Twitter Gives Advertisers Access To More Than 1,000 Big Data Target Audiences

With "partner audiences" provided by Acxiom and Datalogix, advertisers can take aim at Twitter users who have signaled purchase intent off the social network.

Martin Beck on March 5, 2015 at 12:46 pm

Twitter ad targeting just got more broad … and specific. Today the company announced that it’s giving advertisers the ability to take aim at more than 1,000 audiences defined by big data partners Acxiom and Datalogix.

Called “partner audiences,” the new ad feature means advertisers can now serve Promoted Tweets to Twitter users who have signaled purchase intent in specific categories off Twitter. Acxiom and Datalogix are dominant players in the big data industry, tracking and analyzing consumer behavior across brick and mortar and online businesses.

Kyle Boston, a Twitter product manager for revenue, explained how advertisers can use partner audiences in a blog post:

With partner audiences, you can now target Twitter Ads to users who have shown powerful signals of intent off of Twitter — helping you drive the highest possible ROI with your advertising campaigns. For example, by using a partner to provide the desired audience, an auto brand can connect with audiences that are in-market for a new car. A CPG company can reach customers that have previously purchased products in their category. And luxury brands can limit campaigns to shoppers who earn a household income above a certain threshold.

Twitter said brands testing the feature in the last few months have been pleased with the results. For instance, when Nestle’s Butterfinger was introducing a new product — Butterfinger Cup Minis — it was able to target Twitter users who frequently purchase peanut butter candy at grocery stores, convenience stores and other in-store destinations. Such targeting, Twitter said, lifted engagement for Nestle 52% compared to the brand’s overall performance in 2014.

The new feature is available now for advertisers running campaigns in the United States and can be accessed in the Twitter ads dashboard from the “behaviors” section of the campaign creation page.