Advertising is about showing the right message to the right person at the right time and with the ability of online marketers to track an individual’s buying behaviour, advertising has never been more targeted.

Behavioural targeting uses information collected via web analytics to determine which advertisements to display to which individuals.

Tracking technology provides detailed information on web user’s browsing behaviour, such as their searches, site visits, page views, clicks and purchases, which is then used to increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

The basic premise is that relevance means greater consumer interest and therefore better advertising returns.

“At the heart of behavioural targeting is a learning-based investigation of consumer behaviours. It helps marketers understand consumers’ purchase patterns over time, mapping out a customer’s activities based not only on a single purchase but also on an annual or even lifetime basis.” ClickZ..

Aside from the benefits to the advertiser, behavioural targeting may be a win-win, showing users promotions they actually want to see.

The mechanics of behavioural targeting

Consider this explanation given in the article Behavioral Targeting 101:

“The overriding and proven assumption here is that what pages Web site visitors click on and where they go from those pages indicates at least a presumptive interest in buying products related to the topics that they click on.

For example, repeat visits to a Web page with reviews of sport utility vehicles, coupled with a cruise to the automotive section of classified ads on a site, clearly indicate at least a curiosity about SUVs.

Now, let us suppose that the same visitor is also going to pages where she clicks through to an online book seller to a book about how to help your child adjust to kindergarten. Behavioral targeting specialists may look at this data and start to conclude that the site visitor is looking for an SUV to fit the transportation needs of her growing brood.

Often, this information is not just gleaned from one visit, but repeat visits over time. Perhaps on the first few visits to a newspaper site, most clicks are to articles about SUVs. On the second visit, or maybe the third, the articles are revisited, but the customer also clicks on the automotive ads. It does not take a degree in rocket science (or in marketing, for that matter) to recognize the likelihood the customer is on a trajectory from investigate to purchase.”

Behavioural targeting and the social graph

The concept of and tools for behavioural targeting have been around for several years now, but the data that users provide today is far more detailed and extensive. Consumers now offer their entire digital footprint beyond preferences, activities, and interests, economic and demographic information.

Social media gives online publishers, marketers and advertising networks access to real time data streams on a user’s social graph – people, location, influences, thoughts, interests, opinions and much more. Further, behavioural targeting can now take into account what their friends want and how they influence them in their decisions, as well as whom they influence.

Melissa How is a Melbourne based Marketing Consultant specialising in Strategic Planning, Digital Marketing and Communications.