Facebook scales up with major IBM partnership

Facebook has tied with IBM Commerce to offer more tailored marketing capabilities.This means the two will team up to sell more Facebook ads to IBM’s huge roster of clients, simultaneously selling IBM’s marketing cloud services to them, while offering IBM’s sophisticated big-data capabilities.According to a release, by combining Facebook’s ad technologies with IBM's Journey Analytics, brands can more accurately determine which groups of customers are among the 1.44 billion people active on Facebook and establish correlations in aggregate between their interests and interactions across multiple channels.“Our partnership with IBM will help top brands achieve personalisation at scale by using IBM’s marketing cloud to find and engage their target audiences on Facebook, as well as solve their vexing challenges by consulting with IBM Commerce THINKLab, ” said Blake Chandlee, VP of Partnerships for Facebook.Facebook will also be the first company to join the new IBM Commerce THINKLab, a research and collaboration environment in which companies will work directly with brands to accelerate development of new technologies designed to personalise customer experiences.  IBM researchers, Facebook experts, domain experts, designers and other partners will be available to work together for clients to identify specific areas of need and generate new solutions.Marketers can also replicate proven campaigns beyond Facebook to other brand channels including their stores, websites and through mobile apps to reach the customer wherever they most prefer to connect with the brand. For example, a retailer launching a new line of running gear can use Facebook’s Custom Audiences and targeting solutions to segment its customer groups that are interested in long-distance running. The retailer can then glean aggregated insights into the audience’s preferences in running gear and, based on location, offer deals on apparel that fit the appropriate training climate, said a release.“Brands understand the increasing need to provide customers with powerful and personalised experiences to nurture loyalty,” said Deepak Advani, general manager, IBM Commerce. “Through this collaboration, consumer product companies and retailers will be able to quickly and easily gain deeper insight into what their customers expect and provide them with compelling experiences that bridge the physical and virtual divide.”IBM Commerce THINKLab aims at accelerating innovations that address specific client needs – such as price optimisation or inventory analytics.According to IBM, the IBM Commerce portfolio marries a US$24billion investment in analytics. It also currently holds 1,500 active commerce related patents to drive innovation in the space as well.