Facebook has been the most serious competitor to Google Ads for PPC advertisements since quite some time now. However, with continuous improvements in its targeting options, Facebook Ads is now the main go to option for many companies. This is especially true for business to consumer products and services.
In terms of both targeting options as well as budget, Facebook is preferred over other forms of online advertisements. For small companies with tight budgets, Facebook puts you directly in front of your target audience at the best price possible.
Since so many small companies, entrepreneurs and advertisers are looking at Facebook to reach their customers, we thought of looking into the basic and slightly more advanced targeting options available within the platform so that even newbie advertisers can understand and make the most of their marketing campaigns.
Simple Demographics
Before getting into more complex targeting options of Facebook, you might want to pay attention to targeting your ads with simple demographics like location, age, and gender. Even though these may seem obvious at first, those features are known to be a genuine way to start a successful ad campaign on Facebook.
The choice of location is not limited to countries or cities only. In fact, you can choose a whole country, one or more US states, a city, a region with its ZIP code, etc. You also can choose a city and add its suburbs in a ten or more miles distance. Notably, targeting with location is more convenient if you’re a representative of local business and not an e-commerce store, for example.
Demographics in Facebook Ads Manager also include age and gender. With the age part, you simply add the age range of your target market, and with the gender, you choose whether your product or service should be advertised to men or women.
Interests and Behaviors
This is where you can further increase your ad’s quality and make it reach even more people, who may most probably become a potential customer for your business. In this section, you might want to use your creativity, and form your ideal customer, which can help achieve better results with your social media advertisements.
There are categories, like Business & Industry, Entertainment, Family & Relationships, Food & Drinks, Technology, etc. Under each one of these, there are more specific sectors from groups of people who are interested in gardening to people who just got married.
The same goes for the behavior category. You may use a portion of active travelers, smartphone or tablet owners, Facebook page admins or are classified under the section of “Engaged Shoppers”. These are just a few examples of what Facebook has to offer when it comes to segmentation based on interests and behaviors.
Connections, Remarketing and Lookalike Audiences
Another three fascinating aspects of Facebook Ads are targeting options named Connections, Remarketing, and Lookalike audiences.
Connections option allows the user to deliver the specific advertisement to a person who likes their page, uses their mobile app, etc. Facebook combines these criteria with the other ones you mention and helps you achieve better results with your advertisements on the platform.
Last but not least is the “Remarketing” option and creation of “Lookalike Audiences.” In this section, you can upload the e-mail list of your current customers, include people who visited your website, etc. With these features, Facebook helps you find and add more people who share common interests and behaviors, which in its place enlarges the number of potential customers that your ad campaign may bring to you. Here it is essential to know that in order for you to be able to create “Lookalike audiences,” you need to have at least 1,000 people on your customer e-mail address or phone number lists.
Final Thoughts
Facebook ads have grown into a comprehensive digital marketing platform for advertisers regardless of their size and budget.
Apart from being user-friendly and intuitive, the targeting options available within Facebook Ads allow a business to pinpoint their ideal customer and ensure ads are being shown to those target users.
If you are targeting end users or consumers, then Facebook should be on top of your list when it comes to marketing ad spends.
