Will you “friend” advertising?

How long did you spend on Facebook today? What about yesterday? On average, users spend 58 minutes per day on Facebook. 300 million photos are uploaded on the platform every day. 8 billion videos are being viewed on Facebook daily. Facebook is the number 1 social media platform and it continues to grow. Here is a chart of the growth of Facebook users from the United States alone

https://www.statista.com/statistics/408971/number-of-us-facebook-users/

It’s no secret to advertisers that Facebook is the place to be. Facebook is the largest social media platform. It has a large user baser with high engagement. Advertisers can target niche segments and advertising in front of engaged users equates to a high return on investment for advertisers. According to raddinteractive.com “The ability to incorporate your content with your paid-marketing efforts means better success. This is likely why Facebook ads are one of the most popular channels there is, in fact 90 million small businesses use Facebook for marketing. And in 2020 it’s expected that 87% of U.S. marketers will take advantage of Facebook ads.”

16 Benefits of Advertising on Facebook For Your Business

I recently read an article by Jon Loomer titled “Facebook Interest targeting: How Your Profile Targeted (the Good and Bad)”. This article describes interest targeting on Facebook. He states that he would rather target people who have already connected with the business by visiting its website or engaging with a Facebook post than someone who may be a customer based on Facebook’s interest matching. His reason for this is the interest is vague and hard to measure based on Facebook pages liked and ads clicked.  He admits his answer is very vague. For example, someone may like a page or click on an ad for several reasons, including the cute photo used in the ad, not because they have any interest in the product that the ad is promoting.

Loomer’s article had me thinking, that I never really paid attention to the ads on my Facebook feed. Yes, I occasionally click on one that grabs my attention while scrolling, but would I be able to recall that ad or company later? Are the ads even relevant to me and my interest?

It is time for me to dig into my Facebook preferences. Loomer gives step-by-step instructions on how to do this in his article. So of course, I checked mine to see if Facebook is correct with my interests.

I first went to my ad topics; these are a list of topics that you can choose to see less of while on Faceook. WOW! The list is endless! I tweaked and adjusted my preferences, but to be honest I am not really sure what I did, or if I did any good.

I love relevant ads that target based on my interest. You know how as soon as you talk about a product it appears that Facebook is listening to you and BOOM you start seeing ads on the topic you mentioned. The truth is Facebook is not listening they are merely tracking our actions both online and offline. How this works is, for example, you visit your best friend, you take a selfie at a restaurant and post it to Facebook. Facebook now starts targeting you for similar restaurants in the location you took your picture. The longer you stay in one spot, the more ads you will see for that specific location. For example, I live in Oshkosh, I keep my GPS on. Every time I post a picture Facebook records that information.

It’s time to check out the ads targeted to me throughout my Facebook feed. I am excited about what I will find. My first ad is a political ad to reelect a candidate in the upcoming election. Boring, not really targeted, this candidate is probably targeting everyone in the state, they are not really targeting based on my interests. The next ad I found was for jewelry specifically engagement and wedding ring sets. Ok, this one makes sense to me. My fiancé asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve. I have been targeted based on my recent activity. I have an ad for COPD and know the risk. I am not sure why this pharmaceutical company targeted me. I also had an ad for Skechers sandals, this is my favorite shoe company, and the sandals are cute, oooh and they are on sale, sorry I got distracted from my blog when I clicked on the ad. LOL.  I receive multiple ads advertising the same product, but from multiple competitors, in my feed that makes me laugh. It is an ad for a pole building, a 100’ x100’ pole building. This ad comes with a story. My wonderful fiancé uses my Facebook account to search the marketplace. He has been trying to convince me to let him build a new shed for a few months now. I have finally relented, and we agreed on a small shed, not a 100 x 100. When I questioned him about the shed, he said yes, he clicks on every ad and fantasizes about a huge shed, the poor guy we are not getting a huge shed.  Most of the ads in my Facebook feed are not targeted to me Amazon, but everyone shops on Amazon, ads for mortgages, financial planning, health, illnesses like lung cancer symptoms, and more political ads that will only get worse the closer we get to the election. The ads that impress me the most of from my local shops, like Market Boutique. Kudos to them for competing and winning in my opinion against the big companies like Amazon.

What do you see in ad preferences? Some of mine were funny, like the Bermuda Triangle, I have never been there, nor do I want to go.  I encourage you to pay attention to the ads in your news feed. Does it make sense to target you? As marketing students, it’s important to learn from others what to do and what not to do. Loomer was right Facebook targeting is better when the consumer is already connected to the business like I was with the Skecher Ad that appears on my news feed than trying to target based on vague interests. Targeted advertising does work if the advertiser is willing to invest some time to know their target audience. It’s time for me to sign off and change my preferences because whatever Facebook says I am not ready for a senior living community.