Political Noise: Expect the 2024 election to disrupt digital media 

Take your entire franchise development ad budget for the rest of 2024 and spend it right now. Spend it all before Aug. 31.

The 2024 election season in the United States will present a unique challenge for politicians and voters as well as advertisers and marketing professionals. The intersection of intense political advertising and heated discourse on social media platforms will create a nasty environment, disrupt traditional marketing strategies, and build huge hurdles for franchisors aiming to grow their systems in the second half of this year. 

As political ads saturate advertising space on online platforms, the cost of advertising increases drastically, squeezing out businesses with modest budgets. The sheer volume of political content can lead to ad fatigue, causing consumers to tune out or avoid media altogether. 

Media buying is going to get tough around August. Everything will be difficult in September. It will all be impossible by October. The Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and, even worse, all political action committees are about to make marketing your brand impossible on many digital channels, including Meta and Google. Several political groups and advertising sources now estimate that more than $16 billion will be spent on the 2024 election. That’s 30% more than four years ago. 

Much of that spend will be on digital channels. Your current cost per lead on many platforms is about to skyrocket, especially if you’re targeting people in battleground states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, or states with high-profile Senate races: Arizona, Nevada, and Montana.

Oh, and just as the election ends, it will be the holiday season. Merry Christmas—no leads for you!

Alternatives

While the political candidates and their marketing arms continue to refine their strategies in digital marketing, it’s time for you to refocus your own tactics to drive leads. A dry spell of leads and prospects in late Q3 and Q4 will spell disaster for your franchise development plans in early 2025. But you have options.

LinkedIn

If you haven’t yet tried advertising on LinkedIn, this may be the time. If you’re looking for quality over quantity, LinkedIn for franchise development is the best place to invest. It’s not cheap, but if your target personas include multi-unit owners and serial entrepreneurs, LinkedIn will deliver.

TikTok

Political ads are prohibited on TikTok, so 2024 could be the perfect time to move some spend over to TikTok. My prediction is once some franchisors invest in TikTok, they may not go back to Facebook. (Editor’s note: We’re assuming TikTok will still be available.)

Organic social

Instead of overpaying for paid spots, consider improving your organic game. What’s working in organic now? Not the same old static posts on a company page or profile. The reach on those on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn is weak.

Short-form videos work well for B2B marketers as videos are the preferred option on most platforms. And on Reels (Instagram and Facebook) and TikTok, the algorithms for videos do not rely on who is already following you, so you can start reaching new people on day one even with a new account. 

Go all in on LinkedIn. While political content is creeping in, many users have their personal settings adjusted to mute politics. It may be our only politics-free space. The closer we get to Nov. 5, the nastier Facebook, Instagram, and X will get. But LinkedIn should be relatively safe.

Consider bypassing your company page and using your personal profile for any organic content sharing. Company pages perform poorly. The real goldmine on most channels, especially LinkedIn, is the collective reach of all executives’ connections.

Even organic posts on neutral sites may be a challenge. The current polarizing nature of political discourse on social media has created a minefield for brands seeking to maintain a neutral or inclusive image. In an era when consumers are increasingly conscious of the values and ideologies associated with the brands they support, any perceived alignment with a particular political stance can alienate a significant portion of their prospect base. Be careful to not get thrown into anything that could be perceived as political or inadvertently associated with divisive rhetoric.

Create content now!

This could be the time to create more owned-media content in an environment where you can control the narrative and everything else on the page.

If you start right now, you can have franchise-development videos, podcasts, and blogs telling your authentic stories by the end of summer. And—who knows?—perhaps your ideal candidates will be ready to watch, listen, and read after fleeing the political noise on other media.

Jack Monson is the CEO of franchise development marketing agency Brand J and has been helping franchisors with digital marketing for 15 years. He is also the owner and host of “Social Geek,” the top podcast in franchising.