Facebook’s New Feature Targets Ads to Customers through Contact Information

News on Facebook Marketing, according to TechCrunch: inside Facebook reported that new features that allow advertisers to target their ads to customers based on collected contact information will be launched by Facebook next week.

A business creates a customer list and uploads those lists of email addresses, phone numbers, and user IDs to Facebook. At first, Facebook won’t have access to that information as this data will be hashed. Facebook’s user data will be similarly hashed, so the company can compare both sets of hashed data. A list of users whose contact information matches up with what the advertiser uploaded will then be created through this data.

Businesses can now the target this group for their ads and since most of these customers are not Facebook fans, advertisers can create an ad for those customers asking them to become fans or offer deals for these customers if they become a fan. App developer can also create an ad outlining the features in a new update to users.

Facebook says that businesses will now have more options although any additional user data will not be given.

On the features early testing, a fan base of a financial services company was doubled at a lower cost-per-fan, a Facebook’s spokesperson says. This is probably because the company is reaching out to people who are already loyal but not yet a Facebook fan.

Read more at Facebook To Roll Out Email- and Phone Number-Based Ad Targeting Next Week

Study Show More Consumers Trust Branded Web Content than Paid Advertising

News on Content Marketing, according to Brafton: a survey by Nielsen found that 52% of consumers trust companies’ official websites when they find them through organic search rankings compared to the 36% of respondents saying they respond this way to PPC ads. The study shows that consumers trusted branded website content more than paid search advertising.

Organizations can improve their standing among consumers by developing brand journalism, with a focus on an industry, rather than promotional content. The study shows that prospects respond to articles written to educate them more frequently than on those who are only trying to sell their products.

Social media marketing campaigns are trusted by 32% of respondents and although lower than the PPC trust, it shows that prospects are also attracted by companies investing in their web presence by using new media marketing.

As branded content is generating better overall responses, businesses are spending more than 40 percent of their marketing budgets to branding initiatives, Brafton reported.

Read more at Branded web content trusted more than paid search ads

Link Manager or Blogrolls to be Removed Completely from the New WordPress

News on WordPress Marketing, according to Marketing Land: the upcoming release of WordPress 3.5 could mean the end of the blogroll or Link Manager as it’s currently known. One of search marketing’s favorite ways to give and get links will soon be removed as people at WPBeginner noticed a ticket in the WordPress 3.5 development system that mentioned about the possibility of removing the Link Manager from the core WordPress software.

With WordPress, ideas are proposed and then discussed among the developer/user community. A dozen of pro and con comments accompany these ideas over the two months since it was posted. However, the current suggestion is the complete removal of the blogrolls or Link Manager from the new WordPress software install and supporting existing and in-use blogrolls through a plugin.

Although this plan may already be in place, it could still be changed as more feedback comes in.

For marketers, business owners and more, blogrolls have been a major source of links over the years. But with new WordPress install, links will for sure disappear if the blog owner doesn’t use the plugin.

Read more at Blogrolls Are On The WordPress 3.5 Chopping Block

Other Social Marketing Articles of Interest

Zuckerberg says Facebook processes ‘a billion searches per day’

Travel Leaders Group survey reveals trends for Holiday Travel