Early micro-targeting efforts

Early micro-targeting efforts – before the dominance of online marketing – were largely miss or hit. This was because there was no data. However, this has changed, and if you’ve been using Facebook you have seen this in action.

For example, you do a Google search for TVs in one tab. A few minutes after you open Facebook, an electronic megastore near you ad appears. As you scroll down the newsfeed, more sponsored posts appear from popular TV manufacturers.

With the collaboration of paid advertising platforms, social media, and data collected, it’s now possible for marketers to target a very specific audience using available information, including:

• Hobbies and interests

• Search history

• Demographic data

• The social media profile info

• Shopping history

• Web pages you visit

For example, this Lacoste Gift Finder interactive microsite is available in multiple languages. This means that it appears in German for German-speaking web users and so forth.