What does it take to run targeted advertising?

What does it take to run targeted advertising?

A commercial page, a business manager, an advertising cabinet, and, of course, setting up a campaign: choosing a goal, setting a budget, indicating the interests of the target audience, choosing placements, and adding text and ad banner.

Setting up the audience is one of the key tools to get your ad seen by your target audience.

That is why we will talk about the audience in our article.

Audiences can be created based on gender, age, demographic data, user interests, their behavior on the site (provided the Facebook Pixel code is installed and configured on the site), actions in the application using Facebook sources (videos, Instagram business profile, Facebook page, etc.), or using an already existing list of your customers and much more.

Today we will talk about:

1. Types of audiences and how to create them through the section Business Manager Audiences
2. Creating an audience at the stage of creating an ad group

Types of audiences and how to create them through the BM Audiences section

There are three main types of audiences:

• saved audience (audience by interest)
• special (custom) audience
• lookalike audience

Go to the Audience section in Business Manager.

Saved audience

This is the primary audience that experience shows you will use most often. This is where audiences are created based on various parameters, such as age, gender, interests, etc.

Special (custom) audience

These audiences are created from people who have already interacted with your brand based on the parameters you set, such as those who have interacted with your Instagram profile, Facebook page, customer base, website visitors, or those who have viewed this or that video. 

Such audiences are called remarketing audiences. They allow you to target users who are already familiar with your company.

Similar audience

The next type is a lookalike audience. It is created based on other audiences (already created special audiences). It allows you to reach new people with similar interests, behavior, etc.

How to create such an audience?

Click on "Create a similar audience". First, you need to choose a data source. The data sources are your already created custom audience; just enter the name. Next, you select the geo and how many % to create a similar audience.

Also, the higher the percentage, the less similar the users are to yours, for example, to the customer base you downloaded, etc.

You can also check if your audiences overlap. How to do this: see below.

Creating an audience at the ad group settings stage

Now, you need to go to the advertising cabinet, create a campaign, and go to the ad group.

By default, you have Advantage+ Audience Control.

This is Meta's recommended targeting approach. Using Advantage+ Audience without any customization, the system will use AI (artificial intelligence) to find audiences based on pixel data, conversion history, and previous ad interactions.

If you choose this option, you can enter additional information, such as detailed targeting, a similar audience, or a special (custom) audience.

In the meantime, we will switch to the original audience parameters.

By switching, we can create a saved audience, which we discussed above, specifying the parameters you need: geo, gender, age, interests, and languages.

Here you can choose a special audience that you have already created through the audience section.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, there is no single correct answer to which audience to use.

It is necessary to test everything, analyze the results, adjust existing audiences, and try new ones.

In addition, study your target audience in detail and their needs and pains so it will be easier for you to attract potential clients to your business.