What is Hypertargeting?

Rather than defining hypertargeting and then looking at an example – which is usually how we explain stuff in our blog – in this case, it’s simpler and more memorable to start with an example, because no matter who you are, where you live, or what you do: you have definitely been hypertargeted!

Here’s what we mean: let’s you sign-up for a social media account. The first thing that you do after creating a username and password is fill out the “about me” section, in which you list some of your interests. Let’s say you choose technology, movies and travel.

Hypertargeting: No Coincidences!

Later on as you make your way through the social media platform – checking up on your friends, connecting with thought leaders and businesses that interest you – and there they are: sidebar ads that strike you as particularly relevant. It’s almost as if the advertisers have ESP. How could they know that you’d be interested in a cool new travel app? And that sneak preview of the next Star Trek movie would be fun to check out, wouldn’t it? How thoughtful.

As you’ve no doubt gathered: none of these ad choices are coincidences. Online advertisers have gleaned your self-supplied profile data to deliver ads that you’re likely to find timely and relevant. This is hypertargeting in action (which by the way, is sometimes spelled as hyper targeting and hyper-targeting, but we’ll stick with hypertargeting since it’s the one that most firms in the marketing and advertising industry use).

And while your profile data is a rich source of information, it’s not the only data set that online advertisers rely on. If you make a purchase or interact with an element – liking an update, upvoting a comment, or giving someone/something a thumbs up, and so on – online advertisers scoop that up as well and add it to the mix.

Hypertargeting Isn’t Hyper-Invasive

Now, if all of this sounds a bit on the heavy-handed side, keep in mind that no personal information is accessed here. What’s more, advertisers that use hypertargeting can only glean data that individuals have self-supplied. People can choose not to provide the data, they can (usually) choose not to have it available to advertisers, or they can choose not to sign-up for the social media platform in the first place if they don’t want to participate.

From Hypertargeted to Hypertargetor

No, “hypertargetor” isn’t a word (nor do we believe it was ever a dinosaur, although it’s a pretty cool name for one). But your interest in all of this isn’t as a consumer: it’s as a business who wants to reach consumers. That makes you a hypertargetor! And it’s a very good thing to be. As noted by AdWeek: hypertargeting is power.

And it also makes you in need of expert advice. Because while hypertargeting has the potential to be effective and profitable, that isn’t always the case. Developing campaigns isn’t as simple as clicking a box and pressing submit. Long before that happens, you need to ask:

Who do we want to hypertarget and why?
What platforms are most likely to be effective?
What are the advertising costs?
What information do we need to glean?
What should our ads look like?
What offers/incentives (if any) should we use?
Once we get prospects to click our ads – then what?

These are just some of the questions that have to be answered ahead of time. What’s more, it may be valuable to drill even deeper and have multiple concurrent hypetargeting ad campaigns running at the same time.

Learn More

To learn more about the ins and outs, do’s and don’ts of hypertargeting, contact the Leap Clixx team today. We know what works, and just as importantly, we know what doesn’t!

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