Setting up Targeting

There are two options to set up targeting Geo Targeting and Social Targeting.

Geo Targeting

Geotargetting lets you target users based on their geographical location. Geotargetting can be used standalone or in conjunction with Social Targeting. SocialAds uses the Maxmind Geolite city database by default to find the user's location based on their IP Address. Its recommended that you update this database monthly to get best results. You can also opt to Buy their Pro version if  you want better accuracy.

The Geolocation settings are located  in the main settings area of SocialAds. If you havent looked at that already, Click here to see how to setup Geotargetting.

Social Targeting

1. The Basics

http://techjoomla.com/images/oldimages/stories/documentation/socialads/configure_targeting.png

This is an extremely critical part of the configuration & will play a large role in making targeting easy for end users. The admin has to chose only those fields that are most likely to be useful for targeting . Any other fields like Phone Numbers , Website etc should be set as "Don't Target".

You have the option to set any field in CB/JomSocial as a respective targeting field for Social Ads. There is variety of field types that you can map a JomSocial field as in SocialAds. Fields can be targeted as Free Text, Multiple Select, Single Select, Numeric Range & Date Range.

We have added some basic validation here to make your Job Easier.. For instance only Single & Multiselect fields in JomSocial can be mapped as Single or Multi Select fields for targeting.

Similarly, only date fields can be set as a date range in SocialAds.

http://techjoomla.com/images/oldimages/stories/documentation/socialads/26x/configtarget.png

Some tips for you to setup the mapping correctly are given below.

  1. Make sure you select fields , most likely to be relevant to your advertisers.
  2. Set Don't Map to fields like telephone, Website etc which cant be used for targeting.
  3. Make sure you select minimum possible number of fields. The lesser the fields , the easier it is for your advertisers.
  4. We have designed the system for maximum flexibility to be able to work with any JomSocial field you add. So you can't have Age matching against a Birthday.. But you can set a Birthday range which effectively gives you age matching.
  5. Make sure you have fields like Interests that can be used by users for targeting.

2. Understanding Fuzzy & Exact Targeting ( Since ver 2.0 )

Please understand this section correctly before you do the targeting. DO NOT set all fields to EXACT without understanding what it does.

General Use Definition

Exact Matched Fields : Ads are only shown then these fields match exactly. Selection is only available for textbox fields mapped as textbox in SocialAds. Should be used for fields like City, State which need exact Matching. Typically input box fields which will contain a single value like City, State should only be set as Exact for best results.

Fuzzy Fields : Fields like About me, Interests etc which contain elements that will typically need a fuzzy match. Generally when in doubt set fields to fuzzy.

In SocialAds 1.0 everything was matched using Fuzzy targeting except some fields that we intelligently detected & used for exact matches for instance Gender & Country. This worked very well.. but we felt the need to improve this especially for the fields of the type "Inputbox/textbox". These fields are typically used for fields like City, State etc, which should ideally be matched exactly when showing ads.

SocialAds uses a complex algorithm to try & deliver accurate ads to users. Since version 2.0 to make this algorithm even more flexible & powerful, the feature to set fields of the type "Input box"  in CB or JomSocial to Exact or Fuzzy has been introduced. We are already intelligently setting this value to fuzzy or exact where possible, but in case of input box fields, we need to take your input on it. This lets you chose inputbox fields like State, City etc to be effectively used for targeting.

3. Targeting plugins ( Ver 2.6 Onwards)

Please refer the documentation here for setting up the targeting plugins.


Note that this adds a lot of power.. but it needs to be set with a lot of thought behind it, as inconsiderate use of this feature ( you might be tempted to set everything possible as exact) will lead to your ads not being shown at all !

Please note :

  1. Targeting should be done by putting a lot of thought behind it.
  2. Make sure you read our tips above before you do it.
  3. Fields already targeted cannot be re targeted without resetting everything, but new fields added to CB/ JomSocial can be added to the targeting
  4. Clicking the Reset will not only Reset the Targeting but will also remove the Targeting for any Ads already existing on the system. This needs to be done to prevent data corruption & incorrect targeting.