Marketers want to understand what people think about topics related to their business, so they can make their products and marketing more relevant to their customers. In the past they’ve looked at the things people share online to get an idea of what people care about, but, until now, the information available offered a limited view. To make marketing content more relevant for people and more effective for marketers, we’re introducing topic data to select Facebook partners.
What is topic data?
Topic data shows marketers what audiences are saying on Facebook about events, brands, subjects and activities, all in a way that keeps personal information private. Marketers use the information from topic data to make better decisions about how they market on Facebook and other channels, and build product roadmaps.
For example, with topic data:
  • A business selling a hair de-frizzing product can see demographics on the people talking about humidity’s effects on their hair to better understand their target audience.
  • A fashion retailer can see the clothing items its target audience is talking about to decide which products to stock.
  • A brand can see how people are talking about their brand or industry to measure brand sentiment.
While this type of data has been available from third parties before, the sample size was often too small to be significant and determining demographics was nearly impossible. With topic data, we’ve grouped data and stripped personal information from Facebook activity (not including Messenger) to offer insights on all the activity around a topic. That means marketers get a holistic and actionable view of their audience for the first time.
It’s important to note that topic data provides guidance for marketers but it cannot be used to target ads directly.
Personal information stays private
Like other insights information on Facebook, all the information used for topic data is anonymized and aggregated. We are not disclosing personally identifying information to anyone, including our partners and marketers. And, the results delivered to marketers are analyses and interpretations of the information, not actual topic data.
Turning data into actionable insights
To help us develop and scale topic data, we’re partnering with DataSift, a trusted leader in the data industry. We want to make sure the information we provide is useful to marketers, so we’re using DataSift’s technology to power the platforms that turn the data into insights.
When marketers have a deeper understanding of people and what they are interested in, they can create more relevant experiences for their audiences. We focus on providing WPP’s clients with insights into what people say and think about their brands and products. By looking at topic data, we empower brands to make smarter marketing decisions. And we’ve worked with DataSift for some time—the way they cleverly collect and organize data continues to make it simple for WPP to ingest, connect and leverage it across the agency network.” — Nick Nyhan, CEO of WPP’s Data Alliance
Availability
We are still discovering all the ways topic data can help marketers, so, to start, topic data will only be available to a limited number of DataSift’s partners in the US and UK. (The data will be limited to those countries too, to start, and every partner DataSift works with for topic data is reviewed and approved by Facebook.) Our plan is to iterate on topic data thoughtfully and deliberately, and look to expand its availability at a later date.