Gender-Switch Ad Research

A discussion about how changing your social media gender settings can provide valuable market research insights, particularly for understanding how products are marketed differently to different genders.

Key Strategy

• Change Facebook/social media profile gender to female to see different ad targeting
• Provides insider view of marketing approaches across genders
• Helps understand product positioning and marketing strategies

Why It Works

• Men typically see limited ad variety
  • Mostly flannel shirts
  • Basic male-focused products
• Women see more diverse, sophisticated marketing
  • Greater variety of products
  • More nuanced marketing approaches
  • Different pricing strategies

Business Applications

• Valuable for entrepreneurs studying market dynamics
• Helps understand:
  • Product positioning
  • Marketing strategies
  • Pricing differences
  • Target audience behavior

Real World Example

• Friend changed gender on Facebook to study advertising
• Purpose: Better understand business and marketing strategies
• Result: Gained insights into how products are marketed differently
• Used insights to improve their own marketing strategies

Key Insight

• Simple profile change provides access to entirely different marketing universe
• Acts as free market research tool
• Reveals gender-based marketing strategies without significant investment

Note: This framework is based on a brief discussion within the podcast about using gender switching on social media as a market research tool.