Ever feel like you’re being watched? You are. It’s not just by Big Brother…he’s actually got his whole family in on the surveillance. Beyond the security cameras in convenience stores, your keystrokes are the windows to your soul…or at least to your shopping behaviors.
As you Google away, you are being monitored and pigeon-holed. Behavior marketing: the ultimate voyeurism, or the best tool you’re not using to find customers?
We are not talking direct or mass marketing; but a tailored, personal, and targeted pursuit predicated on what you seek. There is no shot in the dark here – or blanketing neighborhoods with mailers for housecleaning services – this is top-notch, hands-on, we-know-you-want-it-’cause-you-Googled-it marketing.
Profiling the behavior of online users is based on specific search information that allows customization of detail that comprises your digital profile. Using web analytics, computer applications and cookies, browsing and search history, and IP addresses, a pretty comprehensive idea of interests and even buying tendencies is amassed. So what follows is the generation of relevant and targeted content and/or advertisements that appeal to your interests. It’s like your very own Shopping Channel on a Sidebar!
Visit the automotive section of a general news site and you’ll start seeing car ads as you browse other sections of that site. And these are pretty smart ads — they will change and become more “targeted” over time.
The same goes for YouTube videos. The videos that are recommended are based off of social media likes, IP location, comments, and past videos you have watched. The majority of retailers and social media websites use behavioral marketing techniques to better understand their users and to generate more revenue through targeted ads.
The ads targeted at consumers watching YouTube videos are also often the result of behavioral marketing. A consumer’s past likes, IP location, and even comments are taken into consideration when presenting the “right” ad for their tastes and location.
Interesting too is the peer pressure applied by Facebook. With all the “liking” and “sharing” and “posting” — my newsfeed is telling me how many of my friends like Diet Coke. Maybe I need to try Diet Coke too. Three out of three hundred friends can’t be wrong!
But do you feel like you’ve slowly begun to accept the intrusion? The first time you were cognizant of those Toyota ads popping up when you started researching your next car…it was a little creepy, no?
But now, even though Netflix has me pegged, I think it’s OK. Between their “Top Picks” for me and “Because you watched ‘House of Cards’ recommendations” etc., I have choices. I have stopped considering it a nuisance. I am busy – I need a personal concierge service. Tell me what I want Netflix! I’ve had a long day!
Companies capture data to determine what consumers buy and why they buy it. Now you can go shopping and Amazon can suggest something even more amazing that you would otherwise have missed while slogging through images of zillions of products.
The Internet is alive, and overall behavioral marketing has many benefits for both the consumer and the corporations behind these advertisements. Behavorial Marketing is just the tip of the iceberg and has seemingly introduced a more sophisticated brainwashing. What’s next? Me Googling “shoes” on my lunch hour and in seconds a drone tethered to a snappy pair of Kate Spade pumps will be hovering outside my office window? I’m good with that.
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