I love seeing ads on my Facebook News Feed!
Maybe that makes me weird -- I dunno...
Are you the same?
Do you love Facebook ads too? (You're not blocking them, are you?)
Maybe I should clarify: I love ads because I LEARN from them.
I learn from the 'bad ones,' and I learn from the good ones -- especially the ads that GET it.
Basically, I don't see a lot of examples of perfectly targeted ads. So when I saw the one I'll describe below, it grabbed my attention.
In fact, I almost made an investment of thousands of dollars. (now that's a kickass ad!)
So, what do you think?
Want to learn how you can create a targeted Facebook ad that grabs your target's attention and tempts them to buy from you?
Let's take a look at why this particular Facebook ad worked -- and how yours can too!
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Why This Targeted Facebook Ad WORKED (and how yours can too!)
For 2 straight weeks an ad from Baylor University kept showing up in my Facebook News Feed.
I couldn't go on ignoring it, so I finally clicked to find out more about the message that was constantly glaring at me (sporting that Baylor logo).
After all, I want to be "Business Smart" and "Baylor Strong", right?
Here's the ad:
Why me? Do I look like someone who might want to earn an MBA at Baylor?
Do you sometimes wonder why a particular ad shows up in your News Feed?
PRO TIP - click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the ad to find out. That's where the real learning begins.
Was this ad targeted correctly?
100% yes!
I'm over 23 (I'm about to turn 40 actually) and I live in Texas and have a bachelor's degree.
What makes this targeting even better is I received my bachelor's from Baylor University! (Note that the drop-down only provides "Some the reasons.")
Were there other factors that make me a prime place for Baylor to place a few advertising dollars?
You bet!
In addition to going to Baylor, I've also Liked pretty much every Facebook Page associated with Baylor -- and I'm a member of a few Baylor-related Facebook Groups.
The key to successful Facebook ads: Hypertargeting
Without proper targeting, your ad money may be spent on people who couldn't care less about your ad.
Here's a list of the arrow-notching data Baylor gathered from my Facebook profile and activity:
- I graduated from Baylor with a Bachelor's degree
- I'm under 40
- I live within 35 minutes of Baylor campus
- I have Liked every Baylor University Facebook page
- I'm active on various Baylor pages
- I work online and an online degree would be appealing to me
- I have a full-time job, so a degree online is suitable for me
All of these factors pinned me to the digital wall.
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8 Facebook ad hypertargeting options
Facebook does a tremendous job of collecting info about users and making that data available to advertisers.
That means much of the info you need for hypertargeting is ALREADY there -- just waiting for you to convert it into dollars.
1. Create Custom Audiences
Reach people you already know by uploading a contact list or pulling info from visitors to your Page. The value here is that you already have a touch point established.
You're not a stranger, so there's already some degree of 'warmth' to this audience.
2. Target prospects by Location
You choose the region -- whether country, state, province, city or zip code. You can even select regions WITHIN a region. How cool is that?
Why promote pizza delivery coupons to folks who don't live in your service area? Why sell beach gear in Nebraska? You don't have to waste your money on pushing ads to people unlikely to be interested in your offer. (Baylor sure didn't!)
3. Leverage Demographics to reach your target audience
Follow Baylor's example and dig a little deeper: Age, gender, birthday, relationships, education, finances, life events... don't stop at zip code targeting.
Choose the demographic info that best helps you speak to YOUR best prospects.
4. Speak to the things they love most with Interests
Leverage their Likes. Baylor knew I was a fan of both the university and social media marketing -- Facebook had that info stored and ready to apply.
You can stay general (outdoor sports) or get really specific (golf). Any way you cut it, when you know what someone is interested in, you know how to speak with them in a way that will get their attention.
5. Find out what they've been up to with Behavior targeting
Facebook can not only provide data about your intended audience from their activity on Facebook -- you can pull 3rd-party info to fill out the picture.
Behavior targeting lets you consider the car someone drives (or wants), their residential profile, travel interests, which device or devices are preferred (why sell a PC product to an Apple user?), charities they support... and more.
There's a ton of data here just waiting to be discovered.
6. Talk about their Education and get their attention
Baylor hammered me here. You mention "Baylor," and I'm all ears. Combine that with an offer aimed at someone who already has a bachelor's degree and just MAY be interested in an MBA... and I'm hooked.
Baylor's Facebook ad in my News Feed was NOT a happenchance deal. They used their ad money with laser precision -- and YOU can too! Facebook makes it just about as easy as falling off a log. (True story.)
7. Show your Facebook Ads to strangers (or friends) with Connections
This is a pretty cool way to sort. You can choose to show ads to those who are connected to you, to friends of those who are connected to you, OR to those don't know you from Adam.
Combine that with other targeting data and you can speak with just about anyone you choose.
8. Get down to nitty gritty with Partner Categories
We've already mentioned it, but it deserves a repeat. Facebook goes outside of its own database to pull in pertinent marketing info from other sources -- Acxiom, Datalogix and Epsilon. These are heavy-hitters, folks. They provide data that, previously, only the big boys could access.
To find out more about these 8 Facebook ad hypertargeting options, bookmark this page: Facebook ads on steroids
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Wrapping it up and getting you back to business
I never realized Baylor's online MBA program existed until they targeted me with ads -- and yeah, the idea kinda intrigues me and I'm interested in learning more about it.
LISTEN: Anyone who can't hit a well-defined audience with Facebook ads couldn't hit a cow's butt with a banjo!
Really, I'm not kidding.
Parting tips and promises
If you're running Facebook ads, narrow down the exposure of your ad by hypertargeting it. The worst thing you can do is target everyone on Facebook or (even) everyone in a zip code.
Why waste your money marketing to folks who will probably NEVER become your customer? That helps no one (except me -- I get to save those in my swipe file as bad examples).
Yes, hyper-targeting likely means you'll pay more per click or per view -- but that's a smart investment (if you hypertarget) since the people who see and click on the ads are much more likely to buy from you!
The bottom line: Increased ROI.
Ain't that what business is all about?
I challenge you: Try sharpening your aim with the 8 Facebook ad hypertargeting options. Then leave me a note below to tell me what happened. (You can send my 10% commission to scott@postplanner.com :))
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