Build a targeting strategy for Facebook Ads
Build a targeting strategy for Facebook Ads
1. In Facebook Ads Manager, click the Facebook Pixel tab. Click Create Pixel, enter a name, accept terms, and click Generate Pixel to create a Facebook pixel.
The Facebook pixel is a snippet of code that analyzes website behavior to optimize audience creation and ad performance. It lets you run highly targeted campaigns, and measure the effectiveness of your ads by understanding the actions that visitors take on your site.
2. Click Actions > View Code, copy the code, and paste it within the HTML header of your website to install the Facebook pixel.
3. Create a list of keywords that define your ideal customer. Expand this list of keywords using a tool like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner.
Consider problems, needs, motivations, interests, and purchase behaviors that best represent the population. Refer to your buyer journey and customer persona for specific problems, needs, and other keyword-generating ideas.
4. In Facebook Ads Manager, click the Create button to select a campaign objective that best matches the business goal and specific sales funnel stage you’re targeting.
Target your audience in the awareness stage by optimizing campaigns for: Brand awareness – Reach people in your audience consistently so your brand stays top of mind. Reach – Reach as many people in your audience as possible. Target your audience in the consideration stage by optimizing campaigns for: Traffic Engagement App installs Video views Lead generation Messages Target your audience in the conversion stage by optimizing campaigns for: Conversions – Increase the number of Form-fills, initiate checkouts, purchases Catalog Sales – Increase the number of sales from your Facebook product feed Store Traffic – Increase traffic to a brick & mortar location
5. Set Facebook ad goals related to your objective. Go to Facebook Ads Manager > Insights > Audience > Potential Audience to calculate the potential size of your audience.
If traffic is a priority, you will want to specify how much traffic you want to drive and within what timeframe you would like to drive it.
6. If you want to use lookalike audiences for lead generation or conversion, export audience data from your CRM as a CSV file. Include a column for each attribute you want Facebook to use for lookalike audiences.
Supported Facebook attributes include: Name Location Email address Phone number
7. In Facebook Ads Manager, go to Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience to create lookalike audiences.
Lookalike audiences have data similarities to your existing audience. For example, people similar to existing customers on your online ecommerce store, or Facebook members who have similar interests and demographics to those who follow your Facebook business page.
8. If you want to increase site traffic, go to Detailed Targeting to add interest-based targeting.
Facebook’s algorithm collects data from its websites, apps, and third-party websites to build a profile of each user’s interests. To find interests: Type a keyword that defines a specific customer interest into the Interests field and see which related terms Facebook provides. Use tools like Similarweb to get audience interests from competitor websites. Search the web and other online ecommerce sites to see what related products or terms are used to describe similar products. For example, if your client is Vogue magazine, you might include interests of high-end fashion brands, celebrities known for their fashion prowess, and those who work in fashion publishing.
9. Determine whether you would like to target an audience based on Facebook’s algorithm or a CRM-generated CSV file.
Depending on the maturity of your customer data, you may not have all of the details necessary to define your ideal customer. In this case, you will likely need to rely on Facebook’s machine learning. You can utilize Facebook ad manager reporting to optimize your targeting strategy over time.