A few weeks ago, I was honored to be asked to share my thoughts in The Future of Marketing's 2nd virtual conference.  They interviewed 60 experts worldwide on where things in marketing are heading, specifically as it relates to personalization.  The event took place today, so you can listen to the 60 minute event by visiting the link above.

Naturally, Facebook is leading the way in personalization because profile data is so rich and relatively accurate.  Sure, some people lie in their profiles, but the vast majority of Facebook profile data is accurate and most Facebook users are real. 

Targeting users based on personal data has been the golden goose of advertising for a long time. Magazines and other publications with highly concentrated audiences have always fetched a high CPM relative to publications targeting a broad audience.  Facebook allows brands to tap into these demographics in ways that very few Internet properties have delivered.

As large enterprises and brands start to rationalize the expenses associated with maintaining and managing social assets, there will be increasing pressure to monetize them directly.  Facebook is leading the charge as the platform of choice for social commerce.  It has a massive lead in audience and targeting capability because profile data is the centerpiece of the technology.

More to come on this as certainly our business is focusing in coming months on social commerce for brands and large companies.