IBM, Facebook team up to offer exact, resonant marketing messages
Published May 08, 2015
NEWS BRIEF--Timing and precision—without them, marketing messages get lost in the world economy’s endless chatter. It is a common challenge for marketers; with startling frequency, most people brush aside or ignore spam, click bait, and YouTube ads. A 2014 British survey of 2,000 consumers found that 56 percent of unopened emails came from brands.
To offer companies marketing communications that are distinct and resonant, two of the largest institutions in technology have teamed to provide companies with marketing capabilities that maximize timing and target the exact audience.
Facebook and IBM Commerce this week announced a collaboration that allows IBM’s marketing cloud clients to use Facebook’s powerful ad capabilities such as Custom Audiences, along with IBM’s deep analytics and design features, to articulate messages that speak to the demands and tastes of buyers.
The matched functionalities of IBM and Facebook will pinpoint customer preferences and behavior. Using IBM’s new Journey Designer, brands can create personalized customer experiences across devices and connections. Clients can then use Journey Analytics to gain a high-vantage understanding of how customers responded.
By the numbers, email, social media, and mobile communications define the interactions businesses have with their customers. Over 80 percent of business-to-business companies use social media for marketing purposes. Nearly 50 percent of emails are opened on mobile devices.
According to a release, IBM Commerce helps more than 35,000 clients across the globe deliver personalized experiences at every touch point to drive consumer trust and brand advocacy. Add Facebook’s immense audience—1.44 billion members—and the collaboration addresses a truly global, digital customer population.
By combining Facebook’s ad technologies with IBM’s Journey Analytics, brands can assess customer demand and delineate between their interests and interactions across multiple channels.
The new IBM Commerce THINKLAB is a key piece of the partnership. The lab is meant as a research and collaboration environment, where companies work with brands to develop technologies to personalize customer experiences. Facebook is the first partner to join the lab; IBM researchers, Facebook experts, domain experts, designers, and other partners will work with clients to identify specific areas of need and generate new solutions.
Along with Facebook’s audience insights, clients engaged in the project will use deep analytics and additional information from IBM’s marketing cloud to create a profile of the client audience. For instance, a retailer launching a new line of running gear can use Facebook’s Custom Audiences to segment its customer groups that are interested in long-distance running. The retailer can then examine the audience’s preferences in running gear and offer deals on apparel that fit the localized training climate.
“Brands understand the increasing need to provide customers with powerful and personalized experiences to nurture loyalty,” says Deepak Advani, General Manager, IBM Commerce. “Through this collaboration, consumer product companies and retailers will be able to quickly and easily gain deeper insight into what their customers expect and provide them with compelling experiences that bridge the physical and virtual divide.”