A recent study by a major U.S. retailer found that the combined use of emails and online ads increased the reach of a campaign by 77%. It also assessed that customers were 22% more likely to be converted when reached by both these mediums, rather than either one separately.

We already know that the CRM data that is associated with customers gives a lot of insights into their behavior and can be of immense use as a potential input for advertising. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter on the other hand, provide the required audiences for the advertising. Active Audiences from Salesforce seem to be the ideal connecting factor between these two, to help use customer data in the most effective manner.

Let’s see how Salesforce plans to help businesses achieve better results from their advertising investment with the use of Active Audiences to harness the power of Social Media.

Use the most efficient mediums: Mobile advertising has gained importance over the years and now needs to be an essential part of any advertising campaign. By using the advantages provided by social media to target mobile audiences, Salesforce is definitely providing marketers with a powerful new interface to reach their targeted customers. The beauty of it is that it is not necessary to attract customers to use a new arena, as Facebook and Twitter are common destinations for users already. All it needs is to place your ads in these locations, to make them visible to the appropriate audiences.

Make your data work for you: CRM data is a great source of information on your customers, though it should be made use of only with all precautions for customer security and privacy. Salesforce Active Audiences now makes it possible to use this data as a strategic part of your marketing campaigns. It can help you not just with retaining your existing customer base, but also with reaching out to potential customers who are similar to them. This lookalike identification is an important advantage offered by Active Audiences. It also helps brands to create advertising according to the specific part of the customer journey. For example, a new customer might require brand and orientation information, while a long-lasting one might appreciate looking at new ideas and opportunities.

Moving away from cookies: Using cookies for advertising has been a prevalent method, although now, it is turning inefficient. The mobile interface was not supported by this solution at all. With the smartphone becoming a very important medium to reach customers, a solution that encompasses this ecosystem is very important for success in advertising. With the advent of Active Audiences, Salesforce has ensured that Facebook, Twitter and mobile apps can now provide the backdrop to engage your customer’s attention.

Scaling as required: Advertising has moved from generic content targeted at a homogenous audience to the need to know your target customer and create content that will attract their attention. With Active Audiences, you can now target your audience in a focused manner, taking into consideration a range of decision points.

Addresses data security: Using a third party software to target your audience could bring in issues of security of customer data. It is important that the repository of the information is still with the trusted CRM entity, and only the required information would be passed on if required. Salesforce addresses this by encoding all data that might be handed over to an agency like Facebook or Twitter.

Collaborative strategies and effective reporting: Active Audiences enables teams across your organization to share strategies and learnings to improve efficiency. It is important to gauge the impact of your advertising campaign to be able to modify or enhance it according to the response. Salesforce now enables you to understand the results of your social advertising campaigns, through measuring metrics and creating reports. These could then be fed back into your campaign to improve its effectiveness.

This attractive offering from Salesforce is set to change the face of advertising. It combines the power of the CRM data with the reach provided by social media, to create a powerful solution. It would definitely be to the advantage of businesses to make use of this tool and reach out to their customers in the most efficient manner possible.