You’re likely aware of Facebook’s recent decision to give up third party data sources, but what you may not know is which specific demographics and behaviors they are discontinuing. By utilizing partner categories, Facebook was allowing brands and agencies to target people based on their offline behaviors outside of the platform. These options ranged from owning a home, being a loyal buyer of specific products, to even what kind of television shows they watched. While the public might be relieved, businesses may have to re-strategize their campaigns moving forward.
Before you panic, know there are plenty of other strategies out there that can help make your campaign a success; third party data was just a small piece of the puzzle.
Aside from third party commercial suppliers, Facebook also receives its targeting options from other outlets, such as:
Anyone who has made a purchase through Facebook, commented about their dog, or even messaged a friend about an upcoming event — Facebook knows it all. An AI is even reportedly used, allowing advertisers to predict future behavior of their audience as well. That’s just a start for an otherwise web of capabilities the platform has. Meaning, advertisers can still build cold audiences by combining locations, interests, and available demographics and behaviors.
Even so, there are a few more drawbacks: users still have privacy options that allow them to turn off targeted ads, and they will soon have the ability to clear their profile history. At this time, anyone is able to download and see their entire user data straight from their Facebook settings — all they have to do is go to “download my information.”
With scrutiny over the mishandling of that collected data, Facebook was determined to make any wrongs right by discontinuing the below categories.
From a targeting standpoint, this may look like quite a lot; however, it is also important to use other tools that are at your disposal. Advertisers of social media marketing who do not have access to customer data (like email lists) will have to start ramping up their own data collection. Using Facebook’s Pixel, there are plenty of ways to do just that:
Using different objectives, businesses can collect users who visited their website from Facebook from as far back as 180 days or have watched 3-10 seconds or 25%-95% of any specific video/s on their page. Once the pool is large enough, building a custom audience can boost your ad response by as much as 400% and lower the cost per result.
From interacting with a business’ Instagram or Facebook profile to those who have viewed a specific page of the business’ website, a custom remarketing audience can get rather granular. Depending on the intention behind the ad, Facebook leaves no leaf unturned when it comes to targeting users that once took an interest in a brand.
Pinterest, Twitter, and Linkedin are just a few examples of other advertising social media platforms that businesses can branch out to. Twitter is great for the latest and greatest from sports to news updates, while Pinterest is a pro at ecommerce, tips, and DIY projects. Linkedin is your gateway into the B2B realm; however, it does come at a steeper price as compared to Facebook.
What’s important to realize is that social media advertising is fluid; it’s better to ride the waves than to be overcome by them. Use these changes to make campaigns even more successful and perhaps, explore new audiences and avenues to get your message seen by the right people on the right platform.
If you are interested in learning more about this or other aspects of Facebook advertising, please contact us: a Facebook Agency Partner that offers local SEO marketing.
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