05: Social

Social

Meta and Snapchat are the social platforms that currently allow political advertising in the US, each with its own certification process. TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all ban political ads outright, so they're not covered here.

Account Structure: Most platforms organize things in layers. On Meta, it's Campaign → Ad Set → Ad. On Snapchat, it's a similar Campaign → Ad Group/Set → Ad pattern. Budget and targeting usually live in the middle layer while the actual ad creative sits at the bottom.

"Paid For By" Disclaimer: A required, verified statement naming who's responsible for the ad: standard across Meta and Snapchat for political ads. The exact wording and format rules are platform-specific, and campaign-finance law adds another layer on top; confirm the specifics with your Punch contact or legal team.

Ad Transparency Library: Most platforms that allow political ads publish them (and often, the amount spent) in a public, searchable library; Meta's is the most complete and keeps records for years. Assume anything you run in this category is publicly visible.

Pre-Election Blackout Window: Some platforms (Meta, notably) stop accepting brand-new political ads in the final stretch before an election, though already-running ads can often keep delivering. Windows vary by platform and aren't always announced far in advance. It is worth checking current policy close to any election date rather than assuming last cycle's rules still apply.

Pixel: A small piece of code that tracks what visitors do on your website: a donation page or volunteer sign-up form, for instance. It's how a platform knows whether someone who saw your ad actually took the action you cared about.

Custom Audience vs. Lookalike Audience: A custom audience is built from your own data: a voter file, a donor list, past site visitors. A lookalike audience is normally a new group a platform builds to resemble that list, but for political ads on Meta specifically, lookalike expansion is currently disabled, along with ZIP-level geo-targeting and age/gender exclusions, the moment an ad is flagged as political.

AI-Generated Creative Disclosure: If creative was made or edited using generative AI, several platforms now require that to be disclosed: sometimes as a self-reported tag, sometimes detected automatically. Worth confirming current requirements before running AI-assisted creative in this category.

Basic Creative Specs: Every platform has its own rules for image size, video length, and text limits, and they change from time to time. Always check current requirements before finalizing an ad; don't rely on what you remember from last cycle.