How to Improve Your Facebook Ads Strategy
If you’re not careful, Facebook ads can be a huge money pit. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that they need to target as many people as possible with their ads. But the reality is that it’s much more effective (and cheaper) to target a smaller, more specific audience. When you know who your Perfect-Fit Client is, you can create an ad that speaks directly to them and their needs.
When you try to reach everyone with your ads, you end up reaching no one. That’s because people can tell when you’re trying to sell them something. But if you’re speaking directly to their needs, they’re much more likely to listen. And when you’re specific about who you’re targeting, you’re also more likely to get clicks and conversions from your ads.
1. Use Facebook’s audience targeting options
When you create a new ad on Facebook, you’re given the option to target people by interests, demographics, and behaviors. This is a great way to narrow down your target audience and make sure your ad reaches the right people. Here’s a more detailed explanation of each option:
Interests
You can target people based on their interests, which are determined by the Pages they’ve liked and the information they’ve shared on Facebook. For example, if you’re targeting course creators, you could select the “Online Courses” interest.
Interest targeting is powerful because it allows you to get very specific about the types of people you want to reach with your ads. For example, let’s say you own an online course teaching people how to cook healthy meals on a budget. You could target the following interests: “Healthy Cooking,” “Cooking on a Budget,” and “Meal Planning.”
When you target these interests, you’re more likely to reach people who are interested in what you have to offer. That means they’re more likely to click on your ad and take the desired action, whether that’s signing up for your course or joining your membership site.
Demographics
Targeting your audience with demographics is important because it allows you to laser-focus your marketing efforts so that you’re only reaching the people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer. As a result, you’ll save time and money while also seeing a higher return on investment for your marketing campaigns.
For example, let’s say you’re launching an online course for membership site owners in the United States. If you were to just launch your course without targeting any specific demographics, then you would be wasting a lot of time and money trying to reach people who aren’t even interested in what you have to offer. However, if you were to target your audience by selecting “United States” as your location and “Adults aged 18+” as your age range, then you would be much more likely to reach your target market.
As another example, let’s say you’re running Facebook ads for an online coaching program. If you were to just run ads without targeting any specific demographics, then you would be wasting a lot of time and money trying to reach people who aren’t even interested in what you have to offer. However, if you were to target your audience by selecting “People who live in the United States” as your location and “Adults aged 25-34” as your age range, then you would be much more likely to reach your target market.
Behaviors
Before we dive into how to use behaviors to target your audience on Facebook, it’s important to understand what behaviors are and how they can be used. Essentially, behaviors are actions that people take or characteristics that they have. For example, someone’s behavior could be that they’ve recently moved to a new city, or that they’re in the market for a new car.
Now that we’ve covered what behaviors are and how they can be used, let’s take a look at how you can use them to target your audience on Facebook. There are two ways to do this: by using the “Detailed Targets” option in the ad set creation process, or by using Custom Audiences. Here’s a look at both methods:
One way you can use behaviors is by targeting them through the “Detailed Targets” option when creating an ad set. To do this, simply click on the “Detailed Targeting” option and type in the behavior you want to target (e.g., “apple product users”). You’ll then see a list of subcategories appear beneath it (e.g., “iPhone users,” “iPad users,” etc.). Select all of the subcategories that apply to your audience and then click on “Done.”
Another way you can use behaviors is by targeting them through Custom Audiences. To do this, simply create a new Custom Audience and select “Engagement” as your source audience type. Then select “People who engaged in any activity within X days” and enter the number of days (e.g., 30). Finally, select all of the subcategories that apply to your audience and then click on “Create Audience.”
2. Create lookalike audiences
Lookalike audiences are created by taking the demographic information, interests, and behaviors of your existing audience members and finding other people on Facebook who match that description. This ensures that you’re only reaching people who are actually likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
For example, let’s say that you have a list of email subscribers who are all women between the ages of 25 and 35 who live in the United States. Facebook will use that information to find other women on the platform who fit that description and who also happen to live in the United States.
You can also use lookalike audiences to target people who have engaged with your website, or even those who have interacted with your Facebook page or ad campaigns. This is an incredibly effective way to reach people who are already interested in what you do but may not be aware of your business yet.
Lookalike audiences are highly targeted because they’re based on information from your existing audience members. This means that you’re only reaching people who are actually likely to be interested in what you do, which is essential if you want to convert leads into Perfect-Fit Clients. No one wants to waste their time (and money) marketing to people who will never become paying customers, and lookalike audiences help ensure that doesn’t happen.
3. Use retargeting
Retargeting is a powerful way to reach people who have already shown an interest in what you do. It works by placing a piece of code on your website. This code tracks the visitors to your site and collects data about their interactions with your site. Once the visitor leaves your site, that data is used to show them ads for your offers as they browse the web.
For example, let’s say somebody visits your website but doesn’t buy anything. The retargeting code will place a cookie on their browser and add them to your retargeting list. Then, as they browse the web, they’ll see ads for your offers. These ads will be served by the retargeting platform you’re using and will be based on the information collected about the person’s interactions with your site.
This is an extremely effective way to increase conversions because you’re targeting people who have already shown an interest in your courses or membership. They’ve visited your site and interacted with your content, so they’re much more likely to be receptive to your message when they see it again.
There are several reasons why you should be using retargeting as part of your digital marketing strategy:
- It’s an effective way to increase conversions.
- It allows you to reach people who are already interested in what you do.
- It’s a relatively low-cost way to market your product or service.
- It’s easy to set up and use.
- It provides a high return on investment (ROI).
- It can be used to supplement other marketing channels such as email marketing, social media marketing, and search engine marketing (SEM).
Targeting a specific audience with your Facebook ads is essential if you want to get results from your ad spend. By using Facebook’s targeting options, creating lookalike audiences, and using retargeting, you can make sure your ads are seen by the people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer—and that’s how you’ll get the best results from your Facebook advertising campaigns.