What Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica Scandal Means For Your Online Network Marketing Business
By now, you probably have heard all about the Cambridge Analytica scandal that casts a dark shadow over the most popular social media platform, Facebook. The alleged breach has affected the privacy of thousands of profiles in the US (and most probably other countries in the world too), and the data collected was used to influence the 2016 elections.
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was left with no choice but to face a congressional hearing to answer questions and testify how Facebook handles user data and privacy. But political and privacy issues aside, this whole brouhaha can actually be studied by marketers to improve tactics and online strategies.
Let’s be clear first. No hacking ever happened in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The data that was harvested from Facebook user profiles was done through a third-party platform (a personality test app) which required a Facebook log-in to be used. When users logged on the platform using Facebook, the developers can now access your profile – including your friends’ profiles too (well, until 2015 at least)!
To be clear, what happened is merely a breach. Developers sold whatever data they mined to Cambridge Analytica, which then used this information to create campaign strategies and influence the outcome of the 2016 elections. Somehow, Facebook is at fault for simply allowing it to happen.
Another thing which has now become clear to every one of us by now is that Facebook is a mega storehouse of personal data from people all around the globe. That’s millions of members putting out personal details on the platform each month.
So what does this mean for an online network marketer like you?
This means that you too, like Cambridge Analytica, can gather data from millions of Facebook profiles! There’s no need to hack or hire programmers and developers to do this for you, you can simply rely on Facebook’s powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) system – and gather data manually. Here’s how:
1.Target by Interest
You can target Facebook users according to their interests. You can boost a post and specifically target it to people who show an interest in your niche. Remember when you are looking for weight loss solutions, and then suddenly, ads about weight loss and healthy stuff keep coming up at your feed? This is Facebook’s AI at work.
You can target users who have shown an interest in networking, such as those who recently watched a video about selling and networking, or those who were just prospecting and browsing through networking pages.
2. Target by Behavior
Of course, Facebook is perfectly capable of tracking down every post we like, every status we comment on, every Facebook page we visit and anything we buy from a Facebook shop. These patterns tell them what your interests are, and also track what kind of stuff you’re interested in buying. You can use this feature to target people who liked or shared something from pages that are similar to yours (or at least have shown an interest in networking).
3. Target by Look-Alike
Like the previous one, you can target users who have shown an interest in products that are similar to yours – including those who have also bought from you recently. You can also target users who have shown interest in your business, such as those who previously liked and shared your posts and page.
See, you don’t have to be a tech whiz to unlock extra features on Facebook. You just have to know your target market and analyze their buying decisions and behavior. Aside from Facebook, this can also be done on other Social Media sites as well – though some settings could vary.
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