Zac Moffatt, our co-founder and digital director for the Romney campaign, spoke at a panel sponsored by Google Politics and CNN titled “Exploring the 2012 Digital Election”. At this panel, Moffatt shared details about the campaign’s digital strategy and commented on the evolution of digital technology in the political sphere.

One such technology to evolve in the 2012 election was geo-targeting, particularly on Facebook:

Moffatt said the Romney campaign was able to use geo-location on Facebook, where it could post relevant messages in respective areas. “We were doing 40 to 50 posts a day that most people didn’t see” because they were showing up in targeted areas, he said.

Though the Obama campaign entered 2012 with a built-in list size lead, Moffatt and the Romney digital team were able to gain likes rapidly:

The Republican nominee spent heavily on Facebook ads nationwide to boost his follower numbers… “The low-hanging fruit was still there,” in terms of list-building and follower acquisition, he said. Additionally, Romney’s Facebook following was highly engaged.

Looking forward to 2013 and beyond:

Moffatt said he thinks “the party’s in a much stronger place going forward.”

He referred in part to the “legacy item” of more than a million donor names the campaign handed over to the Republican National Committee this week that are brand new to the RNC.

With the ballots cast and counted, the 2012 election cycle has concluded. Yet, the digital political landscape is just beginning to evolve. With refined targeting tools, list-building and engagement techniques, and voter contacts on the horizon, the intersection of digital and politics is more exciting than ever.