Facebook behavioral targeting options have been a longstanding favorite for effective Facebook marketers – it allows us to ensure the product or service is in front of people who not only have a want or need for the product but also have the resources available to purchase it. Income, net worth, and home value targeting are just the beginning when it comes to pre-qualifying a user’s buying power before they ever see an ad.
While behavioral targeting is an important tool in any marketer’s toolbox, there are plenty of countries (The European Union) where big data targeting is taboo. So, what’s a marketer to do?
Fear not, marketing friends! AIMCLEAR wouldn’t pride itself on its targeting abilities if we weren’t creative enough to find ways around such problems. Below are 5 ways that advertisers can pre-qualify Facebook users’ buying power — avoiding 3rd party data — with a high degree of certainty.
In this example, we will be targeting users in France, one country where we do not have access to behavioral targeting.
Degrees = Dollars! (Usually)
Highly educated Facebook users are often employed at higher rates, with higher pay. Therefore, selecting users who have post-graduate and higher degrees allow advertisers to target users who statistically should be making more money than those without.
Target High-Income Job Titles
There are also certain professions that commonly fall into a higher income bracket than others and may not necessarily require an advanced degree. Take advantage of these professions by targeting high-paying job titles within categories such as these:
- C-suite
- President/VPs
- “Executive” anything (but…not assistants)
- Medical: doctors, surgeons, etc.
- High paid attorneys
- Financial Pros
- Senior Engineers
- Business and HR Pros
A note on job titles: While a stay-a-home mom may title herself “CFO” or a start-up one-woman business owner may be “president and CEO,” we found in the States, where we can map job titles to income (big data), the majority earn in-line with what we’d expect.
When qualifying for income: Don’t get wrapped up in job title or industry verticals. Remember, we’re qualifying other targeting attributes (interests, etc.) with job titles to identify a certain level of income.
Here, we just scratch the surface of job title targeting for financial qualification and already reach 120K Frenchmen & women…
Remember: While targeting job titles in Facebook, the results can seem slim, but that doesn’t mean ample targeting doesn’t exist! Refresh your stemming skills here.
Potent Publication for Riches
People invest time and energy into what they care about. For those who have gained wealth, it’s important to read about managing and maintaining it. On the flip side, those who are struggling pay check to pay check aren’t as concerned with how the stock market is performing, or what the latest financial expert has to say about market performance.
With this in mind, marketers can take advantage of Facebook’s interest targeting option and target those users who have expressed interest in financially-themed publications as a way to target those with the income required to purchase a product or service.
Life of LUXURY!
Similar to publication targeting, people express interest in things that are either currently available to them, or that they are hoping to have in the future. Another way to segment users based on buying power is to target users who have expressed interest in luxury brands. Be careful with this targeting, marketers! Utilizing this type of financial qualifier, advertisers could be ensnaring users who can’t afford the product/service. If that’s the case, tread carefully and qualify users with ad copy! How you ask? List the price or start copy with “Make XXX,XXX/year?” and “Avid investors love…” Sure, those who may not have the cash will see the ads, but the copy should do the trick to prevent a click.
Exclude ‘Free-Loving’ and Discount Shoppers
One of the most powerful targeting features in Facebook is not who advertisers choose to “include,” but rather who they choose to “exclude” from targeted audiences. When targeting users with significant money, exclude users who like freebies, couponing, and discount stores.
Note: Marketers, this doesn’t just apply to money. It’s also a killer way for politicians to find unaligned voters or Android to scoop up any users who aren’t drinking Apple’s Kool-Aid.
While most advertisers realize that behavioral targeting is a huge advantage, we must find ways to target and qualify users where BIG DATA is not. For advertisers swimming in international waters, creativity in targeting and feature flexibility (exclusions FTW!) are keys to successful international targeting.
