By now, you’ve noticed changes to your Facebook feed. You’ve been scrolling down through the feed, noticing fewer cat videos and business messages. Hell, it’s entirely possible that some of those people who have liked our page won’t see the post highlighting this blog article.
What you probably have seen are two things. The first is more posts from people you likely haven’t heard from in awhile and the second is more sponsored posts.
That’s okay though. It’s not the end of the of the world, only a new nuance; a nuance that you need to embrace. Not in the spammy way you find most of those posts, but in a targeted strategy, focusing on the specific audience that you wish to speak to. But who is that audience?
So far, my own feed has been filled with ads targeting businesses looking to expand their marketing. Most have been close, but not quite right, like they were looking through a murky glass when they targeted me. So what could have made their message or ad more to the point?
Here are six audiences you can target with your Facebook ads.
1. EveryoneIt isn’t the greatest option to open your net so wide, but some businesses can benefit. Your best play however is to focus your message to a targeted audience. You can choose to adjust by demographics and general likes such as cooking, cats, or cars.2. An existing audienceYou can choose to boost your post to your current audience in an attempt to get your message out to the people who have already liked your page, but haven’t interacted in awhile. This method works for new offerings or if you want to convert your audience to an email list. Offer them something in return for their email; a free giveaway or coupon.3. A mirror audienceA mirror audience looks just like your audience, but in a different geographic region or simply those who haven’t liked you before.4. Those you have touched on FacebookHave you interacted with them before? You can target people who have liked your posts or navigated to a certain section of your Facebook business page over a specific period. This means you can continue a conversation you were having with them in a previous ad or post.5. A list you createIf you have a list of emails then you can market towards them. Because your audience may not have used those email addresses for their Facebook logins however, you may not have a significant success rate.6. Those you have touched on your websiteWith a pixel, you can trace those specific people who have navigated to your website. You can hone your message to people who went to certain pages like your sales page or to those who didn’t navigate to other pages like your shopping cart. You can entice those who almost purchased to finish, or to those who did buy, to buy again.
Each of these audiences can be further parsed so you can separate them into any number of sub-audiences. Then, by using targeted ads, you can get your message in front of the right people. You can do this with a standard post which you boost or you can create an ad designed to urge them to buy. The type of medium you use will affect the audience you wish to pursue however. That’s because each audience subset will be in different positions down the funnel, or rather, they may be closer to the purchase decision.
You need to use both ads and boosted posts in concert to bring your message to different audiences. Once you have a system in place, you work towards the goals you have set of increasing awareness or increasing profits.