Demographics in FaceBook Advertising
Posted 12 Mar 2009 in Pay Per Click (PPC) | 7 Comments
I am tired of seeing an advert with a t-shirt emblazoned with my year of birth when I log into Facebook. No – I do not want to advertise to the world that I am [insert guessed age here] for God’s sake! In fact, I spend a small fortune on skin care products, the gym, organic whatsimibobs and drink so much water every day that it renders me unable to move more than 50 metres from the bathroom at any given time!
However, the targeted ads may be smarter than I give them credit for. Because they already seem to know that my demographic are a bit like that little boy plugging the hole in the dam in Holland. So typical ads aimed at 35 year old females holding back the floodgates of aging are indeed weight loss, fitness equipment, an Bord Bia & make-up adverts.
Facebook Adverts for 35 year old female in Ireland
Out of curiousity, I decided to play around with my profile settings to see how the ads differed for different demographics. Changing my status to ’single’ and ‘interested in females’ did in fact prompt one email from a friend worried that I had split up with my husband and was ‘trying other things’. In my new guise as a 25 year old male, the adverts did change. The focus was on fun, games, gadgets, mortgages although surprisingly I didn’t get any dating adverts during the time I was experimenting with this profile.
Facebook Adverts for 25 yr old male in Ireland
Profiled as a 50 year old woman in Ireland, the unplanned pregnancy advert was indeed ‘a surprise’. I didn’t think either that the ‘1959′ t-shirt was going to go down a bomb either.
Facebook Adverts for 50 year old female in Ireland
Lastly I decide to profile as a 59 year old single male, interested in females and males. I got a singles ad, not surprisingly, but the picture was of a 20 something female. And I know that YES, many single 59 year old men are interested in this, however it is not in fact what most 59 year old men get! There is huge scope out there to target ads further, save the 20 year old female for the similarly aged male, and perhaps show adverts with potential dates closer in age?
Facebook adverts for 59 yr old male in Ireland
Advertisers also seem to think that men close to getting their bus passes are very interested in money. Perhaps this how they hope to woo the 20 year old girls? Note that of the three money/cash ads, one uses $, one uses £ and only one uses €. Conclusion: Okay my experiment wasn’t exactly controlled, just a quick look around. Unsurprisingly some advertisers are doing it pretty well, but there is clearly a lot of room for improvement.
Tags: demographics, facebook ads, pay per click
Ahh, Teeth whitening. That particular subject seems like the only thing my 30something year old male friends talk about. But drat… you removed the link! My search will continue.
I’m sick of Facebook targeted ads. I use Facebook less and less because of them. I’m keeping my belly fat for the cold weather thank you very much. Nice post & the site design is cool. Have subbed to this site now, so the pressure is on
Oh my goodness me! I never even look at the targeted ads. I’m in marketing and generally look at the ads. I guess when I’m in facebook mode, I tend to look at what what my friends are doing, rather than the ads!
I wonder now if I’ll be looking at them now. Esp. as my attention has now been drawn to them. ahh!!!!
I’ll let you know!
Like the content, your blog is appearing out of sync in internet explorer 7, or else it is just my laptop. Saw you wanted feedback via the IIA blog . It appears as if the small text is overwriting the headings.
@Mick – sure your teeth are lovely ‘n’ Irish just the way they are
@Joe – Thanks! And truth be told, the pressure is good for me
@Denise – thanks for stopping by!
@Catherine – thanks for highlighting that issue in IE!! Will get onto it asap.
I have seen people changing there relationaship status back and forth and wondered what they were up to – aha – maybe they’re researching the targeted ads…
the 59 year old male’s ads are bizarre!
I joined facebook at the weekend and already the ads are starting to annoy me. The ‘Shocking diet secret’ in particular, with an image of Angelina Jolie, then if you click on the ad, it’s just some regular Jane whose blogging about her weight-loss progress.