Social

The Lowdown on Facebook Broad Audience Targeting

By Tinuiti Team

Dynamics ads are amazing for remarketing.

Able to remind Facebook users of products they previously browsed or added to their cart, or even update them on changing prices and promos, they’re a great way to boost sales without too much effort or ad spend.

BLOG Post: “Proof That Facebook and AdWords Work Better Together

But now, thanks to Facebook’s new broad audience targeting features, dynamic ads can do even more – not just connecting you with previous visitors, but also with brand new, primed-to-buy leads for your store.

Facebook Broad Audience Targeting for Dynamic Ads

So what exactly can broad audience targeting do? Essentially, it lets you target Facebook users who, behaviorally, are a good fit for your business.

This can include people who have looked at or bought similar items to yours on other sites/apps/stores, or it could be users who interacted with Facebook content that shares common links to your brand.

facebook broad audience targeting

Basically, Facebook looks for users who send “signals” that they may be interested in what you have to offer.

As Facebook puts it, “Targeting broadly essentially means that you’re mostly relying on our delivery system to find the best people to show your ad to. This approach can lead to us finding potential customers you never would’ve known about otherwise.”

Facebook Broad Audience Targeting vs. Specific Targeting

With using specific targeting on your dynamic ads, you’re setting very strict parameters for who your ads can reach and when. You can add in demographics requirements, interests and more, and show your ad to a very small, but distinct audience.

For these reasons, specific targeting is best in 3 scenarios:

 
Facebook broad audience targeting, on the other hand, is ideal for generating new leads, raising brand awareness or, even, feeling out the audiences you should be targeting (if you’re not quite sure what those are yet.)

Pro-tip: It’s also good for small and large retailers alike, as you don’t need a whole lot of data to get started.

By using broad audience targeting, you put the power in Facebook’s algorithm, which will automatically search out what it sees as the best, most qualified potential customers for your brand.

Best Practices for Facebook Broad Audience Targeting

There’s a lot of promise with Facebook’s new broad audience targeting capabilities, but like with any new tool, it has to be used right in order to be effective.

If you’re considering branching out into broad targeting with your dynamic ads, here are a few mantras from our social team to live by:

1) High-level targeting: 

You don’t have to get super detailed, but you’ll have the best results if you at least narrow your audience down slightly. Add in a location or language, or set a demographic range, even if it’s a very broad one. Avoid using lookalike audiences or anything to drilled-down; you want to give Facebook some leeway to seek out the best customers for your brand.

2) Set up a custom audience to exclude:

You’ll want to exclude users who have visited your site before, particularly if you only sell one type of item or a product that’s a one-time use. If you have products that require repurchase every few months or years, set your exclusion for a set period of time, to ensure you’re not wasting ad spend on people who don’t yet need to re-up.

facebook broad audience targeting

3) Connect your full product catalog:

The more products Facebook has to use, the more your ads will be shown to its users, so make sure you connect your campaigns with your full, comprehensive catalog. Be sure to take down out-of-stock items promptly, so users aren’t getting bad information, and update your catalog regularly to reflect new products and pricing.

4) Copy & creative:

Use copy that is relevant to first-time visitors or new customers. For instance, if an evergreen promotion is offered for a first time purchase (e.g., 30% off your first purchase or free shopping), include that messaging in the text above the cards.

FREE GUIDE: The 2017 Guide to Facebook Dynamic Ads

If a narrow product set is used, for instance, to boost sales of a narrow category (e.g., earrings), experiment with a static card in the first position imagery that corresponds to category of the items being sold.

Pro-Tip: For bidding stategy, you’ll want to optimize for conversions including: Purchase, Add-To-Cart or Registration.

Final Takeaways

According to our experts, Dynamic ads were already a great tool for online retailers, but with Facebook’s new broad audience targeting features, they hold even more power for advertisers.

But if you jump on the bandwagon, just make sure to stay tuned to your analytics. As with any ad strategy, a little trial and error is always crucial at the outset.

If the results aren’t up to snuff at first, try adjusting your top-level targeting preferences, or change up your ad templates and creative up a bit. The right combination is just a few A/B tests away.

To learn more about Facebook broad audience targeting for dynamic ads, email [email protected].

You Might Be Interested In

*By submitting your Email Address, you are agreeing to all conditions of our Privacy Policy.