Why Am I Seeing This Ad? How Social Media Ads Target You

Have you ever wondered why you see some ads over others in social media? It is not just a random occurrence. These ads spend thousands of dollars to reach you for a particular reason. Social media advertising has become one of the most important marketing methodologies for brands and businesses today. They do their research to ensure their ads are reaching actual potential customers.

Demographic Research

Businesses spend countless hours and funds to determine the right demographics to target their ads. They may research textbooks, buy textbooks or buy information from companies that gather online data. They will examine every aspect of the individuals or companies buying their products and services. This information could include anything, such as your age, race, location, hours spent on social media, household income, whether you have children or not and more. They might also know your purchasing history, whether or not you are married and what types of medication you take. This information is gathered from any number of sources, such as cookies, textbooks and the actions you take online.

Filters and Audience Targeting

Once a business determines its primary audience, they can begin to create the right content to present to you. This might be in the form of video or text. It might be entertaining or informative. They will determine which types of content will be most effective on you and select the right filters to ensure it reaches your page and the pages you visit on social media. They might buy textbooks to learn this too. The following are just a few ways they will focus their audience targeting:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Interests

Proper Use of Social Media Channels

Businesses will also consider the right social media channel to use to reach you. Each demographic uses different social media channels to engage and interact with friends, families, and brands. If you prefer video content, they may run it on a video streaming service. They might also make a short video and a longer video for different channels. They know on which channels you spend your time and which methodologies will be most effective on you. You can always learn more about these selection processes on your own with marketing textbooks.

Analytics

One way they determine all of these insights is to use analytics. This type of information gathering will tell them the amount of time you spend on their website or ad, whether or not you clicked on the ad to go to their website, the number of clicks that lead to conversions and if you left the checkout page before placing an order. Businesses will know on which page you left their website, from what part of the country or world the most people are spending time on the site and much more.

Subtle Messages

One of the most powerful ways social media ads target you is to create an ad that does not look like an ad so that you are processing the message before you even realize what is happening. These subtle messages are often geared toward people with particular interests, such as food, clothing, vacations, and others. They are extremely powerful and effective. You might even click on the ad without realizing it is an ad in the first place.

Strategic Partnerships

You might also see an ad due to strategic partnerships. Effective marketers will partner with other brands, industry influencers, celebrities, and indirect competitors to reach even more potential consumers rather than to use filters as a trial and error process. Brands might be featured on your favorite blogger’s social media page. If you are looking for a doctor’s office, an ad for a fitness center might appear as an indirect competition partner. These types of partnerships are priceless in advertising as you are likely already visiting a trusted website and might be more willing to click on an ad if it is featured on a site you trust.

You are seeing an ad on social media for any particular reasons. Brands and businesses know your interests, age, shopping habits and much more. Ads are placed on pages where companies know you are likely to visit and consider a need for their product or service. They will also carefully funnel the ad so that it ends with you on their website ready to make a purchase. If you think an ad just randomly appears on your social media pages, you might think again. These advertisers know a lot more about you and your online activity than you might like to know.