Political marketing on social media: preparing a campaign for 2027

Colombia elects governors, mayors, assemblies and councils in October 2027. Most campaigns will take their social media seriously only when electoral propaganda opens, three months before the vote. By then it is too late: that window is for converting an audience, not for building one.

superchatResponse room · Ana Ruiz

AllVolunteersBy district

Carlos M. · ReboloHow do I volunteer?

Registered

luisa.pWhat about the water in La Chinita?

Answered · 4 min

Jorge L. · Simón BolívarWhere do I vote?

Reminder sent

andres.rFake news about the candidate

Crisis protocol

Avg. reply 6 min · 142 volunteers this week

Stage 1. From today: the foundation

Before talking about votes, you set up what cannot be improvised later:

• Accounts owned by the campaign. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and a WhatsApp channel, verified, with access controlled by the team rather than one person.
• A narrative in three ideas. Which local problem you solve, why you and what you will do first. All content comes from there.
• A competitor review. What rivals post, what people comment and where they have an audience you do not.
• Content about work on the ground. Walkabouts, community meetings, positions on concrete issues. This is political communication, not electoral propaganda: it does not ask for the vote.

Stage 2. Building the community

The months before registration decide the digital result. Only one thing is measured here: how many people in the district follow, comment and write.

• A fixed rhythm. Four to five posts a week and daily stories. Consistency beats production value.
• Short video shot in the street. On the Caribbean coast, the format with the most reach is the candidate talking to people, not the studio clip.
• A supporter list with consent. Anyone who wants updates or to volunteer asks on WhatsApp. Political opinion is sensitive data under Colombian law (Law 1581 of 2012): only people who give explicit consent are registered.

Stage 3. Registration and pre-campaign

The National Registry publishes the electoral calendar with the candidate registration dates. From then on, the candidacy’s name, number and logo are fixed and content is organised around them. It is also the moment to finish Meta’s authorisation for political ads, which requires identity and location checks and can take days.

Stage 4. The propaganda window

Electoral propaganda is allowed in the three months before the vote (Law 1475 of 2011), and the pace changes:

1. Daily production. Posts and reels every day, with same-day event coverage.
2. Ads targeted by district. A budget per neighbourhood or municipality, with the paid-for disclaimer on every ad.
3. A response room. Comments and messages answered within minutes, with a protocol for fake news and attacks.
4. A weekly report. Reach by district, conversations and new volunteers. Every expense is documented for the report to the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Stage 5. Election day

The response room runs from the eve until the count closes. People who asked receive their polling station on WhatsApp, and the day’s content stays within what the law allows.

The most expensive mistakes

• Starting with propaganda. Three months is not enough to build an audience, and advertising to strangers costs more.
• The candidate’s personal accounts as the main channel. If access is lost or the account is suspended, the campaign goes silent.
• Ads without authorisation. Meta rejects or removes unauthorised political ads, and time lost mid-campaign does not come back.
• Undocumented spending. Digital ads count toward spending caps and must be reported. Without invoices and records, the problem arrives after the election.

If your campaign is in Atlántico, Magdalena or La Guajira, this is how we run it: social media for political campaigns, with strategy, daily content and a response room.