

linking it on microsites, the website, social networkand even running Facebook advertisements toRick Scott fans.

The second isincentivizing onlinesupporters. We filmed a

web video of Rick Scottoffering to take the toppoints scorer to have ameal with him. Thewinner was Lakeland’sAdam Judd with100,000 Impact points.

In addition, we were ableto garner earned media


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as Rick delivered on his promise to take the act.ivi.st winner out to breakfast. Clickhere to read the National Review Online article.

debate rapid response

Together with the Communications Department, we created a very sophisticated debateresponse strategy. The centerpiece of the strategy was the microsite we created calledFactsforFlorida.com.

During the debate, we would post fact checking or contrasting facts to the blog and thentweet out the post under a rebranding twitter account. We used this during the primaryand the general election with much success, and Rick Scott told the viewers at home inevery debate to visit FactsforFlorida.com to get the facts.

We also used Google Adwords as a strategic, purposeful tool to control our messageand extend our online reach. One of our most successful search campaigns occurred

the days following a debate. We would run ads declaring that Rick Won the Debate,Click to see Why Rick Scott is the Clear Choice for Florida. The display URL was toFactsforFlorida.com our debate rapid response website where we responded toopponent’s negative attacks and provided back up for Rick Scott’s contrasting points.


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mailto:http://www.nationalreview.com/battle10/247165/online-activist-wins-breakfast-rick-scott-kyle-o-peterson






on the ground

In the beginning Rick was accused of “buying” the race and failing to get in the publicand meet Florida voters. These accusations were false and social media became the

tool to refute the media’s claims.By being on the ground with the Rick Scott campaign for the duration of the election, wewere able to excel at rapid response, quickly posting photos, video and messages whileon the campaign trail. It served as a huge advantage and an ideal model for running atop tier campaign.

articles

Scott has been extremely innovative and has utilized several applications to allow

his fans to become active member of his promotional campaign. Scott offers his fansthe opportunity to share the reasons why they support him with anyone who visitsScott’s Facebook page.

Facebook, October 21, 2010

Collecting data on likely voters is not all fun and games, but candidates are creating games on Facebook to collect constituent's e-mails and critical information…Another Facebook game was created by Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott's campaign called " Rick Scott Card Game." In this game the user has theability to pick and order their preferred job-creating solutions from Rick Scott's "7-7-7

jobs plan." Users can drag and drop cards, which display the seven points of his plan, and rank which points they like better. A simple game that allows users toknow what Scott's job creating policies are, while the campaign simultaneously receives feedback about what parts of the plan are most popular.

CNN Political Ticker, October 18, 2010

Barack Obama famously used his vice presidential running mate announcement asa means of collecting e-mail addresses and mobile numbers in August, 2008.Today, Florida GOP candidate for governor Rick Scott is expected to announce hislieutenant governor pick via e-mail, choosing specifically to avoid text messaging.

His campaign, which is spending a notable amount on online ads, is using searchand display ads, along with Twitter and Facebook to push the effort.

Clickz.com: Marketing News & Expert Advice, September 2, 2010


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http://apps.facebook.com/card_game/

http://apps.facebook.com/card_game/



testimonials

Senator John Cornyn, Texas

Harris Media understands the importance new media technologies have on theoutcome of elections. During my recent campaign he effectively communicated withsupporters across the state of Texas by building a large, active coalition of supportive blogs and websites.

An excerpt from Do the Right Thing (2008) by Gov. Mike Huckabee

Incredibly talented in understanding the power of the Internet and the potential of

using a blog to create a daily log of activities and information and to build an onlinecommunity.

Periklis Karoutas – Campaign Manager, Congressman Jeb Bradley

Vincent transformed the way we campaigned on the web and helped us integrateour website into every aspect of our grassroots campaign. We were able to grow our email list 6 fold from its start and Vincent wrote and sent regular email appeals toour growing list that raised us tens of thousands of dollars. We expanded our campaign efforts to include podcasting, web videos, an aggressive youth outreachvia Facebook and MySpace, and Vince was able to get blog posts on policy written

by Jeb posted on large National Republican blog sites which scored us a lot of earned media here in our state as well as encouraged more traffic to our website.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell

Vincent Harris and his team were key to carrying my message of new jobs, and more opportunities to tens of thousands of Virginia via social media, e-mail, and mobile technology. I was very pleased with their work, and would recommend themto any campaign wanting to expand their virtual footprint.

Ri k S tt C St d

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Rick Scott Facebook Study

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