Social Media Marketing: Consumer Data

When the World Wide Web evolved into a platform where users could generate their own content, Darcy DiNucci coined it as the 'Web 2.0'. it not only changed commerce but how businesses interact, market and build relationships with their consumers forever. It challenged and changed the rules of engagement that business engaged with their community.

The evolution of the internet has provided businesses with the tools and channels to deliver marketing material to their intended target markets in ways and forms which had never existed in the old commerce landscape. Businesses that wished to undertake large- scale marketing before the evolution of Web 2.0 could only do so in the form of mass marketing. Often the intended message businesses wish to communicate would fall upon eyes and ears who had no interest in the first place. However thanks to social media, marketers and businesses can better reach consumers that are in fact the intended target market.

As of January 2020, 3.8 Billion people actively use social media across a variety of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (just to name a few). To put that into perspective, nearly 50% of the worlds population have used social media within the previous 30 days (Smart Insights).

Social Media companies such as Facebook often generate their revenue through selling ads to companies who wish to conduct marketing. What separates Facebook advertisements from the traditional TV advertisement is user data which is collected, stored and often sold by Facebook. Users who sign up to Facebook provide demographic and geographic details about themselves to create their account. Once set up users like pages, engage in community threads, like photos, tag friends and watch videos which provides behavioural and psychographic data that allows Facebooks algorithm to segment each user and display advertisements and content that us relevant to them.

Statista has reported that Facebook had 1.73 Billion daily average users during Q1 of 2020, showing just how easily marketing material can reach 22% of the people on earth within one day. Whilst many believe the data Facebook users to display you with relevant content and advertisements is highly beneficial, the use of this data has raised many ethical and privacy issues. Many individuals are concerned with how much access Facebook and other social media sights have to your data, what they are doing with it and if it is safely stored and protected. As we continue to evolve in this new age of the Web 2.0, we will find ourselves in a constant battle of privacy vs preference. Simply put by author Erik Qualman; "We don't have a choice on whether we do social media, the choice is how well we do it."

Do you prefer having ads customised to your interests? or would you prefer social media companies leave your data out of it? Comment your thoughts!