Detailed Targeting on Facebook. Where do the data come from?

Detailed targeting is one of the most powerful targeting parameters on Facebook.

With this feature we can target people with

• specific demographics (education, employment, etc.)
• certain behavior (behavior)
• certain interest,
• and other categories.

You can use this feature when creating ads on Facebook through the ad creation tool in the ad manager.

So, have you ever found out where the data came from?

Let us discuss ...

1. Demographic

Demographic is a person attribute (such as gender, age, marriage status, occupation, etc.).

The demographic included in the detailed targeting includes

• Education: Education level, school / university, department / field of study, degree, etc.
• Occupation: Profession, position, place of work
• Marital status
• and much more

Details you can see in the ad creation tool by clicking a button browse in the detailed targeting input box and select demographic menu .

This demographic data comes from what Facebook users enter on their profile.

For example, universities, the majors we take, positions, places of work, etc.

When creating ad through Facebook ads manager, it is important to pay attention to this small label to the right of the search results that appear.

Demographics are marked with demographic labels, job titles, employers, field of study, etc.

Not interest / interest. Or Behavior / behavior.

This is important. Don't get the wrong choice. The results can be very different.

Because of the different ways Facebook builds audience demographics and interests.

Indeed, there are potential users who are careless in filling out their profiles.

But, In my opinion, demographic data on Facebook can be counted on . Because no other advertising platform has been more accurate than Facebook in terms of building user demographic data.

But I personally rarely target ads based on demographics, because of the relatively small audience size.

2. Behavior (Behavior)

Behavior is what the Facebook users do on the platform.

Behavior includes

• Digital activity: operating system, browser used, etc.
• Mobile device: The type of cellphone we use, connection, operating system, etc.
• Online shopping behavior (purchase behavior)
• etc

I think this behavior data themost valid data compared to interest or demographic, because of the way data is collected record user activity.

How does Facebook get behavior data?

1. From the Facebook application installed on the smartphone

With this application, Facebook can find out and record what we do on smartphones.

How come? because the FB application on the cellphone asks access permission broad . Such as access to location, connection, contacts, camera, even microphone.

And remember that Facebook's applications are not just Facebook mobile, but also Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.

For example, via location access permissions, Facebook can collect data such as:

• Today we open FB at the recorded location in Surabaya, a few more days in Jakarta, a few more days in Medan, etc. then we categorize FB as frequent travelers.
• We live in Indonesia, have opened FB from Singapore, so we are categorized as FB international travelers.
• FB also records the network we use, the 3G / 4G connection, the type of our cellphone, the operating system, etc.
• On our profile we write hometown jakarta, we often open FB from Surabaya -> we are categorized as away from family
• On the profile we write hometown jakarta Indonesia, but we open it in singapore for a month / more -> we are categorized as expats
• and much more.

2. Our digital activities and our friends on Facebook

• If we have a Fans Page -> we categorized as an admin Page
• We've bought games on FB or paid for advertising -> categorized as Facebook Payment
• Our friend has a birthday -> we are categorized as Close Friends of Men with a Birthday in 7-30 days
• and so on

3. Shopping Behavior

• Facebook has the pixel technology (a small code program that is installed on the website) which helps website owners to target people who have visited the website, and also analyzes the effectiveness of advertisements.
• Through this pixel, Facebook can find out what UR someone opened on the website, including shopping cart and checkout pages along with the purchase value.

and much more.

I think this behavior data themost valid data compared to interest or demographic, because of the way data is collected record user activity.

3. Interest (interest)

An interest in Facebook can come from

• What we fill in the profile (movies, music, sports teams, etc.),
• Pages that we like .

The problem is, not all users fill out their profile correctly or like Pages that match their interests.

But Facebook has another way.

Facebook created an algorithm toguess user's interest!

1. Mark every post or article that we read

Facebook records every post and link we click, Facebook classifies someone into an interest based on what we click on.

2. Applications that we use

Facebook records every application that we use, and classifies us into an interest according to the application's topic.

Facebook can do this because it has Facebook technology pixel used by almost every website and mobile application, to track its users.

Audience results from Facebook's guess are commonly referred to as associated audience .

Don't believe Facebook is that sophisticated?

Please head over to the ad preference link for your profile here and see how Facebook tries to guess what your interest is and classifies you as an interest: https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/

From this data, Facebook builds an audience of interest in several ways:

• a Page only + associated audience. This is known as precise interest , or a specific interest
• combine multiple Pages + associated audience with broad interests.
• then rose to a wider level, Facebook combines several broad interests and became a broad category.