expertSEM

Yesterday’s Washington Post presented online advertising bloggers such as myself with this gem.  The gist of the article, “Facebook Ads Target You Where It Hurts,” is that the author was offended by what she perceived as over-the-top targeting by advertisers, which was allowed by Facebook.  Unfortunately, Rachel Beckman does not understand the way advertisers are allowed to target on Facebook, thus creating one the biggest journalistic faux pas– presentation of misleading information.

It is important to understand exactly how an advertiser might target their ads to understand where the flaws are in this article, so let’s go straight to the source and take a look.  I’ll go through the steps in question and show you screenshots so you can judge for yourself.

We begin by clicking the small “advertising” hyperlink at the bottom of the Facebook login page, bringing us to two options: Social Ads and Facebook Pages.  For this, I am only interested in Social Ads.

The process is pretty straightforward from here.

Step 1: What URL do you want your ads to direct traffic to?

Step 2: Write a compelling ad and include an interesting picture.

Step 3: Target your ad. Here are your options:

The third step is where Ms. Beckman gets it wrong.  You can only go so far with your targeting, and it is all based upon user-provided data.  For this example, I know my product will appeal to cat lovers, but that is too broad for my limited advertising dollars.  Therefore, I added a few corporations which have a reputation for being somewhat sinister, figuring that any cat lover who works for them might also be an “evil” cat lover and a potential Bonsai Kitten customer.  Drilling down to this level has provided me with approximately 100 people, who I can hit over and over again with a small budget until I convince them of the wisdom and aesthetics that only Bonsai Kitten can provide.

The same is true of the advertiser who placed the Muffin Top social media marketing ad which so offended Ms. Beckman.  They did not know that Ms. Beckman was concerned about her weight, but they did know a few generalities about America and a few specifics about Ms. Beckman.  Starting with the newsworthy, The Post recently reported that two thirds of all adults in America are overweight or obese.

If I’m an advertiser of a diet product, I can thus conclude that showing an ad to a random set of 100 Americans will net 66 potential customers for my product.  Taking it a step further, we all know from anecdote that brides-to-be universally worry about how they will look in “the dress.” Therefore, if we target women who are engaged, we almost guarantee* ourselves close to 66%  who are overweight, while the remaining 34% will be self conscious about their weight anyway.  It seems their guess was correct and they effectively reached Ms. Beckman, causing her to evaluate their ad (though not perhaps in the way they wished).

Ms. Beckman’s points on the targeting are correct up until this assertion: “Facebook Ads, which targets users’ presumed areas of interest (or psychological soft spots).”  They do no such thing.  All of the psychological aspects are inferred by the advertiser from anecdote and statistic.  The fact that they are correct only indicates that the advertiser did their job, not that Facebook colluded with them to dig in to users’ most fundamental insecurities.  Further, it is the advertiser doing the targeting, not Facebook.  Facebook set up a system with rules and information available for advertisers, the users provide that information.  I hold that Facebook should not be accused of violating some sort of public trust.  Ms. Beckman even recounts how Facebook revised its rules based on user complaints such as hers.

Fundamentally, this type of targeted advertisement serves both user’s and advertiser’s interests, resulting in a more efficient advertising market and better returns for all involved, end user included.  I am a cyclist, and the fact that Facebook, Google and others see fit to serve me predominantly cycling-related ads benefits me more than when I am watching “male” TV programming and see ads for lite beer and Chevrolets.

I welcome this type of targeted advertising, and as an online marketing professional, will continue to use it to reach my client’s marketing goals.  Bonsai Kitten anyone?

*Statistical variation notwithstanding.