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I've been looking at a couple of online purchases but can't find the item in stock, or they won't ship to the UK. My searching has triggered some targeted ads on Facebook and the like. Normally I don't click on them but as I'm struggling I did. I then find the item is out of stock or they won't ship to the UK. Are they paying a premium to advertise something they can't sell? Doesn't sound too sensible or am I missing something?
Maybe Facebook knows less about you than many people believe.
Yesterday Facebook gave me an Amazon advert for a life size cut out of Danny De Vito.
I'm far less worried by the rise of AI and the "risks" of the vaccine after that.
Does it come in a A4 envelope?
I then find the item is out of stock or they won’t ship to the UK.
There does seem something odd about the products people seem to push through social media marketing. Theres been a few things that have caught my eye over the last few months and in every case they've been products advertised directly by the manufacturer (Paramo, Catapillar, Sorrel) that they've stopped making and have next to no stock of themselves (just a few odd sizes) and which are pretty much universaly out of stock elsewhere.
The social media platform is providing the targeting - in terms of the demographic, location, tastes etc. And in these cases they targeted me quite well - well enough on Paramo's case that I even emailed them to ask when the promoted item would be back in stock to be told 'never'
ts the advertisers decision to push that advert to those target markets and their choice to push that practically unavailable product. Maybe its a cheap and effective enough way of clearing the last dregs of stock
( A while later a pair of the paramo trousers - presumable returns - turned up on Paramo's ebay outlet so I got a pair half price anyway)
Maybe Facebook knows less about you than many people believe.
It reads to me like the person that created the advert set it up poorly. Quite a lot of people out there who aren’t marketing professionals (let alone digital marketing) using Facebook for business or whatever it’s called these days.
But on the un-targeted advertising front - I remember maybe 10 - 12 years ago before Google was so formally a logged-in service there used to be page somewhere in its privacy info where it told you who it thought you were based on your search history - it had gathered that I was male - somewhere between 30 and 50 - broadly interested in outdoor activities.
It explained that it used that info to shape the results of searches and also to make advertising more relevant.
I work in film and a lot of my googling isn't about things I'm interesting in - but about I need to research for a script. I don't want to have the information I find to be shaped by who google thinks I am or to shape my future search results because it thinks I'm interested in nazis, serial killers, flint knapping, air crash investigation or the numerous other things I've had to put months of research into.
So they had a toggle switch on the page that basically said if you don't what to have google shape your web experience in this way turn off targeted results here.
So I switched it off
Came to single track and in every advert slot around the page (that had previous had ads for CRC, sheds, etc in them) I was being served ads for incontinence pants.
I was talking to my brother on tje phone. Landline., about an oil leak his boxster has. I must have said gearbox 4 or 5 times, driveshafts, seals etc
30 mins later , Facebook ad for uk gearbox rebuilds is in timeline.
Random chance or Huawei Tesco mobile really do listen in. Not googled gearbox, or ebay searched gearbox
Going to do some other random words for stuff i have zero interest in to see what apears next
30 mins later , Facebook ad for uk gearbox rebuilds is in timeline.
Cougar of this parish made a radio appearance recently explaining how this has nothing to do with your phone call and has more to do with the the social network connections you have with your brother. Ad servers presume the things your friends search for will be of interest to that person's friends. So its more likely you saw gearbox ads in your timeline because your brother has been searching info.
Most of the time you have no idea what your Facebook connections are searching for so if you see random ads of no interest to you then you pay them no attention. Its only because you had that conversation that the advert caught your eye
Cougar of this parish
Is obviously in cahoots
in cahoots
Is that where everyone has gone now that Parler is closed?
MoreCash thanks for the update on where Danny had run off to.
I kept getting that one a while back but not seen him for over a month, so glad to know where he is now 🙂
Get that ,but ..
I am not friends with my brother on Facebook
I work in film and a lot of my googling isn’t about things I’m interesting in
Incognito browser is what you want here. Or just a different browser, I have three installed for various reasons (not least of which is it's faster than switching between three different Microsoft accounts).
So I switched it off
Came to single track and in every advert slot around the page (that had previous had ads for CRC, sheds, etc in them) I was being served ads for incontinence pants.
Quite. This is exactly the point I was trying to make yesterday.
MoreCash thanks for the update on where Danny had run off to.
I kept getting that one a while back but not seen him for over a month, so glad to know where he is now 🙂
You can have him back if you like, I prefer my cardboard cutout movie stars younger and taller
Admittedly this was a while back... I used to get a lot of UKIP adverts on the Singletrack website.... definitely not my scene
The only ad I get on STW is some click bait about the 30 richest comedians. I tried for a while with the ‘not interested’ option but it was still the only ad I got. Now I click it a few times on each visit. I’m still not interested but maybe STW gets some revenue from it?
Regarding the OP question about advertising unavailable products, I’ve been thinking about the CRC products on another bike website ‘Daily Deals’ that are never available. They can’t be that bad at connecting their stock to a highly trafficked web widget?
Incognito browser is what you want here.
Back then 'incognito' functions on a browser weren't really a thing. Nowadays that results shaping is more apparent and google also make it clearer that results are promoted but back I was a a lot of clicks into google's T&Cs before that little toggle appeared.
Get that ,but ..
I am not friends with my brother on Facebook
I am though and I spam him with posts about gearboxes 🙂
Remember when the STW page used to be flanked by adverts for Bravismo whenever Deadlydarcy contirubuted to a thread? Simpler times. Happy days.
Admittedly this was a while back… I used to get a lot of UKIP adverts on the Singletrack website…. definitely not my scene
I get Farages dodgy investment ads on YouTube, for some reason. Really pisses me off.