Custom Audiences
Custom Audiences defines special target audiences for your Facebook advertisement. This function requires information from former customers, such as telephone numbers or e-mail addresses. By uploading this data to the ad manager, Facebook is able to detect customers that are also Facebook users and with that information, it can automatically create a custom audience.
Website Custom Audiences
Relying on valuable data gathered by your website can prove to be an even more effective choice. With re-targeting, former website visitors that are registered on Facebook are targeted with ads. The main advantage here is the relatively low scatter loss. This is because targeted users have already viewed your website’s content or products and are potentially more interested in them than users who have not accessed those same sites. Re-targeting can be used for Facebook ads by embedding a code excerpt on your website (pixel).
Lookalike Audiences
For those who have already created a custom audience, Facebook is able to detect what’s known as a Lookalike Audience based on the vary characteristics. The goal here is to find additional users that most closely resemble your own customers. Should matches be found in terms of location, age, sex, and above all, interests, then Facebook rates this user as similar to those in the custom audience list. Following this, Facebook ads are then displayed to this new group.
Standard targeting options
Facebook offers those who do not have access to an existing data pool the option of using a targeting tool. Depending on your product or campaign type, you can limit your target audience according to the following criteria:
Location: A boutique in Boston aims to reach customers that are either from the area or visiting the city, whereas a nationwide car rental service naturally wants to offer its services beyond its corporate HQ. Facebook lets you address users with ad campaigns in locations and regions that are relevant to your business. Locations can be narrowed down to the country, region, city, or even zip code.
Demographic data: For many products, it makes sense to separate users according to factors like age group or sex. By taking advantage of such demographic data, you can avoid large scatter losses when placing an ad. Further characteristics, such as educational background, occupational area, or income level, can also be taken into account.
Interests: Define your target audience by selecting your category from a list of predefined interests. Facebook defines such interest categories according to specific user metrics, such as ‘likes’ or ‘check ins’. For a more fine-tuned selectivity, it is worthwhile to select interest-targeting criteria manually. By selecting appropriate categories (e.g. ‘Linux’ instead of ‘software’) a more precise target group is defined.
Connections: The proper use of connections is another means for adding to your targeting efforts. Users that ‘like’ special Facebook pages, use certain apps, or participate in an event can easily be included or excluded from your target audience. A further combination of these connections is also possible: friends of those who have liked a particular page, post, or article can be included into the target audience of your Facebook ad.
During the manual targeting process, the Facebook ad manager displays a target group barometer on the right side of the display. This is where data is summarized and a potential advertising range is established. By tinkering with various settings, you can determine whether your selected target audience is too specific or too broad. Once the selection has been accounted for, target audiences can then be saved and used at a later date.