Unless you’ve been living under a rock over the last month, you’ve probably heard about Facebook’s latest scandal—a data security and privacy breach. For those of you who have managed to avoid the news coverage, let us to fill you in. Facebook allowed a third-party, Cambridge Analytica, to collect and use data in a way that could have influenced millions of US voters. Yep, these are the times we live in folks.
With the election behind us, you may be scratching your head and asking, “Why should I care? How does this impact me and my business?” Well, lucky for you, our team has been keeping a pulse on the on how this will impact our clients advertising on Facebook. The good news – all is not lost! Although the social media giant is taking swift actions to earn back public trust, your ads can continue to make an impact.
Read on to find out what Facebook is doing and our recommendations to make sure your ad strategy doesn’t suffer.
So, what exactly is Facebook changing?
Facebook announced that they will be removing all third-party ad targeting options, including any additional audience data from the likes of Axiom or Experian. Now, you may be starting to worry because third-party data has become kind of a big deal in the advertising realm. But fear not! We’ve outlined five quick and easy tips below to ensure you keep getting the most bang for your buck:
Our top 5 Facebook advertising tips
1. Advanced Geo-Targeting
Targeting your Facebook ads by location is nothing new. But were you aware of advanced geo-targeting? Not only can you target users based on their geographical location, you can zero in on users who live in, are traveling to or were recently in a specific location. You’ve essentially reached super hero (or benevolent stalker) status and can reach anyone, anywhere, anytime.
2. Email Custom Audience
Do you keep a record of your customer emails? If the answer is yes, then half of the work is already done! Take that list, upload it, do a little dance and voila! You can now match users directly on Facebook to serve them ads. Bonus tip: build a lookalike audience from your email list to reach similar users, further extending your influence.
3. Engagement Custom Audience
Are you ready to REALLY see results? Then how about building an audience based on users who have already shown a strong interest in your brand? Yes, that’s right, you can directly reach users that have the highest chance of converting – those who have previously interacted with your brand’s posts and videos on Instagram or Facebook.
4. Interest Targeting
Interest targeting sorts users into buckets based on their behavior and interests on Facebook. For example, if you’re opening a new pizza shop that’s open late-night, you should probably get in front of college students who think pizza is one of the main food groups (and who are we kidding, so do we).
5. Website Custom Audience
And for our final…install the Facebook Pixel on your website. This pixel will help retarget your site traffic on Facebook, giving you the ability to re-engage users you may have missed out on before. Similar to tip two, take the opportunity to build a lookalike audience and expand your reach to users who behave similarly to your website visitors. Then you’ll be one step closer to world domination.
Moral of the story? Don’t let the Facebook data crisis get you down. These five easy tips will help you navigate your marketing strategy without missing a beat. Now that you are caught up on everything in the Facebook ad landscape, go forth and prosper! Unless you want to keep hiding under that rock…which is totally cool too.
Need extra help putting these tips into practice? Give us a shout!
