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Look, ad that keeps popping up on my desktop: maybe, I could care a little more about what you are advertising if not only you don't suddenly make me unable to click on whatever I was doing, but also you don't stay in the corner of the desktop looking like an annoying child screaming for attention.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, DATA IS MONEY.
AD TARGETING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
I’ve noticed that I don’t receive as many ads on my social media when I’m using a laptop or desktop computer. I try to only go on Social Media when I’m not busy and have time to relax and just enjoy some Me-Time. I’m okay with it at times like this because the way these platforms go about integrating ads into my newsfeed or timeline isn’t too interruptive.
Source: Pexels Stock Images
I mainly use Facebook for communication, usually on my laptop and sometimes on my phone. From what I’ve noticed, my Facebook feed mostly consists of friends, family, peers, and coworkers sharing memes, events, or birthday greetings. When I’m active on the platform itself with my own posts, it’s usually via sharing posts from my Instagram page. I think Facebook does an amazing job at being a proper Social Media network; I see so many people sharing things with each other and interacting with pages and brands.
The advertisements that I’ve gotten on Facebook are not too intrusive, which I appreciate. On my laptop I only came across two ads on my Timeline, both fairly far apart from another. Interestingly enough, they were both food-related promotions. On my phone I came across two different ads, but this time they were fairly close to one another on my Timeline. The first was sort of food-related with Instacart promoting grocery delivery services; the second was for Indigo’s Spring into Summer Sale. The CTA for the desktop ads were to simply like a Page whereas the mobile ads prompted me to “Shop Now”.
Desktop ads on my Facebook timeline.
Mobile ads on my Facebook timeline.
Instagram is probably the platform that I’m the most active on. I use Instagram for communication and consumption. I rarely ever use Instagram in the desktop format; almost all of my interaction with the platform is through my phone. When it comes to Mobile, Instagram has definitely gotten things right. The app’s interface doesn’t have any fancy bells or whistles; its simple design lends itself best to the platform’s content. They keep it simple with heart shaped likes, very straightforward direct messaging and commenting systems, smooth and interactive story functions, and an uncomplicated yet still creative posting process for photos and videos.
I personally don’t use Instagram in a desktop format unless I’m doing research; almost all of my interaction with the platform is on mobile. While researching I found no targeted ads in the desktop format, but I cam across multiple ones in the mobile format. The ads that I most recently received range from fashion (Zaful, Lucy in the Sky), perfume (Fumescent Lounge), and an egg donation service (Egg Helpers). Seeing some of these ads on my feed makes a lot of sense to me; I follow fashion accounts and I like stuff that smells good. The Egg Helpers advertisement kind of makes sense to me; I’ve definitely talked about that topic before.
Mobile ads on my Instagram feed.
I actually like the way Instagram integrates ads into my feed; because of the simplistic and straightforward design of the platform, ads just look like any other post from accounts that I already follow. Sometimes I don’t even notice that an ad on my feed is an ad unless I see specific functions like “Learn More”, “Shop Now”, and purchase tags.
Purchase tags function on Instagram. Similar to tagging an account in a post, but for products.
Twitter is a very social platform. I’ve seen memes start, tweets go viral, people finding love, and people educating others. Twitter is literally all about people just talking to each other. I used to be very active on Twitter, but recently I prefer to spend my time on Instagram. It just seems too cluttered lately. Most of my interaction with Twitter is through mobile, but I sometimes use the desktop format as well. I appreciate the design of the platform with its simplicity being similar to that of Instagram. Promoted tweets look the same as regular tweets, so ads on Twitter look like they belong on my feed.
Interestingly enough, I scrolled for quite a while in the desktop format, but couldn’t find any promoted tweets. In contrast to that, I came across ads in the mobile format fairly quickly. I’m not too surprised that the ads I received were not very eye-catching or relevant, seeing as I’m not too active on this platform anymore. The first one I saw was from the Ontario Liberal Party. This ad felt like more of a general targeting than a personal ad catered to me specifically. It seems to fit the targeting criteria of general geographics (lives in Ontario) and demographics (millennial age). The Liberal Party’s ad doesn’t have a very strong call to action, simply using hashtags and a video is not eye-catching enough to keep my attention or motivate me to take action. The second ad on my Twitter feed was for KRAFT Peanut Butter. The targeting for this ad hit the nail on the head a little better because it felt a little bit more personal (I really like peanut butter) but also a little weird (I also researched KRAFT for an school project last semester). The call to action is stronger in this post as well, with a button to “Tweet #KraftBearHugs”; this action prompts the viewer to help KRAFT in its efforts to raise money for SickKids with “bear hugs”.
Mobile ads on my Twitter feed.
IS THIS APPROPRIATE OR TOO FAR?
It’s understandable that Indigo would advertise itself to me through social media. The obvious reasons are that I am already an avid lover and advocate of the brand and its products. I shop there constantly, spending a decent amount of time browsing through their online store and physically in store. A more subtle reason for their targeting me personally is that I also did some research on it for a previous article. I find that their targeting is appropriate and makes sense because my internet activity and personal interests align with their targeting criteria.
As an ad student, it’s strange to be active on social media after doing research for school projects. Weird brands, or ones that are hard to advertise, or simply ones that don’t interest me are promoted on the platforms I use. My internet activity makes it seem like I am interested in these brands and products; but it’s just weird because I’m not actually that interested in them. It’s just for school.
For me personally, ad targeting on social media fluctuates between appropriate and barely crossing the line into too far.
