Political operatives take note: Facebook is your friend and may help you influence an election in the majority of Caribbean countries.
I recently compiled population data from the CIA’s World Factbook, along with data from Facebook’s advertising tool, and obtained “potential audience reach” numbers for several Caribbean countries. I also added in the voting age of each Caribbean country for good measure. The table below shows the results:
In 12 of the 20 countries listed above, Facebook’s potential audience reach is at least 60%. In three countries (Cayman, St. Kitts and Nevis and The Bahamas), FB reach is over 70%. Think about that for a moment. Traditional media (print, radio and T.V.) marketing expenses for an election may easily run into the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. With Facebook’s platform, it may end up being a fraction of that, plus, savvy political operatives may get further mileage on Facebook vs. traditional media channels given FB’s potential audience reach and the right audience targeting.
Back to the table. One could argue that if general elections were on the near horizon in the Cayman Islands, it may make more sense to focus finite campaign funds on Facebook vs. other media channels given that FB reach in Cayman is over 90%. A similar thing can be said in the case of Barbados (62% reach) with general elections being held in 2018.
Oh, and the age variable? You have to be at least 13 years old to have an account on FB. Once you have an account, even at 13, you can receive advertising. So that means even a 13 year old can start to be influenced early on via political messaging on Facebook. The above analysis can be extended beyond political messaging and elections to private enterprises as well, as I will demonstrate in my next post.