One of the benefits of Facebook marketing is the ease with which an ad campaign can be launched. Facebook marketing managers can create ads, and potentially reach billions of users with a simple set of tools that come with the platform.
While creating and launching a Facebook marketing strategy is easy enough, there is more to it than just sending ads out and hoping they reach the right people. If you want to get a good return on investment, you need to target the audience that is going to be most likely to engage with your ads.
Hiring a Facebook marketing agency can be one solution for businesses that want to optimize their campaigns. However, whether you enlist the help of others or you manage your own social media marketing, you have to take the time to understand the Facebook ad targeting options that are available. Here are four simple yet effective strategies to make your Facebook advertising more effective.
Targeting Those That Have Already Shown an Interest
The first groups you want to consider are those that have already expressed some type of interest in your brand. These people are more likely to engage with your Facebook ads, and the platform makes it easy to target them.
You could target people that have visited your website, specific pages on your website, or you could import lists with things like phone numbers and email addresses that people have provided through a different site. You could also target customers based on engagement with your Facebook page or posts.
Facebook Marketing And Flex Targeting
With Facebook advertising, you have the ability to include and exclude users based on a variety of different criteria. You can target based on behaviors, interests, demographics, and more. When you use these options, you can refine an otherwise large audience to its most relevant segment. As a result, this audience will consist of the most motivated users that have the highest probability of converting.
As an example, you might offer a mobile app that is only compatible with iOS devices. With this knowledge, you could exclude people that own an Android device, and include only those that have iOS phones. This is just one of many diverse Facebook targeting options that will save your ads from being sent to users that are unlikely to act upon it.
Targeting By Amount of Time Engaged
The amount of time a person spends engaged with something can indicate how interested they are. With Facebook ads, you can target your ads by the amount of time that they spent on your website. You can do the same based on the amount of time they spent watching a video, too.
If you want to target people based on the amount of time that they spent on your site, you will need to set up a Website Custom Audience. Once you have the custom audience, you can then select the website engagement option from the dropdown menu. Then just select from options like top 25%, top 10% and top 5%, which refers to the time spent engaged (top 25% of most time spent, top 10%, etc.).
Targeting Tech-Savvy Users
A person that is comfortable with online technology is more likely to click through and convert on your Facebook ad. Clicking an ad and making a purchase is a simple act, and many of us just take it for granted, but there are still some people that are uncomfortable with the process.
If you want to avoid sending your ads to users that you fear may not understand your product or platform, you can exclude certain behaviors. To do so, go to your Custom Audience Behaviors and exclude for things like 2G mobile connections and people that use Internet Explorer as their primary browser. On the flip side, you could also target people like Early Technology Adopters and those that are on a 4G connection.
By targeting the right audience, you are taking a step toward getting the most out of your Facebook marketing campaign. While targeting is a good way to make sure your ads reach the right people, it is really just the beginning when it comes to optimizing your campaigns; you also need to split test your ads to see what is working and what is not. The right strategies combines let you continue to refine your Facebook advertising, and this will improve the results for future campaigns.
Article by Ilan Nass, Taktical Digital
