Facebook launches a new type of advertisements to target some categories of consumers likely to buy certain products. In a partnership with market research firms that will record the frequency of use of loyalty cards in real stores (offline), it will become possible for certain companies, to place advertisements to users of their products. The implications are huge for advertisers. General Motors just announced that will come back and advertise on Facebook.
Facebook’s new advertising product, announced on Wednesday and called “partner categories” offers advertisers operating on the social network site the chance to show ads for people who have bought or have shown interest in certain products, from consumer packaged goods to cars.
Datalogix, for example, one of Facebook’s partners, follows the use of loyalty cards in retail stores so that Facebook can tell advertisers, in a confidential way, who buys about 50% of all consumer packaged goods sold in the United States.
Datalogix can also follow those who gave their identification to the companies, asking them more information about their products.
“An advertiser could be paying up to 70 percent of the cost of a campaign just to access a third party’s data, leaving only 30 percent to actually reach them. Facebook is not charging a premium to use this targeting, so 100 percent of an advertiser’s budget can be spent on reaching their core audience,” said Andrew McDermott, VP of product at Spruce Media.
Facebook will know which of its users asked for Chevy Camaro brochures. Or, Gillette can post advertisements for men who bought its new shavers.
This kind of targeting based on consumer intentions is almost as valuable as that of Google, where the users tell the search engine what they are looking to buy.
Facebook product promotion campaign has already begun showing users messages such as: A local car dealer may show ads to those who are likely to buy a new car and live near the dealer. Until now, advertisers could only place ads to people that already expressed interest in their products.
The new product “partner categories” also uses data from Acxiom and Epsilon, but Facebook argued that it will not make available personal information to third parties and advertising agencies.
There are more than 500 unique groups of users, according to Business Insider.
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