Facebook continues to empower its marketers with more in depth data with its new rollout of topic data. This data will allow marketers to understand what people think about topics related to their business, so they can make their products and marketing more relevant.

Breaking down topic data

Topic data will show marketers what audiences are saying on Facebook about events, brands, products, subjects and activities, all in a way that keeps personal information private. Marketers can then use the information to make better decisions about how to market on Facebook and build product roadmaps.

Stated on the Facebook blog:

“For example, with topic data:
  • A business selling a hair de-frizzing product can see demographics on the people talking about humidity’s effects on their hair to better understand their target audience.
  • A fashion retailer can see the clothing items its target audience is talking about to decide which products to stock.
  • A brand can see how people are talking about their brand or industry to measure brand sentiment.”

FacebookinsightThis type of data has previously been available through third party tools, but Facebook claims the sample sizes were often too small to be significant and using those tools to determine demographics was “nearly impossible”.

In order to make topic data a reality, Facebook partnered with DataSift, a trusted leader in the data industry. At launch, topic data will only be available to select DataSift partners in the US and UK. However, Facebook plans to expand the availability of topic data in the future after seeing how it gets used by marketers.