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"The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, which offers inbound marketing software that helps small and medium sized businesses get found on the Internet by the right prospects and converts more of them into leads and customers. Learn more.\nWe\u2019ve already seen signs of it \u2014 targeted ads on Facebook, suggested people to follow on Twitter, even Google Instant seems to know what you\u2019re thinking \u2014 but how is behavioral targeting changing the Internet at large?\nHere\u2019s how behavioral targeting works: Targeting companies establish an agreement with a publisher, who puts a piece of code on his website. (That publisher must have a clearly stated policy for the consumer to opt out from having data collected.) Then, when you're browsing the web, the site will put a cookie on your browser, which populates as you surf. (Though one interviewee, ContextWeb, targets based on content and not cookies.)\nNow that your browser has a cookie, the targeting begins. Data points amass as you click your way from site to site, taking note of what you buy, what you read and what you search for. The more time goes on, the more data is collected. Back in 2003, we had audience targeting, which assigned people to various demographics and targeted these demographics based on age, gender and location. Now, with more data, the targeting can be \u2014 and is \u2014 much more dynamic, and can gauge your interests and preferences. Companies that specialize in targeting can nearly promise more ad engagement by targeting people who have indicated -\u2013 through their behavioral patterns on the web -\u2013 that they might be interested in the product at hand. It's a more costly form of advertising, but the conversion rate can offset the increased cost.\nAll of the data that has been collected by targeters has huge implications for the Internet of the future. We spoke with three experts in the field of behavioral targeting to discuss the biggest effects that targeting will have on the web as we know it.\n1. Your Internet Experience Will Be More About You\n\n\n\n\nYou know how Amazon suggests items that might interest you, based on the items you\u2019ve perused? That\u2019s how the entire Internet could be soon. With systems tracking your cursor and keeping tabs on your browsing history, the Internet can get to know you better \u2014 and be smarter than ever. In fact, Amazon's algorithm is a paragon of excellence for targeters.\n\u201CAmazon does a fantastic job at making the Amazon experience reliable for the consumer. The entire experience is relevant and more efficient,\u201D says Jeff Hirsch, president and CEO of AudienceScience.\nAnd since data collection has been ongoing for years at Amazon, the data points and algorithms have been refined. Years ago, a man might buy a princess outfit for his 3-year-old niece and then be presented with ads for toddler items the next few times he logs on. That doesn\u2019t happen anymore, says Ted Shergalis, founder and chief strategy officer of [x+1]. \u201CAs targeters accrue more data and more sophisticated algorithms, they can lessen the impact of statistical outliers,\u201D he says. \nAnd what's been done to the algorithm at Amazon is happening all over the web. Shergalis cites the advent of Google Instant as a huge shift in the web's evolution \u2014 results are repositioning information in a way that is more focused on the query. \u201CMarketers are hoping to do that with all of their work,\u201D he says, meaning that the web might be able to tell you what you\u2019re looking for before you even finish typing it.\nHirsch jokes that in 10 years, we may very well look back and laugh that we ever had to type something into Google to find what we were looking for. \u201CSmarter\u201D and \u201Cmore useful\u201D are two terms he uses to describe how the targeted curation will affect your web experience.\nBest of all for marketers, Hirsch says, is that more relevant content can lead to more engagement.\nRose Ann Haran says ContextWeb, where she is the CMO, strives to \u201Ccurate content so that we can drive a better experience for people online.\" She cites how TV and radio, which now have hundreds of content channels, have evolved so that we can curate what to consume. Technology allows us to hand-pick what programs we\u2019d like to watch and when, along with what kind of music we\u2019d like to listen to. That\u2019s exactly where the web is going, she says. \u201CIf you think about the online experience, you can really make the analogy to TV and radio.\u201D\n2. The Web Could Change Its Appearance For You\nSo when the web is all about you, will it also change its interface, too? Shergalis says the data that would drive such customization is available today, but that cost, time and resources are what\u2019s hindering us from getting to that next level.\nBut, he says, \u201CConsumers are going to come to expect it \u2014 you can\u2019t just have a simple, one-size-fits-all experience\u201D for all consumers.\n\u201CI think the expectations are increasing. I don\u2019t see people wanting to go back to a less personalized, less social, more irrelevant experience, so I think [the customization] trend is going to continue,\" Shergalis adds. Especially because there\u2019s so much more information to gather, and the more consumers share their interests with marketers, the more relevant and suited products will be for us, he says. \nHaran cites her own Google homepage \u2014 and how radically different it is from her daughter\u2019s page. She says they have different widgets above and below the fold and they each have a different number of ads, based on their preferences. So it's clear that customization on the web isn\u2019t a farfetched idea, and sites could soon know whether you like a clean page with only two ads, or whether you\u2019re tolerant of up to eight ads. \n\"The tech is there to be able to provide that unique experience for you,\u201D Haran says. But since there are so many players in the market, only \"an orchestrated approach would allow us to do that [targeting].\u201D\n3. It Will View You as a Multi-Dimensional Person With Many Interests\n\n\n\n\nSo you browsed through ESPN.com \u2014 does that mean you\u2019ll only get Nike and Adidas ads from now on? No, because there\u2019s more to you than your interest in sports, and the data knows that. It won't try to pigeonhole you.\nThis is especially important because there is concern that curation and customization lead to tunnel vision and ignorance of everything else that\u2019s out there. That\u2019s why behavioral targeters are testing demographics and creating algorithms to determine other interests and speak to a person\u2019s depth and varied interests and give them an element of choice. Such algorithms will help marketers \u201Cdiscover a whole new audience and develop a new understanding\u201D of this dynamic, multifaceted audience, says Hirsch.\nAs mentioned before, ContextWeb targets based on content. Instead of interpreting CNN as a news site, it breaks it down into retirement, personal finance, education \u2014 it\u2019s no longer a one-dimensional perception of the site. And that precision helps to refine the algorithm.\n\u201CWe\u2019re all multi-dimensional people who consume content in different contexts,\u201D says Tanayia Washington, insights and analytics manager at ContextWeb.\n4. It\u2019s Tapping Into Social and Mobile\n\n\n\n\nTo some, behavioral targeting seems like an invasion of privacy, though the FTC has taken steps to ensure that privacy is respected (no data is personally identifiable). \nBut privacy seems to be less of a priority among millennials, who tend to be more accepting of behavioral targeting than their boomer counterparts. Perhaps it's because they grew up with LiveJournals and were the first generation on Facebook, so they\u2019re used to living their lives out loud. Whatever the reason, the things they broadcast on social networks -\u2013 where they are, what they\u2019re buying, who they're with -\u2013 are ripe for the picking by marketers, says Shergalis. By virtue of being on these platforms and being so socially connected, young users are essentially opting in and showing a \u201Cwillingness to participate\u201D for advertisers and marketers. Therefore, behavioral targeters can take advantage of the wealth of consumer information that\u2019s out in the open on Twitter and Facebook, learning tweet by tweet about the audience it\u2019s trying to reach.\nAnd that\u2019s just one aspect of behavioral targeting\u2019s branching out \u2014 targeting will also impact the web experience on iPhones, iPads, Androids and other mobile devices. \u201CYou\u2019ll see some pretty amazing innovations ... and that will get caught under the heading of behavioral targeting,\" says Shergalis.\nWhat\u2019s Next?\nWhen you\u2019re on your laptop, a targeter can assume that you\u2019re the only user. But let\u2019s say there\u2019s a family of four that shares a desktop computer. How do you know if it\u2019s the accountant dad, the PTA mom, the soccer star son or the Bieber-obsessed tween daughter? What if the husband is shopping for the jewelry for the wife, and then the wife starts seeing diamond ads?\n\u201C[Data] is not personally identifiable, so in a family of four, you wouldn\u2019t really know who was browsing at what point,\u201D says Hirsch. \u201CThere is some efficiency lost in that respect, which is a good example of why consumers need choice.\u201D \nIn short, behavioral targeting is not perfect, but it has immense potential to change the way we consume and search for information. And this potential is more within reach every day as more data is collected and analyzed. In fact, by the time you read this post, millions more data points already will have been collected, making the Internet that much smarter.\nSeries Supported by HubSpot\n\n\n\n\nThe Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, which offers inbound marketing software that helps small and medium sized businesses get found on the Internet by the right prospects and converts more of them into leads and customers. HubSpot's software platform includes tools that allow professional marketers and small business owners to manage SEO, blogging, social media, landing pages, e-mail, lead intelligence and marketing analytics. Learn more.\nMore Marketing Resources from Mashable:\n- The Pros and Cons Of Tumblr For Small Business- 4 Innovative Ways to Use Web Video for Small Business- Top 5 Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Make- What to Look For When Hiring a Community Manager- 3 Ways Companies Can Reach Generation Z\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl, Maxrale, quavondo."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/04/26/behavioral-targeting/>