By far, the biggest problem I see people make when they begin advertising on Facebook is… targeting the wrong people.
You could have the most incredible offer in the world. The perfect funnel. The most beautiful landing page, branding and design. The most compelling advert.
But if you’re targeting people that simply aren’t interested in what you have to say, your ads will never work…
(Similarly, you could be targeting the right people, but if your offer etc. sucks, they’ll never buy from you).
You really need to get every part of the equation right.
The right message, to the right person at the right time.
But fear not, there are some quick and easy ways to target people on Facebook; ‘hacks’ if you will…
Wanna learn what they are? Read on…
1. Retargeting website traffic
The first thing I set up, whenever I work on a new ad account, is a website traffic retargeting ad.
Ever been to Amazon, looked at a pair of shoes (or something weird) and had an ad with that same product follow you around the internet?
Simple, yet hugely powerful.
It’s done by installing the Facebook pixel on your site. Whenever someone visits your website, the pixel tracks them and allows you to then target people who have visited your website with an advert.
This is hugely powerful because…
The people that have visited your website should already know who you are and what you do. Hopefully they’ve consumed your content and trust you, at least a little.
Meaning when you turn up in their newsfeed again, they’re seeing a familiar face.
It also ties in nicely with your content marketing efforts. When someone finds your site (perhaps through Google), chances are they’ll consume some content and leave without taking things any further.
When you hit them with an ad on Facebook, you remind them to come back to your site. Something your competitors probably aren’t doing!
2. Retargeting video views
Not only can you retarget people based on activity on your website, you can also target people who have watched your videos on Facebook.
This is massive for those creating video content on Facebook.
It’s one of the main reasons that if you’re not creating video content on Facebook… you better start!
As you create video content and upload it to Facebook, you start to build an audience of people that have seen your videos.
Hundreds or thousands of people that have consumed your content over time.
You can also boost your videos to get more views.
That’s thousands of people that you can no retarget with a follow up advert.
Let’s imagine this…
You create a piece of valuable content, solving a problem for your target audience. With one of my clients, ScottsBassLessons, we post lots of valuable bass guitar lessons, teaching people how to play the bass.
These will get a few thousand views organically. We’ll then promote the ones that perform the best… adding fuel to the fire.
Once someone has consumed that piece of content, they’ll get a follow up ad from us, like this, inviting them to sign up for our 14 day free trial:
This is incredibly powerful because we know, if someone has consumed our initial bass guitar lessons, they’re in our target audience. Thus, all it takes is a follow up offer via Facebook to turn them into a paying customer.
3. Local based targeting
The previous two targeting options have both been custom audiences – targeting people that have already had a touch of your brand.
But I also wanted to include a cold audiences (an audience that doesn’t know you); specifically for businesses that operate in a local area, such as cafes, bars, chiropractors etc.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with Facebook’s incredible targeting features. There are thousands and thousands of targeting options available.
But sometimes it’s best not to use them at all…
When we’re working with local businesses, often times interest and demographic targeting isn’t required.
For example, if we’re working with a gym, looking for new members, we don’t need to target people that are interested in ‘health and fitness’. Technically anyone could be interested in joining the gym.
Therefore, we’ll often target people purely based on a radius around the business and their age.
Facebook will then go out into that audience to find the people it thinks are most likely to convert. The Facebook ‘machine’ is incredibly intelligent and can sometimes find your perfect customer better than you could.
Facebook’s targeting is what makes it the most powerful advertising platform out there.
If you’re unsure on who to target with your Facebook ads, think about the three tactics above, or you can check out my Facebook ads targeting course. To get your hands on that, simply download my free Facebook ads blueprint and you’ll see the offer on the thank you page 😉
