An important part of any advertising campaign is figuring out your target audience, then creating your ads so they speak to and resonate with those individuals. If you’re a retirement community, you wouldn’t advertise to 20-somethings, would you? On the other hand, if you run a bakery with plenty of gluten-free options, you would be wise to advertise to people with a specific interest in gluten-free food, such as people with Celiac disease.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, yes and no.

Facebook Ad Targeting

Admittedly, this is the idea behind Facebook ad targeting. When you create ads in the Facebook ads manager, you have the option of choosing what types of Facebook users will see your ads. But there’s still lots of guessing and testing involved.

How Ad Targeting Works

When you set up your Facebook ads manager, you’ll have the option of letting Facebook choose your target audience or defining your audience yourself. First, let’s consider the three types of targeting that Facebook will figure out for you — there are three types, and each has its own benefits and drawbacks, and it’s worthwhile to try each one of them when you’re putting together an ad campaign.

• First, there’s your core audience. Your core audience is made up of the people who like your page and others who are similar to them. These people might have shared ages, interests, and geography.

• Then there’s a custom audience. With this option, Facebook targets those who have provided the most engagement to your posts (likes, comments, shares, and clicks), regardless of whether those people like your page or not. This targeted custom audience will also include people similar to those who engage with your page.

• Finally, there’s your lookalike audience. These targeted users are those who have similar interests as your most loyal followers and customers, but it will not be those loyal customers and followers themselves. Your lookalike audience is a great choice if you’re trying to bring in new people as opposed to repeat customers.

“But,” you might be thinking, “what if I want to decide for myself which types of users my ads are shown to? I don’t want Facebook deciding that for me.” You have that option!

Defining Your Audience On Your Own

When you define your audience, you’ll be able to consider what people are the best fit for this particular campaign. You’ll be able to designate your defined audience by:

Location: 

If you have an online shop, you might have success showing your ads to people living all across the country or even all over the world. But if you’re advertising a brick-and-mortar location, you might need to narrow your location to 10 or 20 miles of your business. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. 

Let’s say you have that brick-and-mortar location, but you’re trying to build a campaign around your expanded e-commerce options. In that case, you might want to target users from outside your general area who might not be able to patronize your physical location.

Behavior

This one is particularly helpful — you can target Facebook users who have made purchases from you in the past, those who have taken advantage of a freebie, or even those who have started shopping but then abandoned their cart for whatever reason. Behavior targeting also includes people who are viewing Facebook from a particular device, such as a desktop computer or a smartphone.

Demographics

You know how you spend a lot of time thinking about who your typical customer is? This is your chance to describe that customer to Facebook. Target audience members based on things like their age, gender, educational background, or their job. If you’re offering products or services for moms of babies and small children, then targeting women between the ages of 25 and 35 would be your best bet.

Connections

With the connections option, you’ll target people who are connected (i.e. friends with) Facebook users who like your page, who attended an event that your page hosted, or who are members of a group that your page is the administrator of.

Interests

Last but definitely not least are the interests of your potential targets. What are they interested in? What hobbies do they have? What other pages do they like? Target those Facebook users who have interests that are in line with what your brand has to offer.

One final note 

If you’re wondering where to get ideas for Facebook targeting, go to your audience insights manager and look at the breakdown of the people who like and interact with your page. Don’t be afraid to get analytical and ask yourself why there might be some surprises among those insights. 

You may have a surprising number of followers who don’t fit the mold of who you expect your customers to be. This is a good time to ask yourself what value you offer those users. You might even recognize a potential market that your business had not yet tapped into!

Don’t have time to run Facebook ads yourselves? Our team at ASMM Digital can help. Reach out today by calling 443-679-4916 or emailing ann@asmmdigital.com.