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As US moves away, India bets on Facebook’s targeted ads
While companies have moved away from targeted ads on Facebook in the US, their demand in India has grown. Companies, especially in consumer-oriented businesses, are targeting ads to smaller groups of 150 million Facebook users.
While companies have moved away from targeted ads on Facebook in the US, their demand in India has grown.
Companies, especially in consumer-oriented businesses, are targeting ads to smaller groups of 150 million Facebook users.
To put things in context, consultancy firm KPMG projects digital advertising business to triple by 2020 to Rs 25,520 crore as India’s smartphone users burgeon.
“Social media ads are growing in India, as brands have just started discovering it, but in the US it has been around for long,” said Prashant Puri, CEO and co-founder of digital marketing and advertising firm, Adlift.
In the US, P&G, which owns brands such as Tide, Gillete and Pampers, went overboard with targeted ads. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the firm’s marketing head, Marc Pritchard said that it “targeted too much”.
But GroupM, P&G’s ad agency in India, differs. “In India you have to do targeted ads… creative strategy needs to change for different geographies and culture. Companies such as Vodafone, Pepsi and Airtel target every state as a separate market,” said a GroupM executive.
Packaged food major, Nestle India’s spokesperson said, “Sometimes targeted investment is highly effective and really drives our business.”
Data from Facebook shows, when it comes to age and gender, it is 45% more accurate than other digital mediums, and 89% of ads on the social network are narrowly-targeted. “Our ability to deliver personalised marketing at scale is what leads to better results for marketers… ad strategy is a mix of mass reach and personalised targeting,” said a Facebook spokesperson.
Dabur targets Real juices to mothers and kids, and its toilet cleaners and honey to house wives. “Every product category needs attention of a specific consumer set,” KK Chutani, executive director, consumer care, Dabur.
Devita Saraf, CEO of television maker VU Technologies said that for a brand like VU, which is for people who are looking for highend technology, social media works well.
Facebook helps HDFC’s life insurance business to generate a lot of leads, as people share, comment and like campaigns on social media, said Sanjay Tripathy, marketing head, HDFC Life.
“People take home loans only once, which makes it critical for us to sharply focus our ads,” said Rahat Ahmed, marketing head of Indiabulls Housing Finance.
