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49 Facebook Ad Targeting Options You Need to Know
Read Time: 4 Minutes

49 Facebook Ad Targeting Options You Need to Know

31 Oct, 2017 Read Time: 4 Minutes
LiveClass
Published by
Sarah Kerrigan
Social Media Trainer & Evangelist
LinkedIn
Inspire Inform Ignite

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).


Additional Facebook targeting options

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:

  1. People who have visited your website (within the last 180 days max)  
  2. People who have visited your website but do not like your Facebook Page  
  3. People who have visited one page of your website (within the last 180 days max)
  4. People who have visited a group of your website pages 
  5. People who have visited your blog
  6. People who have visited your blog but do not like your Facebook Page
  7. People who have visited specific blog posts 
  8. People who have abandoned the basket on your website 
  9. People who haven’t been on your site for a certain number of days 
  10. People who have spent the longest time on your site (top 5%,10% or 25% of visitors)
  11. People who have spent the longest time on your website but have not converted 
  12. People who have visited your website at least x times but not converted
  13. People who have visited your site at least x times via mobile but not filled in a lead form
  14. People who have filled in a contact form on your website in the last x days
  15. People who have converted on your website in the past x days
  16. People who have converted on your website in the past x days on mobile/desktop
  17. People who have converted on your website in the past week on desktop/mobile
  18. People who have visited a certain product page via desktop or mobile
  19. People who have visited a specific set of product or service pages via mobile/desktop
  20. People who have signed up to your email database
  21. People who have not opened your latest email campaign
  22. People who have opened but not converted or clicked in your latest email campaign
  23. People who have received your latest email campaign
  24. People who have engaged with an email campaign but have not converted 
  25. Your LinkedIn connections
  26. People who you want to do business with (if you have their email addresses)
  27. People who have downloaded a particular guide/resource from your website
  28. People who have opened your mobile app 
  29. The most active users of your mobile app
  30. People who have spent the most money within your app
  31. People who have reached a certain part within your mobile app (e.g. completed a level)
  32. People who have watched a specific video on your Facebook Page
  33. People who have watched 25% of a specific video on your Facebook Page
  34. People who have watched 75% of a specific video on your Facebook Page
  35. People who have all your videos on your Facebook Page
  36. People who  have watched a specific set of videos on your Facebook Page
  37. People who have opened a lead generation ad that you have created on Facebook
  38. People who have opened but not submitted their email to a lead generation ad
  39. People who have opened a Canvas ad on Facebook
  40. People who have opened and clicked any links on a Canvas ad on Facebook
  41. People who have engaged with your Facebook Page (anytime in the past 365 days)
  42. People who have visited your Facebook Page
  43. People who have engaged with your posts and ads
  44. People who have clicked on your Facebook Page call-to-action button
  45. People who have sent a message to your Facebook Page
  46. People who have saved your Facebook Page or any post from your Page
  47. People who have visited your Instagram business profile
  48. People who have engaged with any post or ad on Instagram
  49. People who have responded to a specific Facebook event
 
Powerful stuff, would you agree?

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
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