It feels like we are always being bombarded with advice on the best way to advertise our business or products online. Everyone has a different view and quite often the advice in misleading and contradictory. Like all forms of advertising there is certainly NOT a one size fits all option. What works best for one person may not work for another and various factors should be taken into account. These factors can include your budget, the amount of time that you have available and needless to say, what industry you operate in and the product or service that you are looking to advertise.

One of the best known advertising platforms is Facebook. Below are just a few suggestions about how you could Facebook to best target you desired audience and therefore get the best results for your business.

Facebook

Facebook is something that almost all of the World’s population is aware of so therefore this is great plus in the first place. You don’t have to educate people about the basics of the platform just perhaps the finer details and you are left to concentrate on getting your message across.  The principle behind using Facebook as an advertising platform is quite straight forward and takes just a matter of moments to get to grips with however using some of the more complex tools is a little bit more tricky and you may feel that you want to take on the services on an expert.

The Principles

Facebook has more than 1.4 billion users and of this number around 900 million of these users visit the site every day. Obviously you don’t want to target all of these users so when you set up an advertisement you want to choose your audience. You can do this by age, interest, location and a whole host of other options. Basically, with a Facebook advert you wish to target relevant groups and individuals as this is what will reap the most rewards.

How Do I Target My Audience?

There are various ways to target your desired audience but below are just a few suggestions.

1. Target Life Events

You choose to target life events such as weddings or funerals. If you make wedding dresses you are not interested in targeting someone on their birthday but you are interested in people who have recently got engaged. It may sound obvious but Facebook has the capability to do this.

1. See Recent Purchasing Behaviour

You can monitor people’s recent purchasing behaviour as well through Facebook. The company joined forces with data brokers including Epsilon, Acxiom, and Datalogix in 2013 and suddenly Facebook knew a lot more about you. You can target people who are interested in food and drink, clothing and the such like again to target your audience

1. Build Loyalty

It goes without saying that one of the key things that any advertiser or any business is looking to do is build brand loyalty. Firstly, you can do this by providing relevant information to your existing contacts, your existing clients if you like. Give them information for free, something that they will find useful. Secondly, you could exclude existing customers. You don’t want to annoy them by offering them something irrelevant such as a “Free Trial For New Customers” so you could ensure that they don’t receive this.

You can also create a “custom audience” based on your site visitors. If they are interested in some things more than others then target them – Facebook has the information so use it!

1. Lookalike Audience

This is the next step up from the previous option and is the obvious next step. How about targeting people who aren’t already existing contacts or clients but have very similar characteristics and traits? This is ideal for people who have neither a list nor a big enough Facebook following. You can create a Lookalike Audience by simply using a tracking pixel to create a Website Custom Audience to mirror your existing clients and their actions. You can make this narrower or even broader than your custom audience. Facebook can choose to target 1% of this audience in a desired country so again numerous doors and options are opened on your behalf. Facebook is working for you!

1. Various Strategies

It may seem obvious but should certainly be mentioned, you should use various strategies. As we mentioned at the beginning about using different platforms you should also use different approaches. Don’t just target your custom audience; OK this may be a good starting point but don’t forget new markets. Also, don’t bombard your existing clients with information every day. It becomes worthless and something that they will choose to ignore – keep it relevant.  Also, be creative. We have given you some ideas but don’t be afraid to try something new and unique. At the end of the day, if you are sensible it can do very little harm.

Facebook is a great tool so don’t be afraid to use it!

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Gemma Purnell

Digital Marketing Consultant at PDS Consulting Solutions

Digital Analyst & Google Regional Trainer

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