Success with social media marketing has long been measured in terms of user engagement. People viewed shares, comments, and likes on Facebook as proof that a brand was connecting with potential customers. Marketers leveraged the targeting tools within the Facebook advertising system to reach people from various demographics or locations or who had shown interest in certain products or activities. CEOs at large companies, however, are increasingly more interested in sales instead of engagement. This managerial outlook has now brought attention to Facebook’s purchase behavior targeting option because it focuses on people who actually buy things.
How Purchase Behavior Targeting Works
Facebook includes a “purchase behavior” option when setting up ad targeting. The social media platform collects information about its users who have paid for items on Facebook. In this way, marketers can expose their messages to people who are proven to be buyers instead of other Facebook users who may like and share things that interest them but never buy them.
Third-Party Payment Data Integration
The payment data collected directly by Facebook is admittedly limited. However, robust Facebook advertising campaigns can be developed by injecting data from third-party internet payment processors. Payment processors are increasingly entering the big data market and making their valuable insights about buyers available to marketers. The technology to integrate outside buyer data with Facebook ads offers an opportunity for companies to increase their ROI and measure success in sales revenue instead of social media users’ interaction with any given ad or post.
Companies Want More Results For Their Money
Enormous amounts of money have been thrown at social media campaigns. In Australia alone, digital marketers shelled out $2.5 billion for social media ads in 2020. Regardless of the sales produced, the people in charge of these campaigns have always had plenty of other metrics to report to their CEOs.
Metrics other than sales have ceased to impress company leaders. They want their marketing teams to separate behavior within social media platforms from purchasing behavior. What people do on Facebook does not appear to predict what they will buy. A survey by Bango of 200 CEOs emphasized this point. Among respondents, 62% had concluded that their social media budgets were wasted on chasing likes and followers.
Do you think purchase behavior is the key to more conversions with Facebook advertising?