In an exclusive interview, we delve into the advertising strategies employed by America Pac, particularly as it aims to engage users interested in figures like the Boy Scouts of America, Kelsey Grammer, Kid Rock, and Joe Rogan.
According to recent insights from Blake Montgomery, it seems that Elon Musk’s political action committee has made significant investments in social media advertising, focusing much more on platforms like Facebook and YouTube rather than on X, which is Musk’s own social network. Notably, America Pac shelled out $201,000 for dozens of ads on X over the last three months. In stark contrast, the committee invested a staggering $3 million on thousands of advertisements across Facebook and Instagram during the same period. Musk established this pro-Donald Trump PAC in July and has reportedly funded it with a total of $75 million.
From July 8 to October 1, which spans 85 days, America Pac spent over $166,000 on 59 ads on X, as revealed through political ad disclosures. After Musk claimed the @America handle for the PAC on October 7, an additional approximate $34,000 was spent on X ads. It’s interesting to note that these ads targeted several pivotal swing states—Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin—with a particular emphasis on Pennsylvania, generating around 32 million impressions.
When we compare this with their ad investments on Facebook, the differences are striking. Between July 22 and October 19, the PAC invested over $3 million to run 1,910 ads, with some ads duplicated on Instagram. This campaign targeted users across key states, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona. Impressively, roughly a dozen America Pac ads received more than a million impressions, with others achieving hundreds of thousands. However, the Meta Ad Library doesn’t provide aggregate impression numbers for individual advertisers, which complicates a straightforward comparison to ads on X.
America Pac is also making a considerable splash with Google, which owns YouTube. Since July, the organization has allocated $1.5 million to 251 ads on Google and its subsidiary, spending ten times more than it has on X. Notably, around 80% of this expenditure went toward video ads, with Georgia being the primary recipient of this ad engagement.
Despite Musk’s vast online presence—boasting over 200 million followers on X—America Pac itself has fewer than 7,000 followers. Musk often utilizes his platform to amplify America Pac’s messages through retweets, capitalizing on his extensive reach.
Data from Meta’s Ad Library indicates a shift in geographic targeting in recent weeks, with a significant focus on North Carolina and more than 25% of advertisements recently targeting Pennsylvania, where Musk has ramped up his in-person campaigning efforts.
Speaking of audience targeting, America Pac is strategically honing in on users interested in various themes, such as Kelsey Grammer, trophy hunting, Kid Rock, the Boy Scouts of America, and Joe Rogan.
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and its rebranding as X in 2022, he has been vocal about the platform’s advertising capabilities and app performance. Despite introducing Twitter Blue as a subscription option, advertising still accounted for an overwhelming 70-75% of X’s revenue in 2023, according to Bloomberg. However, the company faced a steep decline in revenue, dropping nearly half to $2.5 billion, largely due to a decrease in advertising dollars.
Moreover, Musk has shown a penchant for funding in-person events. Recently, he pledged to distribute $1 million per day to registered voters supporting America Pac’s petition until the election, awarding these prizes with oversized novelty checks at rallies in Pennsylvania over the last several days.
