Federal Election: South Australian electorate Boothby targeted in online election adverts

One of South Australia’s most marginal seats is being swamped with Facebook ads this election. See which candidates are spending the most and where.

South Australians living in the marginal seat of Boothby are among the targets of an unprecedented online ad spending spree this election, fuelled by cashed-up independents.

Facebook ad spending is split between Labor, the Liberals and an independent candidate in the highly prized electorate, while another independent, Senator Rex Patrick, outspends all three in a bid to retain his Senate seat in the state.

The news comes as an analysis shows Labor is spending up big online this election, splashing four times as much cash on social media as the Liberal Party across multiple platforms, and even running 330 Facebook ads at once.

But the Liberals have been creating dirtier attack ads for Facebook and, according to experts, have been taking a more targeted approach than could pay off.

The online battle for South Australian votes is at its fiercest in the inner city seat of Boothby, the state’s most marginal electorate that will be vacated by retiring MP Nicolle Flint and that has so far seen $17,000 in Facebook election ads.

Labor candidate Louise Miller-Frost is the biggest spender in the seat so far, followed closely by Liberal candidate Rachel Swift and the Climate 200-backed independent candidate Jo Dyer, who was only officially cleared to run in the seat days ago after renouncing her British citizenship.

South Australian independent Senator Rex Patrick has splashed more than $12,000 on Facebook adverts this election. Picture: Matt Turner

But independent Senator Rex Patrick is still the state’s highest spending candidate on Facebook, splashing more than $12,700 on ads in a bid to retain his seat.

UQ political scientist Dr Glenn Kefford, who created a tool to crunch Facebook ad data, said this election had seen much higher spending on social media due to its growing audience and the bigger budgets of independent candidates.

“The amount of money the independents are spending is really significant and unprecedented historically,” he said.

“Some of them are spending $4000 or $5000 a week on Instagram ads. Candidates from major parties don’t normally spend that.”

An analysis of the major political parties’ spending across both Facebook and Google platforms showed Labor had the deepest pockets by far, with the party and its leader paying more than $247,000 for Facebook ads and $223,000 on Google ads in a week.

By comparison, the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Scott Morrison spent less than half that amount on its Google and Facebook ads combined, though many of their advertisements were more negative, using memes to mock leader Anthony Albanese.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Liberal Boothby candidate Dr Rachel Swift, who has contributed to the more than $17,000 spent on Facebook adverts this election. Picture: Jason Edwards

Australian National University political marketing expert Dr Andrew Hughes said the parties’ online spending exposed different campaign strategies this election.

Labor was taking a “broad target” approach, Dr Hughes said, with big spending designed to spread its message nationwide, and lock in existing supporters.

Dr Hughes said Labor’s spending had been consistently high, though the party had invested in more negative ads towards the campaign’s halfway point.

“A lot of the negative ads started after Anzac Day, touting ‘no more mistakes, no more excuses’,” he said.

“They’re targeting undecided voters with these ads — they are Labor’s biggest fear — and according to these ads they’re targeting Queensland and New South Wales.”

But the Liberal Party’s move to run fewer but more targeted ads could be a solid strategy, Dr Hughes said, if the party aimed its message to the right audiences and in marginal seats.

“Just because you’re running hundreds of ads does not mean that it’s going to be successful and it does not mean you’re good at digital,” he said.

“It’s like getting 58 text messages from someone trying to ask you out on a date.”

But both major parties are being outspent by billionaire former MP Clive Palmer.

His United Australia Party has spent more than $15.2 million on election ads with Google, including $1 million in just one week.

PARTY SPEND ON FACEBOOK ADS IN BOOTHBY

Independent: $4436

Labor: $7118

Liberal: $6982

Originally published as Federal Election: South Australian electorate Boothby targeted in online election adverts