The TruEffect Blog

Targeted marketing gone awry: does this Facebook profile make my butt look fat?

In a Washington Post article this week, staff writer Rachel Beckman shares her hilarious (to us anyway) experience of Facebook calling her fat.  Based on some unidentified data in her profile, possibly her status as "engaged," the facebook targeting engine begin serving her ads for how to get rid of "muffin top" and how to "not be a fat bride." A laughing matter? Hardly. This is a shining, and often too common, example of targeted advertising gone bad.

With all the potentially "good" uses of targeted advertising, why does a site as large and popular as Facebook make such a mistake? Is it lack of relevant advertisers? Bad data profiling and segmentation? Or perhaps just a penchant to insult people? And if even publishers with a wealth of targeting data can't get it right, then what's the outlook for the industry as a whole?

I went to my own Facebook page and on repeatedly hitting the refresh button, was served many diet ads. So apparently being female might be enough to trigger them. I also received ads for free Obama buttons, marketing groups, books, and wine. OK, so maybe they get it right part of the time. But still. With the technology that exists today, I really wish my favorite merchants would come find me, and then serve me up some stellar offers. I'm just sayin'.

– Layne Salter

Social Media. Hip or Hype?

I don't know what's worse – marketers and advertisers being infatuated with the social media frenzy, or the fact that an application as ugly as MySpace has led the way. I know, I know... I'm not being "with it." But every week I research news and trends for articles on internet Display or Search advertising, and all I find are articles about Social Networking.   

In today's MediaPost article "Social Marketing Limited by Advertiser Confusion"  Mark Walsh sites a recent JupiterResearch study that says actual advertising spend on social media has not "caught up with hype surrounding the emerging category."  I'm not surprised.

As an online marketer, I know we like to jump on the latest trends and technology, in a constant search for that silver bullet – the answer to our ROI dreams. But putting all our eggs in this basket is like taking the "blue pill" – we wake up, and believe whatever we want to believe. (Of COURSE the future of online marketing is social media – even though research points to the fact that, increasingly, people don't want to be advertised to. But let's go invade the sanctity of their private MySpace and Facebook pages anyway.) 

How about we take the "red pill" and find out just how deep the rabbit hole really goes? What do consumers really want? What products are they interested in? Are they already my customer, or am I talking to a prospect? While entire companies are rising out of social media advertising, like Umbria whose product claims to gauge a people's demographics by which words they use when writing, how are we really using this technology? And, is it more important than improving our Display and Search campaigns? Jupiter reported that half of advertisers are spending less than 5% on social media. This, coupled with mixed reports this year on the declining usage of Facebook and MySpace might cast aspersions on this popular new kid. If nothing else, we certainly know that audiences are fickle, and social networking requires a substantial investment of time.

Oh wait. I just received an invitation from the AMA for a webcast on "Building Corporate Social Networks." It promises to help me, "Connect to customers in new ways, stimulate interest in my company’s brand, empower customers to become brand advocates, and deliver interactive services to my customers."  Better go sign up right now, wouldn't want to miss anything important. 

– Layne Salter