As any marketer knows, Facebook is one of the most powerful advertising tools on the market. The dynamic platform has over 1.7 billion monthly active users - one fifth of the world's population - and with Facebook Ads, businesses have the opportunity to expand their content reach to a much larger user base.
Facebook's ad platform is fuelled by the platform's massive amount of user data, enabling very specific audience targeting and changing the way that sellers - particularly eCommerce merchants - are able to connect with their customers.
But although Facebook ads are great, many still struggle to fully grasp the extent of the platform's targeting capabilities and put them into practice.
To simplify things, here are four ways you can use Facebook's ad targeting to maximize your success.
1. Customize Your Audiences
Facebook's ad platform provides a great opportunity for eCommerce sellers to easily reach their target audiences and beyond without having to invest in multiple ad campaigns on different platforms.
Following the pay-per-click method, you can easily try a variety of their tools and pay as you go. In fact, Facebook's Custom Audiences tool makes it even easier to sell to the customers that you already have instead of having to find an entirely new audience. You can easily utilize this tool by uploading your customer email list to Facebook and allowing them to find your audience for you.
If you don't have a complete email list, no worries; you can also define your audiences by Facebook App User IDs, phone numbers and Mobile Advertiser IDs, or by a combination of rules used to identify users who took specific actions on your website.
Once the information is uploaded and the customized lists are made, Facebook will encrypt your information so that it remains secure.
2. Turn Reviews into Ads
According to Aimee Millwood from user generated content platform Yotpo, "too many businesses focus on optimizing certain steps - improving check out, acquiring customers through SEO or PPC, etc. - without looking at the big picture".
Indeed, instead of focusing on what the brand can do to help itself, you should focus on thinking how to create a reciprocal relationship between the brand and the consumer. With user-generated content (UGC) brands are able to make sure user reviews are heard loud and clear.
The company offers a tool that enables merchants to turn verified customer reviews into Facebook advertisements. This way brands are able to utilize many positive user-generated reviews and turn them into Facebook ads.
3. Retarget Old Visitors
Even beyond an email list, you have the ability to discover Facebook users who previously visited your website but hadn't submitted their contact information. This is a highly effective way of reconnecting with potential customers and targeting them with compelling, engaging, relevant content. Believe it or not, about 72% of online shoppers abandon their carts without completing their purchase, and without any retargeting strategies in place, only 8% of them will return to complete the transaction. But, with Facebook's retargeting capabilities, the average site can attract 26% of abandoners to complete a purchase.
To make things even more promising, 70% of site visitors who are retargeted on Facebook are more likely to return and make the purchase.
By adding customized time lengths and site parameters, such as "All Website Visitors - 30 Days" or "People who visit specific web pages" you can create specific ads that match your users' exact interests. For example, if a user had visited a web page on women's shoes, for example, or if they had had visited a page on men's jackets, you can design ads specifically for them to match their interests. You can create as many as you want with as specific or general parameters as you like.
When creating these ads, you can also specify your calls-to-action to accomplish different goals, such as growing your fan base, directing traffic to your website, and building your email list. You can do this by simply stating a clear, compelling CTA and linking it to your desired page location. To get started, you must first download the Chrome plugin, Power Editor, or a third party application that uses the Facebook advertising API. Once you've installed the plugin, the user-friendly tool will guide you through step by step.
4. Find Those Who Look Alike
Facebook Lookalike Audiences allow advertisers to target Facebook users who are similar to their customers. This is a great way to identify potentially relevant customers without having to implement customer referral campaigns or pay for advertise on multiple platforms. Facebook does it all for you in one convenient, user-friendly place.
For example, an advertiser can ask Facebook Lookalike Audiences to find the 5% (optimize for greater reach) or top 1% (optimize for similarity) of users in a specific geographical area who were similar to your customers, and then target them with relevant ads.
You can also discover users similar to those who visited your website or visited a specific page on your website. This is a great opportunity to discover relevant audiences and optimize your current one, since small customer lists of 1,000 people could often be turned into Lookalike Audience targeting capabilities exceeding 1 million users.
Give It a Go
With Facebook's powerful targeting capabilities, it's easy to integrate its tools into your advertising strategy. With user-friendly, budget-sensitive and highly effective targeting methods, Facebook is a must-try for any eCommerce merchant looking to expand their reach.