A couple of classes ago we were asked to think about “social media objectives” and someone brought up targeting in the sense that a lot of young people are on Facebook (amongst other social media platforms) and that it is therefore easier to “target” them. While it’s a valid point, let’s delve a bit deeper into what targeting through social media really means. When companies are advertising, they want maximum return on their ad dollars, and that really comes through being able to get the right message to the right people, at the right time, or in other words, effective targeting.
Facebook’s advertising feature Lookalike audiences launched in March 2013 is a great example of how a company might be using social media for targeting purposes. Before going into lookalike audiences, let’s quickly go over custom audiences, Facebook’s previous (and still existing) offering. Using this tool, advertisers can upload customer lists (emails, phone numbers or Facebook UIDs) to target these users on Facebook through targeted ads. As Loomer points out, this is perfect targeting, if you want to keep reaching the same people (your current customers) with every ad campaign, but it doesn’t do much to generate new customers, and that’s a huge part of advertising. That’s where lookalike audiences come in.
The lookalike audiences tool allows advertisers to target users with similar characteristics to their custom audience, or according to Facebook: “Lookalike audiences let you reach new people who are likely to be interested in your business because they are similar to a customer list you care about.”
On the advertising side, this is definitely a great tool to launch your message and make sure it gets seen by the right people. And from the consumer’s point of view, yes, it’s a little bit creepy, but if tools like this mean that I get more relevant (and hopefully useful) advertising my way I’d probably be happier.