Microtargeting

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The term microtargeting describes a communication strategy from the USA - especially in the field of political communication or marketing .

It aims to use the limited resources of public relations as efficiently and effectively as possible. Micro-targeting was after the successful application to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama known worldwide in the year of 2008.

Basic principle of microtargeting

Systematic, scientific and statistical analyzes divide the population into individual demographic , religious, political and many other target groups. Communication strategists adjust their messages to achieve a communication goal (such as casting a vote or buying a product) to the different needs of the individual target groups.

Due to their own massive surveys (through telephone surveys, online campaigns and house calls) as well as official statistics, those responsible are able to provide the individual target groups with content that corresponds to their content-related wishes and formal preferences, for example via social media . This target group-specific communication increases the probability of achieving the communication goal considerably.

In addition, microtargeting saves considerable resources, since communication is only carried out with the target groups (e.g. swing voters or those interested in buying) and no longer with the group as a whole (TV spots). In this way, the crucial target group can be addressed much more frequently with the same resources than when communicating with the entire group. Political parties, associations and companies that use microtargeting are thus able to communicate much more frequently and more intensively with their target groups than their competitors.

Best practice examples

During the 2008 election campaign in the USA, Barack Obama's campaign team , above all his campaign advisors David Axelrod and David Plouffe , relied on an integrated microtargeting campaign , especially in the swing states that were decisive for the election . This enabled them to tap into new groups of voters and ultimately win the election.

In the 2012 presidential election campaign, the Republican Party caught up with the methodological lead of the Democrats and implemented its own microtargeting strategies; In Donald Trump's presidential election campaign in 2015/16 it played a role, albeit not a decisive one ( -> Cambridge Analytica ).

In the election campaign for the 2017 federal election , several German parties are sending political messages to small target groups, particularly via Facebook . The budget of the two popular parties CDU and SPD for the digital election campaign alone was estimated at 20 to 25 million euros.

The Federal Agency for Civic Education also used a microtargeting approach in the area of ​​non-partisan election activation . In the run-up to the 2017 federal elections, it focused its political education activities on areas where voter turnout was particularly low in 2013. The campaigns in the 32 selected areas included advertising on posters, beer mats, postcards or in cinemas, campaigns and workshops on site, direct mail in the postcode areas, the Wahl-O-Mat to stick on, etc.

Microtargeting of companies and associations

In principle, micro-targeting strategies are also available to companies and associations. However, only a few American associations and unions have started using microtargeting strategies.

criticism

The successful implementation of microtargeting requires a considerable amount of time and organizational effort. In addition, it is unclear to what extent the experience from the USA can be transferred to Europe .

See also

literature

  • Robin Kiera (2012): “Dare to communicate more!” Participatory election campaigns in Germany too? In: Communication Manager. Pp. 76-80.
  • David Plouffe (2009): The audacity to win. The inside story and lessons of Barack Obama's historic victory.
  • Thomas Söbbing "The data scandal on Facebook and the legal admissibility of artificial intelligence to influence the formation of political will (so-called microtargeting)" Innovations- und Technikrecht InTeR 2018, 182 - 188

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Plouffe , 2009: The audacity to win. The inside story and lessons of Barack Obama's historic victory.
  2. ↑ Kiera, Robin (2012): “Dare to communicate more!” Participatory election campaigns in Germany too? In: Communication Manager, p. 76ff
  3. ↑ F. Prietzel (2019): Big Data is watching you: Personality analysis and microtargeting on social media . In: Markus Appel (ed.): The psychology of the post-factual, Berlin: Springer, p. 81 ff.
  4. ↑ Gabriela Keller, Kai Schlieter: Microtargeting in the Bundestag election campaign: Close to the voter and susceptible to manipulation. In: berliner-zeitung.de. August 9, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Ingo Dachwitz: Election campaign in the gray area: The parties, microtargeting and transparency. In: Netzpolitik.org. September 1, 2017, accessed September 10, 2017 .
  6. ^ Nadine Lindner: Digital campaign management - The parties and the network. In: Deutschlandfunk.de. September 10, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017 .
  7. ↑ bpb: The choice is yours! Accessed January 31, 2018 .