Paid advertising platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google and LinkedIn are some of the largest and most intricate platforms for audience targeting.

They strategically collect data points from users based on their activity and even based on the activity of other users who have similar interests. 

These data points allow advertisers to tap into high levels of targeting. 

The data points are constantly being collected from users to determine their interests and predict their next purchases before they've even thought about them themselves.


Facebook for example has over 52,000 advanced data targeting points that are split into many different categories: demographics, interests, behaviours, lookalike and connections.  

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When creating an advert on the Facebook Ads Manager in Meta Suite, you can use these data points to closely target your ideal customer. The trick is to get inside the minds of your ideal customer to fully understand who they are and what they are likely to be interested in. 

Data points collected based on demographics include: location, age, gender, relationship status, education, language, home, work, parents, generation and life events. 

Data points collected based on interests include: industry, entertainment, family & relationships, fitness & wellness, food & drink, hobbies & activities, shopping & fashion, sports & outdoors and technology. 

These data points give Facebook the tools to create powerful marketing.