Many advertisers and agencies are hesitant to embrace third-party data (3pd) to power their social media performance. Despite its immense potential, third-party data remains vastly underutilized, leading to understandable reservations.

In this blog post, we’ll address these concerns and highlight the transformative power of third-party data in driving social media performance

What are the concerns?

Advertisers and agencies are concerned that 3pd:

– Is too expensive

– Isn’t allowed

– Doesn’t work

However, these are simply common misconceptions.

Myth: Third-Party Data is Too Expensive

Regarding the additional expense of using 3pd in Social Media campaigns: Yes, there is a cost.

The cost of third-party data for social media campaigns is often between 10% and 15% of ad spend (calculated based on adsets that are using 3pd). But, from a Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) perspective, you need relatively small performance gains to justify the additional cost. And, 3pd helps you find pools of users who could and should provide strong long-term value.

Myth: Third-Party Data isn’t Allowed

In terms of what is and isn’t allowed, it’s true that 3pd is no longer available as standard in many of the large social media platforms. However, when an advertiser or agency uses Deep Sync One to source this data outside of the social media platform, this data can be distributed to the social media platform of choice with no issues (in the same way custom audiences can be uploaded).

It’s also important to note that third-party data and third-party cookies are not the same thing; even though Google is deprecating third-party cookies, third-party data is very much allowed.

Myth: Third-Party Data Doesn’t Work

Like all data, there’s no guarantee of performance improvement. And, there are many mitigating circumstances: A social media platform might do a better job of identifying life-stage, for example. But on the flip side, liking a dog page doesn’t mean that someone owns a dog! And, how do you know what someone does for a living if they haven’t added that information to their profile?

It’s clear that 3pd works extremely well in the vast majority of cases. And, this performance enhancement is accelerating as major industry shifts like iOS14.5 reduce the amount of visibility the social media platforms are able to glean from their own footprints.

The key to success: Ensure that you have the right test frameworks AND that you’re continually testing. With limitless potential audiences, it’s important to evaluate multiple different data sources and providers.

The Results: Third-Party Data Drives Social Media Performance

Still not sure? See some example results below from our clients in all different industries.

There’s even an example that shows 3pd working slightly less effectively than native targeting! However, in this example, the client continued to utilize 3pd because even though the CPL was slightly higher, the overall long-term value increased given the way 3pd helps identify pockets of consumers who would ordinarily be ignored by native targeting or algorithms.