Behavioural Targeting on Social Media

Teachers keep track of their students through social media, marriages are fixed based on the information shared on social media, friends share their pictures through social media and even marketing campaigns are tailor made depending on the likes, dislikes and views shared by social media users. No wonder these social sites have become rich mine of information!

From their favorite eating joints to where they like to shop and from their favorite brands to the most stylish celebrity, social media users believe in giving their opinion freely. They share their beliefs and discuss their point of view with who ever is interested in them.

There are almost 500 million active users on Facebook while Tweeter boasts of over 50 million tweets per day! Popularity of social media can be assessed from the fact that devices that support social media sell like hot cakes. This user-generated content is just click away for behavioral marketers. It was never so easy before to find data that gives such accurate details of the current as well as potential customers. Behavioral marketers are just required to figure out right ways of finding opportunity for behavioral targeting in a way that they don’t seem too invasive.

With unique characteristics each social media site offers various ways of behavioral opportunities. The data available can be used for planning effective marketing campaigns. By studying various applications, marketers can get an insight into user likes and behaviors. Status updates, horoscope readings and top friends are some of the features that are especially useful in studying consumer behavior. The data gathered from these applications can be used while creating company’s profile on the social media sites like Facebook with the aim of converting these users into fans. Its just about giving them what they want in a way they want.

One of the most popular sites, YouTube has come up as a powerful marketing tool where ads can be created and uploaded depending on what videos users are watching and recommending.

­Sounds incredibly easy, doest it? But before getting started with behavioral targeting on social media, it is essential to do one’s homework. Prior to running any programs, one must observe sentiment and behavior to get a clear picture. With almost everybody active on social media, a robust monitoring and analysis will be called for to clearly define your target audience. This is a time consuming exercise but will ensure targeted campaigns.

Remember, if your image gets tarnished once, it’s difficult to set it right again. So, tread cautiously and stay away from deceptive campaigns and ghost tweeting. They will not last long and will only play spoil sport!

Another thing that marketers must keep in mind is that there are some social media users who believe in moving beyond their closest friends and family. This creates the challenge of effectively analyzing peer influence. Again, this will require more time to accomplish.

Careful and planned behavioral targeting on social media is a cost effective way of reaching targeted audience directly. No other data can be more accurate, more effective and more useful than the data given by the user’s themselves. So, go ahead and hit the bulls eye!