Facebook can be a tricky tool. It can be used for the right and the wrong reasons and while it can have its major benefits in terms of reach, it can also be damaging in terms of reputation. But that’s not what we’re here to discuss. We’re here to learn about how to get your ad out to the right audiences and ensure a smooth campaign on your end.
To begin with, on Facebook, you pay for a plethora of ways to advertise your content to suit your needs. And while this sounds all good, it can get very tricky. More options don’t necessarily translate into an effective campaign. It purely depends on who you target and how you do it. This means getting the most relevant message out there to the people that matter the most to you. This line can often be blurred when creating ads initially.
It really does come down to what your target audience is because the audience translates into reach. This reach generates an interest or a curiosity which in turn translates into engagement from the audience. That is the end game. While your creative may always be great, your targeting must be just as relevant as it otherwise tends to lose its novelty.
Facebook tries to simplify this process by giving you a bunch of options to choose from when deciding who needs to be targeted. While the options are many, note that you can choose more than just one factor to further specify the right audience. So let’s get to it. Based on the breakdown below, the factors or options are to advertise on the basis of:
- Location
It’s quite simple here. Facebook gives you the option of choosing your targets based on location. This means that your ads will be targeted at all users based out of a particular country, state or even a city. You’re also given the option of choosing a radius from the center of your location. This can help widen your target. Choosing only this option will give you a very broad audience. It’s a great option for products exclusive to a region.
- Age & Gender
Nothing too complex here either. Targets may be selected on the basis of a range in ages and the gender of the targets. Ranges and gender are used to define an audience within a pre-existing audience and can specify your targeting. Great for targeting a specific set of people but should be accompanied by other factors else the reach becomes too wide and random.
- Interests
Interests of the audiences can be defined using particular keywords and suggestions by Facebook. These interests are selected on the general interests of users on Facebook. For instance, a person who has listed a likeness for Football will automatically become a target by sports companies rolling out their ads. The same concept may be kept in mind while deciding to choose an audience on the factor of interest. Many interests will pop up and give you a set of audiences which could be broad or more specific. Not many may have a particular interest in your products. The best thing to do in such cases is to change these interests into something relevant of your product (maybe even competitors) to gain more ad reach. Such tweaking will initially require trial and error but can be effective.
- Behaviors
This concept is very similar to interests. Such behaviors are on and off activities taken up by audiences. These activities are tracked by Facebook and the analytics can prove useful in determining usage, travel preferences and also payment behavior. Such activities can be tracked by Facebook and can determine patterns in an audience’s perception making their targeting sometimes a whole lot easier. This option, when combined with other options can be very effective.
- Connections
This method can be a little tricky. The option allows you to select an audience whether or not they have a direct connection to you and what you choose to advertise. This can be on the basis of whether they liked your page, used your app or just liked a particular post. Connections can also be targeted beyond that. For instance, one can choose to target those that aren’t connected to you or even the friends of those connected to you. In such cases, Facebook will determine anyone who is connected to a friend that’s relevant to the ad and target them. This can effectively increase the reach of the desired target audience.
- Demographics
Demographics are vital in the sense that they can be used to target an audience based on profession and status. For instance, adverts can be targeted specifically at married couples, students, college goers and even employees. Other ads can be posted at an audience whose profession is in the lines of IT. Such an option can significantly break down your overall reach to a much specified number and must be used in combination with other options to increase overall reach. For example, advertising eye drops for strained eyes can be targeted specifically at people in the IT industry since it is commonly known that they spend countless hours in front of a computer screen and are therefore prone to extreme cases of eye strain.
- Custom Audiences
This is where the options can also get complex. The idea of tweaking ads on the basis of a custom audience can open more doors in terms of options being available to target a specific set of people. Custom audiences can be targeted on the basis of people that visit your website, Email based advertising and also ads with regards to phone numbers as a target. This is ideal when only targeting a nice group for advert targeting. But we won’t go into the details of that.
All in all, while Facebook is great in it provides a wide range of options to decide how your targeting needs to be, it all comes down to the factors you really require. It only makes sense to target what is relevant to the content created and this will play the major factor in deciding your target audience. With that, it comes down to your choices and it is advisable to make those choices carefully. You may find it overwhelming initially, but with time and patience, you could make a real difference with them.