In The Moment - How Individual Real-Time Ads Are Becoming Reality

Targeting potential clients based on online behaviors, profiles and more is happening as we speak. The next step in the evolutionary process is even more analysis-intense: real time individual ads. Imagine being able to tune your message for that customer, their beliefs and influencers in this moment. In this article, we track the evolution of online advertising towards this end. Targeting your customer as much as possible is not a new concept. With the advent of social networks, however, more detailed and individualized forms of targeting data became available. Even more data-rich than profiles (already a source for targeting) are networks themselves and the influence that customers have on friends, colleagues and extended networks. Players in the social network based ad targeting space include (among others) 33Across, Media6-Degrees, Rapleaf and Lotame. Companies focused on social network based targeting, according to a Wall Street Journal article by Emily Steel, track “how consumers interact with one another-commenting on posts or sharing messages, for instance.” The question in the end is: are the ads effective? According to Stephen Baker in an article for TheNumerati.net, “People's social contacts are more than five times as likely to click on the same ads, and buy the same products, as the general public.” So, is your target audience clicking? It would seem to depend on where they are when presented with the ad. According to Bryant Urstadt and Valleywag, “While around 2 percent of Google users actually click on a given ad ...fewer than 0.04 percent of Facebook users do.” To create advantage from the real-time targeting trend, consider the following. Your customer’s networks are your best source of growth. Next, demographics and profiles are not enough to target your customers. Target their networks with an eye towards influencers and propagators. Along the way, prepare your marketing team for real-time targeting. Real time targeting means thinking about ad development in a different way. Let us not forget the golden rule, interpreted for social media...Do not post more than you would want harvested. If you intend to harvest profile, activity and network data, expect to have yours harvested as well. Lastly, and most importantly, honor your customer’s privacy concerns when targeting ads.