Social media advertising seems to have boomed since 'rona started dictating where we can go, how we should get there, how many people we can frolic with and what facial décor we need. It's good to see so many businesses taking the initiative to utilise paid social media ads, but I can hardly contain my disappointment and frustration at seeing so many poorly targeted ads running through my newsfeed. Not to sound up-my-own-butt about it, but I realise that too many local businesses haven't survived the curse of 2020, and many who have, are facing an uncertain future. So, which ads am I talking about? Let me explain …
The wedding dress ad
Even when I was actually getting married back in 2002, I wasn't in the market for a wedding dress (low maintenance human right here). Yet here we are in 2020 - with my marriage still intact - and I'm still not in the market for a wedding dress, but I'm being targeted by a local(ish) wedding dress boutique. My heart sinks as a small business wastes money on an advert that's hitting the WRONG audience entirely. At a time when most businesses and people are feeling the pinch, even fighting to survive, it makes no sense to waste even a single cent.
None of my online activity indicates that I'm engaged or interested in wedding dresses, which can only mean that the target audience is very broad and, in this case, not set up for success.
The luxury car ad
I've manifested a luxury car, it's on my vision board, but I don't think Facebook can actually target people's thoughts yet (give it a few years). A local luxury car showroom has got a sleek video ad running for a car that's probably around the €70k mark, give or take, and this ad has been served to me on several occasions recently. Again, I'm not currently in the market for a luxury car, so their ad budget is being wasted on people like me.
How could they target the right audiences?
Both of these businesses have specific target markets. They can't appeal to the masses, because not everyone is getting married or wants to buy an expensive car. This means that niche businesses like these need to profile their ideal customer and build audiences around that profile. Facebook knows what we're interested in, what we've been looking at (on and off Facebook) and what we interact with. Facebook Audience Insights allows you to get into the nitty gritty of building audiences by selecting a range of options, including:
Location
Age and gender
Interests
Connections
Language
Relationship status
Education
Work
Market segments (US)
Parents
Politics (US)
Life events
By selecting the options that most closely match the people who are likely to be in the market for your product or service, you increase the chances of hitting the right people and getting a good return on your advertising spend. Facebook's advertising platform is insanely good and better yet, it's cost-effective if you know what you're doing and are getting a good return. On top of all of that, you can run different ads to different audiences depending on where they are in your funnel. Reach cold, warm and hot audiences simultaneously in a strategic ad machine that produces paying customers!
Sound good? Complicated? Want a piece of the action? We run successful ads across Facebook and Instagram for our clients and we can do the same for you! Contact us to chat about getting your Facebook ads optimised for success.