Hasta La Creative!

In the not-too-distant future, marketers finally will be able to target nearly anyone they want, any time they want, anywhere they want. Though the last 20 years held out the promise of doing this, with joined cookies, e-mail addresses and optimized banner copy, the technology fell short. Today, with social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, millions of people are voluntarily (and happily) giving up millions of pieces of personal data in the form of content they create. Each post, tweet, like and pin tells the platform exactly what a consumer is thinking and what content engages him or her.

As the targeting capability improves, the question for brands will change from “How many fans or followers do you have?” to “Whom do you want to reach?” And this leads to two strategic questions: What do you want to say? And how do you sustain your messages to different segments across platforms and around the world?

If this sounds like a daunting task, it should. This kind of reach and data have never been available before. While TV has been the best option, it’s always been limited by geography and language. Social platforms are the first manifestations of true global reach — and they’re only getting bigger as new members join with mobile devices.

Continue reading at AdAge.com