Advertising on Facebook can be a daunting task. Though this powerful platform gives you the ability to reach up to 4,000 potential customers per dollar spent on advertising, finding the right targeting criteria is not an easy task. Facebook users are a diverse group, and you want to make sure you’re reaching people who will actually buy your product. There are many things you should consider when setting up an advertising campaign, but here are some of the biggest:
Age: It isn’t just young people on Facebook anymore! The demographics of this social network are changing rapidly, and you need to be mindful of the different groups that could be seeing your content. You will be paying for people to see it, so if you are trying to market something specifically to older people, you’ll want to make sure your targeting criteria is specific and you’re cutting out younger people that you don’t see as potential customers. The same is true if you think a younger demographic is more likely to give you business.
Gender: Whether a Facebook user is male or female could also impact whether you want to target them. Businesses selling things like clothing and cosmetics may want to consider whether this is something they should use when targeting an ad. While you’ll want to make sure you’re not cutting out potential customers, if you think there’s a chance only men or women will be interested in what you’re selling, you’ll want to include this in your ad campaign.
Location: If you’re trying to drive people to visit your store’s physical location, it won’t do any good to advertise to people hundreds of miles away! Facebook allows you to target a municipality or zip code and run the ad in a specified radius around that area. If you know people in a certain town will be interested in your product, you can make sure they’re the only ones seeing your ads. This will further insure that your advertising dollars are having the greatest impact possible.
Income: One of the newest features in Facebook’s power editor is the ability to target people in a specific income range. This is based on information it takes from other parts of a person’s profile, and is important if you intend to sell high-end products. If you think only certain people will be able to afford your product, then you’ll want to consider including this in your target.
Other Interests: This comes down to the specific features of what you’re selling. Facebook gives you countless options to include in your targeting criteria, so it’s important to think of what your ideal customer may be interested in and how you can use these features to insure that they’re seeing your content. Whether it’s a hobby, sports team, movie, or anything else, figure out what your target customer would be interested and make sure your content reaches them.
Facebook advertising is cost-effective and can be used to drive huge amounts of traffic to your business. Getting started can be a challenge, though. Knowing what content to post, how to target it, and how much to spend can scare away many potential advertisers. If you want to get started with Facebook advertising and need help some guidance, check out our Facebook Marketing program!