As the General Election period draws to a close, we decided to take a closer look at how candidates across the county engaged voters on Facebook and Instagram.

We took a look at each candidates ad library on Meta (Facebook's parent company) to see how much they've spent in the last 30 days - June 2 to July 1 - and what they've been highlighting. 

The ad library also tells us who contributed the money towards paying for the advertisement, in a lot of cases national parties have contributed a large proportion of this spend. 


Carlisle

Brian Wernham, Liberal Democrats

Brian's team has spent the most on social media advertisements out of the Carlisle candidates in the last month - £3,025. Meta's ad library says the following when looking at the payments made: 'Published and promoted by Paul Nettleton on behalf of Brian Wernham (Liberal Democrats) at Beck Lodge, Burgh by Sands CA5 6BS'.

His page, Brian Wernham for Carlisle MP, has run more than 100 sponsored content posts between June and July 1 covering everything from Lib Dem policies, his own canvassing activities, local issues, and memes.

His ads were by and large targeted towards people living within the CA8 9 and CA4 8 postcodes reaching mostly people aged 64+.

Julie Minns, Labour

£3007 was spent on Facebook and Instagram advertisements by the Julie Minns for Carlisle page which included a payment of £1,331 by The Labour Party and £1,676 by Julie Minns for Carlisle.

Her advertisements during this time featured testimonials from voters, campaign pledges, reflections on her time canvassing, and encouraging people to vote. 

Julie's posts were targeted towards people living in Carlisle, Brampton, Gretna, Port Carlisle, and Newcastleton.

John Stevenson, Conservative

John's advertisements were paid for in full by the Carlisle Conservatives which spent £283 to run Facebook and Instagram ads through the John Stevenson - Conservative Candidate for Carlisle page.

His advertisements largely focused on the Conservative campaign promises and encouraging people to vote for his party rather than Reform UK. He also shared his achievements as Carlisle's MP. 

People living within the CA6 6, CA3 9, and CA8 1 postcodes were largely targeted by John's advertisements. 

Penrith and Solway

Markus Campbell-Savours, Labour

The total spent on sponsored content for Markus Campbell-Savours account was £2,267. £911 worth of advertisement was paid for by The Labour Party and a further £1,356 was spent by Markus himself. 

His sponsored content was typically focused on highlighting campaign pledges and urging people to vote.

As a result of this new parliamentary constituency covering such a broad area, Markus' advertisements targeted voters in Oulton, Silloth, Maryport, Alston, Wigton, Carlisle, Keswick, Penrith, and Cockermouth. 

Julia Aglionby, Liberal Democrats

Julia Aglionby spent £556 on advertising on social media in the run-up to the election.

She largely focused her spending on posts which highlighted her canvassing activities as well as some on local issues such as the Penrith Pong and farming. 

Unlike Markus, Julia's target audience was within the Carlisle, Penrith and Wigton areas, and to a lesser extent, broadly the UK. 

Mark Jenkinson, Conservative

Mark Jenkinson spent the least on Facebook and Instagram marketing out of all of Cumbria's candidates in the last month at just £50.

This was spent on sponsoring one social media post - a video of former prime minister Boris Johnson giving his backing for Mark. 

It was seen by between 10,000 and 15,000 people, mostly men and largely in the Wigton area.

Whitehaven and Workington

Josh MacAlister, Labour

Only one candidate in this constituency put any money towards sponsored content on social media, Josh MacAlister. £2,519 was spent on advertising his page by The Labour Party.

The posts that were given a boost shared testimonials from local people giving him their backing as well as his campaign pledges. 

People in Cleator, Ravenglass, Egremont, Cleator Moor, Beckermet, Workington, Maryport, Seascale, Cockermouth and Drigg were targeted by the 15 posts.

Barrow and Furness

Simon Fell, Conservative

Simon Fell's Facebook page had the highest advertising spend for all of the candidates in Cumbria at £4,300. The Conservative Party spent £2,740 with Simon Fell's page spending £1,559. 

He ran 15 advertisements during the one month time frame. These posts discussed what he'd done as the MP for the area and encouraged people to vote - more than £1,500 was spent on one post alone which, again, highlighted his five years as MP. 

The sponsored content largely focused on the broader UK region, Barrow and Millom were the other two top location focuses. 

Michelle Scrogham, Labour

The Labour Party spent £1,895 on boosting social posts on Michelle Scrogham's Facebook page. 

Similarly to other local Labour candidates, the sponsored content on Michelle's page includes policies and videos of people sharing why they're planning on voting for her.

The 26 posts targeted voters in Dalton in Furness, Broughton in Furness, Millom, Leece, Haverigg, Barrow in Furness, Glaston, Seascale, Ulverston, Ravenglass, and Coniston. 

Westmorland and Lonsdale

Matty Jackman, Conservative

Very little was spent by candidates in this constituency, but Matty Jackman put the most towards it with £485. 

The advertisements were two videos that encouraged people to vote for him which highlighted his policies. One of them was seen by between 60,000 and 70,000 people. 

He mostly targeted people in Kendal and Penrith with Appleby and Grange to a lesser extent.

Tim Farron, Liberal Democrats

The Westmorland and Lonsdale Liberal Democrats spent £450 on advertisements for Tim Farron.

The nine advertisements shared his views on certain policies and testimonials from voters - there was also a post clarifying the new boundary for the constituency. 

He targeted voters within LA postcodes with CA16, CA10, and CA17 also included.