Week 1: Audience Targeting Strategies

Hi, everyone. This week, I explored customer segmentation (audience targeting). Marketers utilize customer segmentation to ensure that an advertisement is shown to the right audience. After all, if an advertisement is not shown to the correct audience, then the effectiveness of the advertising campaign will be diminished. There are many customer segmentation techniques that companies can utilize, and throughout this past week I have dove into many prominent audience targeting strategies.

Retargeting is a proven and powerful tool for identifying and engaging a narrow audience already predisposed to the advertised product or service. This technique leverages user behavior data, such as website visits or past interactions, to re-engage potential customers. Although this tool can be effective, it varies across industries.

Another method of customer segmentation is detailed targeting. Although Meta Ads Manager coined this term, other platforms like LinkedIn utilize this method of customer segmentation under a different name. These companies create audience lists, enabling advertisers to connect with users who have demonstrated an interest in a specific subject. For example, advertisers on Facebook could choose the health and wellness target audience to advertise to. Facebook would compile this list through the users that follow pages and people related to this topic.

Another part of customer segmentation is lookalike audiences. This method involves creating a new audience based on the shared attributes of an existing customer base. During my internship with Kadima Careers, I was able to create lookalike audiences within Meta Ads Manager. Not only did this allow me to expand the audience to advertise to, but I was also able to keep relevance to the original audience.

With all the different audience targeting strategies, how do marketers know which techniques or combinations of strategies to utilize? With my onsite experience at Digicom, I am excited to answer this question. In the coming weeks, I will begin analyzing Digicom’s campaign data to find the answers to my question.