Short answer: Yes.

Your campaign site is all about you and your campaign for office. You control how the site looks, the types of functionality it offers, and the content. On social media platforms, you are playing by their rules: the size and placement of your profile picture and header image; the length of your content; whether you link to another site.

You are also subject to the ever evolving algorithms. Twitter defaults to show top tweets. Facebook prioritizes friends and family. If you rely solely on social media platforms for connecting with the public, you could find yourself separated from supporters at critical times either due to platform outages, automated algorithms flagging potentially disturbing content, etc. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election account was locked by Twitter for two days in 2019 after posting video of protesters outside of the official’s home. 

On your campaign site, you own and control your online space. You can write as little or as much as you want. There are no sponsored posts or ads distracting site visitors from what you have to say. Anyone can see you the content you create and share publicly.

Websites also offer structure, making it easier for interested parties to learn about you and your campaign for office without scrolling through past posts in search of relevant content.

Take the time to build and properly maintain a campaign site during your run for office. It doesn’t have to be a large site. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It just needs to be part of your campaign marketing arsenal.

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