In an effort to strengthen the value of Facebook in the social media marketing landscape, the Palo Alto, California-based is launching zip code targeting.
According to the BizReport article by Helen Leggatt, zip code targeting has long been used by direct mail marketers and it has proven to be of immense value. It allows marketers to pick up on specific demographics on specific locations within cities. With this new development from the world’s leading social networking site, marketers can now target ads and sponsored stores to users in specific zip code areas. This development, according to Inside Facebook, is also the reason why US users have been prompted to confirm their zip codes through a side-bar module. With this data, online marketers can come up with more targeted online ads.
The article also cites a statement from Facebook’s developers blog which states that zip code targeting “opens up another venue for advertisers to market to their desired audience.” However, zip code targeting has yet to cover international codes as only 5-digit US zip codes are currently supported. The BizReport article also notes that the success and effectiveness of this feature largely depends on the users’ willingness to provide the required information.
