One of the key elements for the success of a campaign on Facebook Ads is the correct segmentation of the public. Here’s how to effectively put it into practice …

Effective audience segmentation is one of the winning moves for a successful Facebook Ads campaign. In fact, “segmenting” means being able to identify that slice of audience that represents the perfect recipient of your ads.

Facebook is a basin populated by users of all types, from countless combinations of different characteristics. An announcement cannot be for everyone, for two reasons: the first of a practical nature refers to its exorbitant cost; secondly, even if you could afford it, creating an ad for all Facebook users would be a senseless move because a given listing does not affect everyone.

As we know, the Social Blue collects user data, some deduced on the basis of their behavior, others because entered directly by members. These data allow to implement a profiling of people based on a number of different aspects that distinguish them: interests, professions, age, sex, place of residence, etc. By appropriately choosing the available parameters, a highly targeted public can be created that corresponds to the audience best suited to the type of content you are promoting.

We have already talked about the types of audiences that can be created with Facebook Ads. Now we will focus on how to effectively segment the public.

Locate your target

Among the preliminary actions to be carried out before proceeding with the practical preparation of the campaign on Facebook is the identification of its target. One must ask oneself who is the announcement that you are about to sponsor, what it is about, which people are potentially interested. For a good definition of the ideal communication recipient, we need to start from the more general characteristics, such as age, sex, place of residence, until we arrive at the more specific and specific qualities. The more detailed your analysis will be, the more the target you set will be precise and suitable for your ad.

The advice is not to limit itself to tracing its general characteristics in a detached way: try to put yourself in the shoes of the people you want to reach and give them names and a story. In this way, the interests and peculiarities of the target will not be a mere exercise of fantasy and without foundation, but will be the interests and peculiarities of “real” or potentially people.

Enter basic information and detailed targeting in Facebook Ads

Basic information covers places, age, gender and languages.

Through the “Places” section, Facebook allows you to identify who lives in a particular place, who is there, who has recently been there and who is traveling; you can also avoid this distinction by selecting the “All people in this place” option. It is also possible to include or exclude multiple places, such as entire countries, or regions or cities and to make the choice also based on the address or the Postal Code. As soon as it is selected, if it is a specific place like in the case of a city or an address, it is also possible to indicate the range of action, which allows to extend the scope of the post to the surrounding areas if necessary.

With “Age” allows you to set a minimum limit and a maximum limit for the desired target.

With “Gender” you can choose whether to show your ad only to women, to men only or not make any distinction in this sense (recommended unless you have absolute certainty about the gender membership of your person buyer).

Finally, “Languages” concerns the language set by the user as the main language, i.e. the one in which he has chosen to view Facebook and which he uses on the social network. This is a field that would be preferable not to fill out unless you want to reach a linguistic minority residing in a particular place. But if this is not your case, the advice is to ignore this field: it may happen that for reasons of comfort, study, etc. a user decides to set Facebook in a foreign language different from that of his / her own country and to make a choice in this sense would mean excluding a portion of the target audience.

Then there are the parameters of detailed targeting that correspond to demographic data, interests and behavior. The different parameters make it possible to identify the target audience of your ad perfectly and this makes a huge difference.

The “demographic data” allow you to choose among other things the educational qualification, the level of education, the sentimental situation, whether there are important events in sight (such as anniversaries or birthdays), the type of work done and even the number of children.

Under the heading “Interests” you will have at your disposal a series of aspects  to choose from, reminding you that they are all data gathered from the likes, the Pages followed and activities carried out or shared.

“Behaviors”, finally, concerns a series of information on the use of the Facebook platform: the devices used, how long they spend online, whether or not they are managing Facebook Pages and purchase intentions.

If you have correctly identified your target audience, proceed to the compilation of basic information will be very simple; however, not always being able to orientate within the detailed targeting is a clear and linear operation, accomplices the continuous updates of the section (mandatory since the characteristics of users are continuously updated) by the social network itself.

At this point, however, a clarification is necessary: above all those who have just entered the world of ads sponsored on Facebook could be tempted to add as many items, interests and details as possible at this stage. Nothing could be more wrong. Unless you are absolutely sure (thanks to more sophisticated surveys or segmentation operations) that the parameters you are inserting will help you reach those you want with surgical precision, it is best not to overdo it. In fact, inserting too many interests or details can lead to inadequate or inconsistent segmentation. To make sure that you have defined an optimal audience, better control the breadth of your audience and intelligently use the “Include” and “Exclude” options.

Showing Facebook Ads to the wrong people is the same as not showing it at all, squandering precious budgets into actions without utility. Imagine showing an ad promoting a dog food e-commerce to people who do not have a dog; or an announcement of a jewelry store in New York to people who live in New York. Both are actions that make no sense. Identifying the right target means investing its resources carefully and aiming to achieve maximum results.