Behavioral targeting provides a unique opportunity for your brand to reach your target audience based on users’ interactions on the web. Using data stored in the user’s browser, you can leverage their interests, most frequent engagement, shopping behavior and more to boost the likelihood of interaction with your content.
Content marketers rave over the improved performance of ads and content served with behavioral targeting. They’re typically able to sell more inventory with better engagement rates — ultimately reaping rewards for both themselves and their advertisers (brands like you!).
You’ve likely heard mention of browser ‘cookies’ — behavioral targeting is where they come into play. Cookies store site-specific data within the user’s web browser — pages visited, searches conducted, etc. Leveraging that data, ad networks can target users based on previous, current and predicted behaviors.
Behavioral targeting is also closely linked to current trends in retargeting. Retargeting or remarketing empowers your brand to reach users who have shown previous interest by visiting your site or in some way engaging with your brand online. By leaving a Hansel and Gretal-style trail in the cookies, users will be flagged to be served ads related to your brand whenever possible.
If you do a lot of online shopping, you’ve no doubt seen retargeting in action before. No? Try this:
- Head over to Amazon and do a little browsing. Search for a few items. Click through some product pages. Just peruse.
- Later, spend some time on Facebook. While scrolling through your newsfeed, pay close attention to the ads and sponsored content.
There’s a good chance that one of the products you previously saw on Amazon is now appearing in an ad on Facebook. That’s the magic of retargeting. Because your browser knows exactly which products you’re interested in, Amazon can now serve you the most relevant ads in their arsenal — increasing the likelihood that you will engage and purchase. In fact, retargeting is known to boost ad response by as much as 400 percent according to CMO by Adobe. Plus, the best part — you don’t have to be an ecommerce giant to leverage behavioral targeting in exactly this way.
With the right data to work with, you can even expand on demographic targeting to create behavioral targeting parameters. This is where content and ad networks can come in very handy — they often have data or tools for leveraging the data you’ve collected that will open new doors for reaching your audience.
Let’s say you’ve identified your audience as 20-30-year-old females with interests in skateboarding and fashion. When compared with data in the network, you learn that these women can not only be reached through websites with skater shoes, but they also frequently visit sites related to energy drinks and local park laws. Using this new pattern, or “profile,” you can expand your reach to previously unidentified women that also show this combination of interests.
Behavioral targeting really gives you an incredible opportunity to reach your audience with unmatched relevance. With that, you can achieve higher than ever engagement and conversions. It does, though, take some strategy to develop the property targeting parameters and strategy. Give us a shout at MARKETMOX to start developing those techniques today.
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