by on Without proper targeting, even an eminent design can fail to generate profit. Perfectly designed Facebook ad is not all to drive people’s attention. It solely cannot generate leads to draw business. It is all about how you determine your target audience.
Ultimately it depends on how you use different formats on Facebook to target audiences. The Facebook ad is completely different from other PPC ad marketing. I must tell you that optimizing only Facebook ad cannot bring a smile for your business.
You need to have a deep understanding of interests of your target audiences. Your strategy should be based on their likes and dislikes in order to make them respond to your ad.
It is true that in online marketing Facebook is one of the leading platforms. As a paid advertiser, you should know how to strategically target audience and what Facebook offers to target potential audiences.
Along with optimizing your FB ad you need to optimize your targeting as well. Before discussing targeting optimization I would suggest you gather knowledge on several ways to determine target audiences.
Facebook provides good no. of ad targeting options and some of the most productive user targeting options are:
1. User Behavior
It will help you find people, who are actually interested in your products or services. People online behavior lets FB collect data on their purchasing interests. Analyzing this data you can find your prospect audiences. It also helps you figure out who are actually looking for your products.
[bctt tweet=”User Behavior helps you figure out who are actually looking for your products” username=”adstriangle”]
2. Customer’s Interests
You can target people on Facebook based on their interests. You have to ask FB who have expressed interests or have liked pages on products similar to you offer. In your ad settings, you can set ‘interests’ as per your product features. It will help your target relatively larger audience.
3. Ethnic Affinities
This demographic targeting lets you drive attention from people of selected ethnicities. This tool gives user behaviors from specific Ethnic Affinities.
4. Target by Industry
This targeting works best for the advertisers, whose products or services is suitable for specific industry or occupation. You need to specify work demography in ad settings in order to take advantage of this tool. Targeting by industry may appear to be great business for you.
5. Add Gender and Age Group
My experience says combination of gender and age can work well for specified products or services. Age and gender are collected from their FB profile. You may also target specific gender from certain age limit along with their location. Example- Female, Age: 30-50, in Paris.
6. Financial Resources
You can use this targeting if your product is specified with affordability. It makes you find people, who do not only show interest in your product but can afford to purchase your products. Using this option you can target on the basis of Income and Liquid Assets.
7. Purchase Habit
Targeting people, who love to shop online, may be a good opportunity for you. If you sell online then you must opt for users, who are very much fond of shopping online. Under behavior, you can set this option. I would like to suggest you use this option in combination with other target methods.
8. Target by Education
I personally found it very much fruitful to generate leads and expand business. Make your target more specific you should use Education demography. This will only be effective if your products or services are related to educational fields.
Sometimes, people come to me requesting to identify reasons why their FB ads are unable to generate business. Most of them make me amazed. They have tried to optimize their ads with the knowledge they gathered from PPC ad marketing.
[bctt tweet=”Without proper targeting, eminent design can fail to generate profit” username=”adstriangle”]
This is totally ridiculous to compare FB ads with other PPC marketing platforms. In PPC ads you have to culture keywords in order to target a specific audience.
But in FB ad it is completely different. Rather than targeting people with keywords you have to know your target audience.
Along with optimizing your ad, I advocate you to concentrate on optimizing your FB targeting. After finishing designing a perfect Facebook ad your next important task is to make it display only before potential people.
In online marketing showing your ad only before the perfect audience is not less than a tough challenge. However, it is not so tough if you follow proper techniques.
I am going to discuss how you can optimize your Facebook Ad Targeting.
Facebook Ads Targeting Optimization
Once you step into FB Ad you need to take the challenge to optimize targeting. It may be tough but obviously not impossible. Many of my clients are having satisfactory ROI from FB Ad by utilizing proper strategies.
First of all, I refer you to forget all about Google Adwords optimization theories before proceeding to FB ad. More you know about your target people more your business will get prospects.
FB lets you reach millions of target audiences. Why do you only prefer people, who have interests on your products while you have great opportunity to design Demand Generation! One of the effective ways of marketing is to generate demands in the market for your products.
There are numbers of options to specify your target audiences in FB ad Settings some of which I have discussed above.
[bctt tweet=”One of the effective ways of marketing is to generate demands in market for your products” username=”adstriangle”]
Here, I am going to focus only those strategies that will surely optimize your targeting. You need to follow these three important strategies-
- Interests targeting- Analyze interests of potential customers
- Advanced Targeting- Use most effective advanced options
- Custom Audiences- Do not ignore this effective option
1. Interests Targeting- Analyze Interests of Potential Customers
To success in FB ad, you must target user’s interest. However, the question is how to find interests of your potential customers.
Definition of successful FB ad is to reach maximum numbers of people who can be converted into potential customers. As you run your ad for a period you will get to know several things related to your business such as direct competitors, top blogs and much more. But you have to know your potential customers’ interests first.
There are two most effective ways to analyze users’ interests-
A) Facebook Graph Search
B) Audience Insights
A. Facebook Graph Search
It is really amazing to me why most of the advertisers do not opt for this powerful tool. It is a strong semantic search engine.
This graph search enables you filter and target audience along with optimizing user interactions.
For example, I type Google AdWords in the search box and I get a search result of pages which are related to Google AdWords.
I always advise my clients to use this effective tool in improving their ad performance.
Let’s check how it helps-
i) Information about Competitors-
It is very important in any business to know what your competitors are doing. Search graph helps you to check out who your competitors are throughout the network.
You should also search for competitors even for your own brand. Analyze competitors’ behavior to optimize your ad targeting accordingly.
Many advertisers use this opportunity to focus how the competitors are interacting with users. You should find out which steps are giving them success.
The graph will tell you how your competitors are focusing on which particular areas to attract people. You need to compare your ad with those collected data. This is an important point for brand recognition.
[bctt tweet=”Focusing on how the competitors are interacting with users helps you design your own strategy” username=”adstriangle”]
ii) Find Overlapping Interests:
This is a fundamental part of content marketing. You need to know what your target users are doing apart from being engaged with your brands- what they discuss, what they share, what they search or what they like.
The graph helps your deep knowledge on users’ interests. You may find that many of them are not relevant to your products or services. However, you should experiment how to relate those interests with your contents.
You may ask me why you will waste your time doing this irrelevant task. I must say that you need to engage your audience with your brand as much as possible. It is a kind of demand generation.
If you can find common interests among a large user group you will come to know about trends. You have to make users realize you care for them in order to draw their interests.
ii) Analyze Hashtag:
Use Graph Search to cultivate audience behavior through the hashtag. Apart from Twitter users also widely use Hashtags on Facebook. Search for common hashtags on entire network to realize trends.
You should be a part of common hashtag discussion. This is a strategic way to interact with users’ interests.
Let the graph search work for you. It will give you deep insights, which will help you to realize what your target customers are actually looking for and how you can attract their interest towards your products or services.
B. Audience Insights
Facebook has recently included a powerful tool, Audience Insights. It is a strong tool that not only let you know about your target people’s demographic composition but also gives you information on new interests. These new interests enable you to find fresher targets.
Audience Insights tool is located at Facebook Ad Manager Area. You can access Audience Insights through facebook.com/ads/audience_insights as well.
This tool lets you analyze data for random advertising target. Use this tool to find geographical divisions of certain audience group and make it tune your targeting. You can have important information on similar pages and interests of your page.
You will get a complete data on most common interests and page likes of a specific audience.
[bctt tweet=”Audience Insights gives you better understanding of your target audience” username=”adstriangle”]
2. Advanced Targeting- Use Most Effective Advanced Options
A Proper understanding of your target audience ensures enhance the opportunity of having a great return in FB ad. Three most important factors for your successful targeting are-
Low CPC
Higher conversion rate
Better Relevance score
Successful optimization of targeting lets your ad perform better. As you are an advertiser in FB, you get several tools to know your audience and to target specific users. There are Advance options that able you maintain perfect demographic target.
Demographic target is a constantly evolving process and that is why you need to keep split testing on demographic areas.
As you can more convincingly attract new users your ad performance will get better. To calculate the performance of you FB ad you need to check frequencies. It means on average how many times a unique user has interacted to your ad.
Higher frequency rate means higher ad performance. To make your ad perform better you should accumulate new customers. To target new customers you have to utilize effective advanced tools.
I have already discussed Advance tool – Graph search. Here, I am giving you ideas on other important advanced targeting options
a) User’s Behavior:
As Facebook is a social media, it is a good platform to understand user behavior. But in order to target a specific audience, you should know about their pattern of behaviors. Third party partners FB gathers data on behavior pattern. As an advertiser, you should utilize this golden option.
There is a correlation between campaign goal and users behavior. It tells you whom you should target to get conversions.
[bctt tweet=”Analyzing user behavior tells you whom you should target to get conversions” username=”adstriangle”]
Users’ purchase behavior will help you structure your targeting strategy. If you are running an e-commerce store then this is the most useful tool in FB marketing.
b) Target by Location:
Targeting by location is another useful advance option for optimizing targeting. Apart from local marketers it similarly gives better result for larger marketers to reach every sphere of users.
Specifying certain areas you assures your ad would reach the people you are looking for.
FB has launched Local Awareness Ad in addition with Location targeting. It helps you focus on a specific radius at a certain area.
c) Targeting by Life Events:
This is another important advance option of the demographic target. For some specific products, this arrays a huge chance to drive great numbers of users.
If your products match specific occasions or events of certain users, you must grab the attention of those specific users. Life Events Data gives you a treasure of targeting people by their interests on specific events.
This is still a surprise to me that not much advertisers are in FB platform. This is a great online advertising podium, where people give their personal information and share interests.
Facebook Demographic tool give you a great way to interact with users’ interests and structure targeting strategy accordingly.
3. Custom Audiences- Don’t Ignore This Effective Option
You already know how powerful Facebook Ad platform is. The enormous user’s data lets you narrow down your target. Custom Audience leads this opportunity further ahead. Since this has been introduced it has boosted the online advertising ideas using FB platform in targeting people.
It is a new creative way to grow your FB customer base. You actually customize those audiences, who are already on your list. These lists include- current customers, loyalty program members or value customers.
The custom audience makes you target people based on Email addresses, phone numbers, and FB IDs. Using this powerful tool you can create three kinds of audience lists
[bctt tweet=”Custom audience makes you target people based on Email addresses, phone numbers, and FB IDs” username=”adstriangle”]
Lookalike Audience
This is another option to target audiences using your custom audience. When you upload client information, FB finds out a new list of users, who are similar to your already uploaded user information.
In order to create Lookalike audience, click on Tools at Ad Manager and select Audiences
This procedure gives you target a larger audience base on similar demography. Lookalike Audiences are those, who are similar to them who are in your Custom Audience list.
Custom Audience:
If you are having a list of phone numbers, emails and FB IDs then FB will work for you. You just have to upload the list and FB will let you target those people associated with your list.
Hopefully, you can get more than 70% target audience through this process. I find it very interesting and an incredible idea to target more people.
Audience from your Website:
You can target people, who have once visited pages of your official website. If you are having the ecommerce site you can even retarget people, who left your site without purchasing anything.
To target audience using this Custom Audience you need not upload emails or phone numbers. You just need to add tracking pixel on your website. It will let you target entire traffic coming to your website being logged on Facebook.
[bctt tweet=”FB finds out a new list of users, who are similar to your already uploaded user information” username=”adstriangle”]
Advanced Targeting option, Custom Audience brings huge benefits to your FB Marketing. Let’s focus how you can be benefited from Custom Audience
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It increases sales possibility:
You can offer customers, who have bought products from your website with additional products. It also helps to drive customers who have abandoned your shopping cart once. It means it helps you layout strategies to increase selling margin and promotes re-purchasing.
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Helps you engage with customers:
When you get back to your customers, it makes them realize that you value them. Instead of approaching them with generic ads, some creative ideas or personal message can be helpful to make them a potential customer.
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Lets you bring back customers:
You can bring back customers again who once visited your website. You can grow their interest by new offers.
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Get New Customer base:
There are few people, who often visit your page and your site but have not purchased any or yet not liked your page. Custom Audience lets you encourage them with greater options to become your customer or to like your page.
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It saves your money:
Using Custom Audience you can exclude a set of users from your next FB ad Campaign targeting. Users, who have already subscribed to your site or have already become your potential customers, need not be targeted for a subscription.
Ads created for attracting new customers should exclude your potential customer list. It helps you save money from being wasted.
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Find Similar Customers:
Custom Audience is not all about targeting existing customers but it also increases your customer base with new users. It helps you target users similar to your list. Lookalike customers are another great targeting optimization tool.
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Ensure more conversions from web traffic:
Using Custom audience you can target those traffics that have once your website but have left without taking any action. You can target them using FB platform to encourage becoming your potential customers.
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Invite new installs for your app:
Mobile app is an indispensable interface to engage users. You can invite your already made customers to install your newly launched mobile app. Through Custom Audience you can target people to catch them on the go. It increases possibilities to improve conversions.
How to Create Custom Audience
Now, you must use Custom Audience in order to improve your targeting. Let’s discuss on how you can create Custom Audience. Here, we will create Custom Audience at Ads Manager.
- At Tools select Audiences and then click on Create Audience.
- And then you are offered with three options-
Customer List-
You can use here email list of people who make a purchase from your website or subscribe to newsletter or blog.
Website Traffic-
You can target people here based on your website visits. It’s quite same as remarketing, you can retarget your website visitors through this targeting.
Mobile app Activity-
You can create a list of people who have taken a specific action in your app or game.
- For Customer List Audience you have to upload CSV or text file. But you must agree with FB terms and conditions to take this action.
- For Website Custom Audience you first have to put snippet code of custom audience pixel to your website. If you have enough knowledge on HTML codes, you can customize this pixel codes as per your needs. Customization helps you track any action taken at your website.
- Upon selecting Website Custom Audience you will be prompted with a window, where you have to put three information- Audience Name, Description and Website Traffic
- In website traffic, you can tell FB which people should be targeted- whether all website visitors or only people visiting specific pages. For specific pages, you need to put those URLs.
Once you ready with your Custom Audience lay out your strategy to get benefits from this advanced option.
Wrapping Up
FB ad is a powerful platform to reach maximum numbers of potential audience. However, the success of your ad campaign completely depends on how you are targeting your audience.
Opting for the proper demographic target is the key behind successively optimizing your targeting. You may look for common and most used FB adoptions but to achieve the success you need to think out of the box.
Advanced targeting options are there to make your targeting more profitable. More you come up with your unique strategy more you get closer to your target audience.
