A “similar audience” was expected a few years ago.
Now, don’t you feel that you hear less and less about this technique? In this article, we would like to consider why similar audiences are no longer being utilized. What is a “similar audience”?
What is a similar audience? First of all, similar audiences are groups of people who have similar tendencies to your existing customers. People who are similar in age and visit similar websites to those who have already purchased your product or service are a similar audience. How do we know this? It is made possible by a technology called cookies. If you’re curious, check it out.
For example, a customer list (cookie) with a track record of purchases of the company’s products can be matched with the cookies of Facebook subscribers, and advertisements can be delivered to similar subscribers. In this way, the theory is that cost-effective advertisements can be placed.
However, in most cases, this approach does not produce useful results. After all, they are different people, even if they visit the same kind of site and are in the same age group. Just as the age group is not the reason for purchasing your product or service, the reason for purchasing your product or service exists elsewhere, so the same actions will not produce the same results. It’s not about that, but rather the internal part of the person that does not show up in their behavior that is the reason for the purchase.
It is only natural if you think about it. For example, just because a man in his 40s browses a real estate website, it does not mean that he is interested in buying a house or a condominium. And it is quite natural for people with different personal preferences to pay no attention to your company, even if they appear to be the same. Ignoring this and jumping to convenient answers has resulted in a lot of money being lost.
As a result, many companies have given up using similar audiences. At least the expectations for similar audiences are clearly lower than before. As I have said many times in this blog, people are jumping to easy answers too often. I think we all need to think for ourselves once in a while. (I know you will be offended if I say this, but it’s true.)
But it doesn’t mean that similar audiences will never produce results. An example of a case where similar audiences have been effective would be the case of extending only to people who have purchased via Facebook. You can expand the audience to include only those who have received orders via Facebook for your product or service. This would be surprisingly cost-effective. Why is this? (First of all, please think about it yourself.) Why is it effective with people via Facebook, but not with other referral sources? My personal view is that it is because there are differences in the sites and media that each individual trusts. It is natural that there is a difference between those who enjoy Facebook and those who don’t. I believe that this is the reason why we were able to get results when we used similar audiences focusing only on those who received CVs via Facebook. This may be the reason why we used similar audiences only for those who had clicked through to the advertiser via Facebook.
In any case, don’t think that you can deliver cost-effective advertisements only with information obtained from cookies. Instead of jumping into such an easy solution and getting ripped off, you should think for yourself and do it. It is always the people who don’t think for themselves who get ripped off.