You are ready to launch your next Facebook Ad Campaign, but how do you know who to target?
The answer depends on your business goals and the maturity of your business. This article helps you choose the best Facebook targeting and campaign type.
Create “Warm” Custom Audiences
Warm Audiences have been exposed to your business before. There are three levels of warm audiences that you can target (in the order of their value).
You can use Warm custom audiences in your Traffic and Conversion campaigns. They already know about you and maybe ready for an upsell or a special offer from you.
1 – Custom Audience Made of Your Existing Customers
You can upload your email list or your customer database to Facebook. Click on “Create Custom Audience” in the Facebook audience selection box.
Make sure you have everyone on your list opted out of marketing communication from you. Do not purchase “cold” leads from a 3rd party.
Ideally, start with the highest lifetime value customers. Then your regular customers, then your “warm” leads who may not have converted.
2 – Custom Audience Made of Your Website Visitors
If you have Facebook Pixel installed you will be able to reach your website visitors. Start with purchasers, followed by those who Added to Cart, but did not buy.
Ideally, you would have at least 500 purchases or Add to Cart events. If not, create custom audiences from those who Viewed Content and visited your website more than once.
3 – Custom Audience Made of Your Facebook Engaged Users
This is one of the most straightforward custom audiences. You can use it even if you do not have enough customers on your list or do not have a Pixel installed.
Create a custom audience from people who viewed your videos and engaged with your posts. You can even create a generic custom audience from everyone who engaged with your page.
Create Lookalike Audiences from your Warm Leads
Once you have a sufficient number of people in each of your custom audiences, you can let Facebook help you find more people like that.
While we used Warm leads to help you create Lookalike audiences, these people are still “cold”. You have not established trust with them. The best type of campaign for them is a Video View or an Engagement campaign.
It will allow you to add value and educate them. And if you already created a Custom Audience from your Facebook Engaged Users, that Custom Audience will continue to grow.
1 – Lookalike of your Existing Customers
Use your Existing Customer audience to create a Lookalike version of it. Experiment with 1-2% and 5% match. Watch the performance of your campaign to determine which of these audiences will perform best.
2- Lookalike of your Web Visitors
Similar to the Lookalikes of the Existing Customers, Lookalikes of your web visitors are a great proxy for finding more audiences that are likely to respond to your business.
Test different percentages and different stages of conversion (Purchasers, Add to Cart, or View Content).
3- Lookalike of your Facebook Engaged Users
Have Facebook find more people similar to those who liked and viewed your content on Facebook. Commenters and viewers are more valuable, but the general public will work as well.
Creating Targeting Groups from Scratch
If you are brand new to the business or spinning off a brand new offer, you may not have enough customers, website visitors, or engaged Facebook users.
You can still research ideal Facebook targets via Facebook interests, behaviors, and demographics.
Just like with the Lookalike audiences, do not immediately try to run a conversion campaign for these audiences. First, earn their trust via educational campaigns, and then you can attempt to convert them.
1- Competitors and Influencers
Research top competitors and influencers in your space. They already have Facebook pages with loyal fans and followers. Targeting their pages as Facebook Interests will help you get started
2- Events and Publications
Think about top industry events that may be attracting your ideal customers. Do they attend big conferences or follow major industry publications?
Similar to using Influencer pages, you can add Events and Publications to your targeting criteria.
You can also Narrow down the audience by including several levels of targeting
3- Spending habits
Facebook is removing some of the behavioral categories, however, there are still plenty of ways to determine how people shop.
Specifically, you are interested in figuring out who is spending money on similar or complementary products. For example, if you are offering a new home delivery option, Amazon Fresh shoppers are more likely to pay attention to you.
CONCLUSION: Finding the right Facebook targeting option is easier than you think. Understand your campaign goals and tap into your existing followers and customers. Gradually build relationships before sharing your valuable offers with them.
