Editor’s note: Earlier this week, IBM and Facebook announced a partnership through which the two giants aim to help”brands act a little less like businesses, a little more like friends.” So what’s the deal? Jay Henderson, head of product strategy within the IBM ExperienceOne group, offers this blog. His team is responsible for market analysis, customer insight, and industry marketing functions. He came to IBM through its acquisition of Unica.

By JAY HENDERSON, IBM

No matter how busy my day gets, there’s one ritual I never miss: my morning walk down to the local coffee shop. I’ve been going to the same spot for so long that I’ve really gotten to know the baristas there.

It’s gotten to the point where most of the servers know my routine and sometimes, if I’m lucky, even have my coffee ready just before I open the door. This small detail is huge for me when I’m rushing off to the office or already plugged in for a conference call. What makes this gesture even sweeter? It’s always served just the way I like it – light roast, black and piping hot. My favorite barista also knows I’m a cinnamon bun aficionado, so he often sets one aside for me when a fresh batch comes out of the oven. And on mornings when I have a late start, I stick around for an extra few minutes and get the latest neighborhood chatter.

Over time, the coffee shop has become more than a business to me. It’s become more like a trusted friend.

I share a similar vision of how IBM Commerce helps businesses interact with their customers on a more a personal and intimate level. And it’s in this spirit that we’ve announced a groundbreaking collaboration with social media powerhouse Facebook.

Think about your Facebook news feed for a moment. It’s filled with personal thoughts, opinions and experiences from you and people you trust most in your life. But it’s also sprinkled with select ads from brands. Many times these offers bring something to your attention that you really need in that moment, like more Red Sox apparel. And other times, like with any advertising, they might not quite hit the mark. Tween prom dresses? No thank you.

But what if we took this consumer/brand dynamic one step further? What if we could replicate the kind of relationship I have with my local coffee shop to the way brands interact with their customers on Facebook? With our announcement today, we are closer to making that a reality.

This collaboration will connect marketers, Facebook’s 1.44 billion active users, and the unique power of IBM Marketing and Customer Analytics. Marketers can design customer journeys across channels – now including Facebook interactions – and send audiences to Facebook for targeting and look-alike modeling from all IBM Marketing and Customer Analytics solutions. They can also analyze customer journeys across channels, including interactions that occurred in Facebook.

For example, a bank launching a new product can use IBM Campaign to identify those existing customers who will be most interested. They can then syndicate this information to Facebook and present those customers with ads promoting the new product and encouraging them to go to the launch site to find out more. The bank marketer can also extend the reach of this campaign by using the syndicated audience of most interested customers to identify other Facebook users who are similar – using Facebook look-alike modeling.

The potential here for marketers is enormous. By embracing the reach of Facebook and removing the guess work out of advertising campaigns, they are able to deliver offers that actually matter to individuals.

For Facebook users, this means receiving relevant offers from their favorite brands. We’ve all been victims of bad marketing – from the email spam for a dog grooming service [I don’t have a dog] to the telemarketer calls begging you to switch cable providers [I’m a cord cutter]. Over time, customers may find that posts from trusted brands start to blend together with near equal relevancy as that of a friend.

And that’s the real point here. Together IBM and Facebook are helping brands act a little less like businesses and a little more like friends.

Of course, we may never truly be able to replicate that unique feeling I get from walking into my local coffee shop in a single Facebook post. But in today’s virtual world, we’ve just gotten a whole lot closer. Now you can find the equivalent of that hot cup of coffee, made just how you like it, waiting in your news feed from the brands that you trust the most.

To read more about the new partnership between Facebook and IBM, read the press release:

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/46760.wss?ce=ism0432&ct=swg&cmp=ibmsocial&cm=h&cr=scom&ccy=us&cm_mc_uid=43871163702114311077329&cm_mc_sid_50200000=1431107732#release

(C) IBM

Note: This blog was originally published at: http://www.smartercommerceblog.com/articles/2015/05/06/ibm-facebook-partnership/