49 Facebook Ad Targeting Options You Need to Know
31 Oct, 2017 Read Time: 4 Minutes
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Wasting money on poorly targeted Facebook ads? Learn how custom audiences can transform your Facebook marketing.
Facebook is still dominating the world when it comes to social media advertising. They had another strong quarter in Q2 2017, earning $9.16 Billion in ad revenue for that quarter, a 47% year-over-year change. Virtually all of this growth is down to Facebook smashing it with mobile advertising; mobile ads on Facebook make up 87% of Facebook's ad revenue.
Below shows the growth in average revenue per user from 2012 to 2016
That's some impressive growth but here is more:
Highlights from Q2 2017
- Daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.32 billion on average for June 2017, an increase of 17% year-over-year
- Monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.01 billion as of June 30, 2017, an increase of 17% year-over-year
- Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 87% of advertising revenue for the second quarter of 2017, up from approximately 84% of advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2016
So Facebook is killing it with ads, how can you? Answer: Custom Audiences
One of the best ways to increase the ROI of your Facebook advertising is to target audiences who already have an affinity with your business online. When people first start advertising on Facebook they normally only know about and use the standard location, demographic, interest and behavior based targeting available to them within Facebook ads manager. These types of audiences that you can create are called ‘Core Audiences’. Every Facebook advertiser has these audiences available to them and it’s fairly straightforward to setup an ad and target it at the demographics, interests and behaviours Facebook presents to you (see below).
The problem is, everyone has these targeting options available to them (which means everyone is using them). This doesn’t mean that they don’t work but it can be the most expensive type of Facebook ad targeting available. However, do not despair over this news - instead look to Facebook Custom Audiences.
So, how can custom audiences improve your ROI?
Custom audiences are made up of users that have already had a relationship with your business; maybe they visited your website, signed up to your email list or watched your latest video on Facebook. Because these audiences are custom to you and have more affinity with you they often lead to a much cheaper cost per engagement, click and conversion.
To get your creative juices flowing I have listed 49 different custom audiences that you can target with Facebook ads. All these audiences can be created within Facebook ads manager but be aware, to target these people some initial setup is required first (we cover how to create and use custom audiences on both our Social Media Advanced & Facebook Advertising course).
Here are the custom audiences you need to be aware of:
- People who have visited your website (within the last 180 days max)
- People who have visited your website but do not like your Facebook Page
- People who have visited one page of your website (within the last 180 days max)
- People who have visited a group of your website pages
- People who have visited your blog
- People who have visited your blog but do not like your Facebook Page
- People who have visited specific blog posts
- People who have abandoned the basket on your website
- People who haven’t been on your site for a certain number of days
- People who have spent the longest time on your site (top 5%,10% or 25% of visitors)
- People who have spent the longest time on your website but have not converted
- People who have visited your website at least x times but not converted
- People who have visited your site at least x times via mobile but not filled in a lead form
- People who have filled in a contact form on your website in the last x days
- People who have converted on your website in the past x days
- People who have converted on your website in the past x days on mobile/desktop
- People who have converted on your website in the past week on desktop/mobile
- People who have visited a certain product page via desktop or mobile
- People who have visited a specific set of product or service pages via mobile/desktop
- People who have signed up to your email database
- People who have not opened your latest email campaign
- People who have opened but not converted or clicked in your latest email campaign
- People who have received your latest email campaign
- People who have engaged with an email campaign but have not converted
- Your LinkedIn connections
- People who you want to do business with (if you have their email addresses)
- People who have downloaded a particular guide/resource from your website
- People who have opened your mobile app
- The most active users of your mobile app
- People who have spent the most money within your app
- People who have reached a certain part within your mobile app (e.g. completed a level)
- People who have watched a specific video on your Facebook Page
- People who have watched 25% of a specific video on your Facebook Page
- People who have watched 75% of a specific video on your Facebook Page
- People who have all your videos on your Facebook Page
- People who have watched a specific set of videos on your Facebook Page
- People who have opened a lead generation ad that you have created on Facebook
- People who have opened but not submitted their email to a lead generation ad
- People who have opened a Canvas ad on Facebook
- People who have opened and clicked any links on a Canvas ad on Facebook
- People who have engaged with your Facebook Page (anytime in the past 365 days)
- People who have visited your Facebook Page
- People who have engaged with your posts and ads
- People who have clicked on your Facebook Page call-to-action button
- People who have sent a message to your Facebook Page
- People who have saved your Facebook Page or any post from your Page
- People who have visited your Instagram business profile
- People who have engaged with any post or ad on Instagram
- People who have responded to a specific Facebook event
What else do you need to know?
When using custom audiences you should be aware of the following factors to make sure you maximise your Facebook ad ROI:
Ad CTR - Ads with a Click through rate of 1% have a 10 times higher Cost Per Click (CPC) than ads with a CTR of 2%*. Another reason to make sure your ads are laser targeted and highly relevant to your audience.
Ad Frequency - A result of highly tailored ads can sometimes lead to a high frequency score if you audiences are too small. Be aware that ads which reach users once a day have a 15x higher engagement and are 50% more cost efficient than ads reaching users twice a day* so make sure you cap your ad frequency to make sure you are not saturating your audience with the same ad.
Hopefully, this custom audience list has inspired you to go away and start creating audiences of your own.Targeting users further down your marketing funnel pretty much guarantees a greater Facebook ROI for you. #HappyDays
If you want to learn how to create custom audiences and market your business using Facebook book onto our Facebook Advertising courses.
*Source: Socialbakers
