Many marketing departments for both leading and rising companies highly value Facebook ‘Likes’. This is because once a user has clicked “like” on a company page, the company can send content on the user’s news feeds. Facebook, on the other hand, makes money by charging companies a small fee to show their adverts on multiple relevant profile news feeds in an effort to attract more ‘likes’. But did you know most of the ‘likes’ your page gets may not be from your targeted users…?
In an investigation by BBC in 2012 (See it Here), it was found that companies are loosing money on adverts to gain ‘likes’. This was concluded after finding out that most of the accounts are “not real” and are run by computer software with only a single person controlling thousands of profiles. At the start of this year, Facebook revealed that 5 to 6% of the 901 million Facebook users might be fake. This is a huge number considering that percentage accounts for up to 54 million profiles.
Further into the investigation, it was revealed that the ‘Paid Likes’ a page receives, regardless of the target regions, come from Egypt and the Philippines. The Facebook ‘like’ Fraud YouTube video by Veritasium further explains how Facebook ads targeting sucks big time. The video will first help you understand how the ‘likes’ work and the two methods you can use to acquire ‘likes’. It further explains why the paid Facebook ads are fake with most of them not being genuine. With such likes, you will get a big following but no engagement.
All the above proves why Facebook’s ads targeting have gotten worse over the years. After working on ad campaigns for my clients and after A/B testing, experiments and trials, I have identified the loophole in Facebook ads targeting and found solutions on how the ads should be used. Here are three of my favourite solutions. These are not rocket science,but they sure work. I have also included links to resources by fellow social media marketers for a better understanding into the solution.
1. Target Mass Forget Niche
In my experience, you should use Facebook for targeting mass audience and not for niche audience targeting. This is regardless of whether your product is suited for a specific kind of audience. To achieve success, you have to use multiple ads, target a broader audience and narrow your audience gradually. To learn more on improving niche targeting, read this article written by Vincent Clarke: How to build a niche following on Facebook.
2. Location Based Targeting
In a single campaign, you should never target more than three countries. If you are targeting larger countries like the USA and India, narrow down to the city or state targeting. This is a perfect strategy for brick and mortar stores. Click here to read more.
3. Effective Ad Copy
If your ad copy sucks, your efforts will be a waste of time. Read this article on Emmamelhuish.com to learn How to Write Engaging Facebook Ad Copy.
With so many things being wrong with Facebook ads targeting, you have to think outside the box and go the extra mile if you wish to succeed. The aforementioned solutions will get you started.
Tags: Facebook Ads, facebook marketing, facebook marketing strategies, facebook strategy
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