Facebook’s new ad platform targets users across sites, tracks offline sales

Last week, we reported that Facebook was rumoured to be launching a new ad platform to better track users across third-party sites.

The new ad platform will — among other things — allow advertisers to track Facebook users across the web, beyond the social network’s domain. As we previously mentioned, the Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook will leverage user accounts across third-party sites to track user interaction better.

The Facebook-owned digital marketing company and the brains behind this operation, Atlas Solutions, writes the following in the announcement:

“People spend more time on more devices than ever before. This shift in consumer behavior has had a profound impact on a consumer’s path to purchase, both online and in stores. Cookies don’t work on mobile, are becoming less accurate in demographic targeting and can’t easily or accurately measure the customer purchase funnel across browsers and devices or into the offline world.”

With a bigger focus on mobile devices, the platform will enable advertisers to connect with customers across different platforms. Referring to what it calls “people-based marketing”, Atlas can help advertisers target individuals more thoroughly:

“Marketers can easily solve the cross-device problem through targeting, serving and measuring across devices. And, Atlas can now connect online campaigns to actual offline sales, ultimately proving the real impact that digital campaigns have in driving incremental reach and new sales.”