In late September, when Facebook launched their new, rebuilt version of Atlas, an online advertising platform, their messaging centered around the notion of “people-based marketing.” As defined by Facebook, people-based marketing lets marketers use information about specific people (found in Facebook, for example) to not only target them with ads but to also modify the creative based on what is known about a person. For example, maybe the color of an ad changes based on a person’s gender or the messaging of an ad changes based on a person’s interests. This type of capability is not possible with cookies, today’s technology for ad serving, as Facebook is quick to point out.
We predict there will be a lot of talk in the industry in 2015 about people-based marketing, particularly since Facebook is leading the charge, and vendors will battle it out to win the mindshare of marketers. There is already talk about what Google will be doing in the area.
At Keywee, we feel that the notion of people-based marketing has a lot of relevance in other areas, in addition to ad serving. For example, imagine if content marketers could leverage the data available – particularly in social platforms like Facebook – about users, their interests, and what they read for the following purposes:
- Content targeting. Existing content could be targeted at audience segments that have shown interest in the topics of the content.
- Content development. New content can be developed based on understanding the interests and reading habits of a particular audience segment.
These type of capabilities will enable a new approach to content marketing. An approach that is less, “develop the content and they will come,” and more, “know thy audience and develop what they want.” In 2015, we think we will see publishers and brands jump on the people-based marketing bandwagon and take a more audience-driven approach to content marketing.
