Focus around browser privacy controls has increased in the past few years- with California’s recent introduction of their consumer privacy act standing as a recent example of this- and much of this focus has put a spotlight on platforms like Facebook. Because of this, audience targeting on social media has gotten increasingly more complicated since its inception.
This increased complication has significantly limited the targeting capabilities that you now have on social media. This isn’t to say that social media advertising can’t reach your intended audiences and drive conversion, but it does mean that you need to be aware of its limitations and know when to put your marketing budget into adverting elsewhere.
Lets take a look at some of the changes made to social media’s targeting abilities, and how brands like MassLive can fill those targeting gaps.
The Facebook Targeting Change You Need to Know About
In the Spring of 2018 Facebook stopped using third party data and tools to create its audiences. This meant that many detailed demographic and purchase segments were removed from the Facebook advertising platform. The demographic audience targeting that Facebook lost included things like income, household make up, and employment industries. Facebook still has a good handle on age and gender due to the fact that those pieces of information are first party data to them through users signing up, but the detailed targeting that was once available is no longer in the Ad Manager platform.
What Are Your Other Options for Targeting?
Owned and operated brands can still do the exact type of targeting that Facebook lost. Owning MassLive.com, the local news arm of our company, allow us as a publisher to draw in an audience on a daily basis- and with that create a large resource of first party data. And this data isn’t just simple demographic information like Facebook’s. We are able to map out detailed targeting to create intent based audiences. With this data we can help you target for things like intent to purchase a vehicle, movie goers, luxury goods buyers, and income segments.
A Dual Strategy
Facebook and other social media platforms are still great places for brands to connect with and advertise to consumers. All brands (especially B2C) can benefit from a mix of specifically targeted marketing as well as broad awareness advertising. Many marketers make the mistake of being too narrow with their targeting and miss out on putting their message in front of consumers who will connect with their brand, or influence consumers who aren’t currently in market but will be in the near or distant future. For that reason, Facebook is a great place to give your brand a personality and put your message in front of a more broad market.
MassLive.com, however, is a great place to advertise for its ability to market to both broad and refined audiences from within a trusted, premium publisher environment. Our platform allows us to deliver adverting that allow the brands that work with us to accomplish differing goals through many delivery formats such as standard display, high impact, native, in-article video, and sponsorship. What’s more, we also have a newer delivery format – social ads, where targeted MassLive viewers on mobile devices can be served your Facebook posts as ads.
Want to know more about MassLive Media Group’s ability to help you? Reach out to our experts today for a no-strings-attached conversation.