In less than 20 years of the Internet's history, advertising tools have achieved unprecedented accuracy.

Whereas we used to be bothered by intrusive flashing ads for things we didn't need, companies now pursue on social media and websites those customers who have already shown interest in their products but haven't made a purchase. In addition, social networks offer us advertisements based on what we have liked and read in the past.

INTERNET MARKETING INCLUDES UP TO 20 DIFFERENT TOOLS and advertising channels.

All promotional materials that users see can be divided into three broad groups: text ads in search results, flashing media-contextual banners, and advertising posts on social media. Except for stationary banners that partner companies place on their resources to support each other, all other ads are created with the audience's interests in mind.

Google, for example, makes money by allowing advertisers to display their products, prices, and product descriptions right below the search bar when a user enters a specific query. The advertising networks of the leading search engines also provide the opportunity to display rectangular flashing banners, for example, with a picture of a TV set to someone who Googles "Buy Plasma." However, more often than not, conditional sofas appearing in the sidebars of travel resources or expensive cars on a forum about motherhood and childhood are dynamic remarketing. It helps advertisers remind users about themselves and their offer to those who have already visited their website, looked at sofas and armchairs or cars, but did not buy anything.

In order to set up any of these online advertising campaigns, you need to choose to whom and when your ads will be shown. The process of dividing a wide audience into target groups of potential buyers is called targeting (from the English target - "target", "goal"). Brands benefit if the right person sees the promotion, and their customers benefit if they receive offers that are relevant to them.

How social networks are watching us

The most accurate advertising targeting is set up on social media. The fact is that contextual advertising in the form of banners, text blocks, and even dynamic remarketing that follows a specific person receives data from a computer or phone cookie. Roughly speaking, when you go to sitesThe user's browser sends a password (a unique identifier) to the servers, which is seen and remembered by the ad networks. Using this code, they then find their own users - those who have already shown interest in fishing rods, for example - and offer them additional products such as sparklers and bait at any time, on any website. But the cookies of different devices of the same person are different, and, conversely, all family members can access the Web from the same desktop computer, and their interests do not coincide.

Social networks have a serious advantage. Not only that, but their agents are also lurking on almost any resource. The Facebook icon, for example, has a pixel built into it that records the entire history of each user's browsing activity in their profile, and you don't have to repost what you like to your feed - you just have to visit the page. The most important bonus is the information that account holders share about themselves. Facebook's tools allow you to create detailed (read: targeted) advertising campaigns, which will appear in the feeds of the audience interested in the brand.

The data collected by the pixel, likes, reposts of the user are recorded in a person's social profile. From this amount of information, marketers use the Power Editor program inside Facebook to create targeting. В special fields, they customize the campaign: select the gender, age of a potential buyer, specify geographic features, interests, and behavioral factors. Similar to the size and color filters on a clothing store website, the system identifies clothing store, the system identifies account holders who will see the intended marketing message in a couple of hours. will see the promotion planned by the marketer in a couple of hours.

Let's say a sushi bar chain wants people who have recently been interested in Japanese cuisine and are within a kilometer from a certain restaurant, to learn about the "Second portion of rolls - as a as a gift" campaign. The marketer marks all the necessary categories in the program, creates 40-50 different ads with texts, images, or videos, which and uploads them to Power Editor. Then the system independently chooses which of the the resulting target audience which post to show. For example, cat lovers will see a happy Japanese cat offering sashimi and an address, while busy accountants will see a laconic image with a caption like: "40 Alabian Street. Lunch from 13:00 to 15:00. A portion of rolls as a gift".

Facebook also remembers any physical actions of its users. Its tools analyze, among other things, scrolling pauses, touching the image on the touchscreen, and the time spent reading one message. According to Zuckerberg's programmers, all the ads we see on the social network are similar to the posts that we or our friends like to see and read. The same laws apply to Instagram; other social networks are trying to imitate and are gradually catching up.

As unlikely as it may sound, Facebook is fighting to make advertising unobtrusive and relevant to users. Posts to which account holders actively and positively respond to are ranked higher in the feed and appear more often. A regular like is divided into emotion pictures, including to know exactly how the user feels about the advertising information.

Brands set up campaigns simultaneously in the same category for similar target audiences, so when the right user scrolls through the feed, an instant auction takes place among the creators of the ad posts. Facebook is guided by about 160 parameters to select the most suitable ad, even if all bidders have made the same payment bids.

At the same time, targeting allows experienced marketers not only to outperform competitors, but also guess user requests. For example, if you have a married woman in profile of a married woman who often views posts about cars and accessories, adds the "Children" column to her profile, she starts seeing ads for car seats for children from 0 to 12 months.

In the US, by the way, Facebook already determines a person's income, based on the data of its partners - online payment services. In addition, stores can upload customer databases to the system, and it will provide a similar audience from those users who have not yet bought from that seller. Now. "Yandex is trying to implement something similar in its Audience tool.