By Anna Hubbel, staff writer at AdvertiseMint, a Facebook advertising company

As a Facebook advertising company (or individual advertiser if you’re the independent, lone wolf type) it is in your best interest to make sure your ad resonates with the right audience, otherwise your results will plummet and your costs will skyrocket. If your ad is not reaching the audience most likely to convert, what’s the point? Although an amazing product or service may speak for itself, ad targeting is key to delivering your message to the right audience.

Fortunately, Facebook offers the tools necessary to identify your target audience. Want to target a specific audience, for example, Birmingham women aged 35 to 40 who love yoga, green tea, and the beach? You can do that. Want to target people in your customer list? You can do that too. How about people who don’t know your brand but possess demographic, interest, and behavioral similarities to your current customers. Yes, you can do that too, all thanks to Facebook ad targeting tools.

First, there’s the Audience targeting tool, which is located at the ad set level when using Facebook’s website, Business Manager, to create ads. Specify your target audience from the ad set level by indicating the demographics, interests, and behaviors of the people you want your ad to reach.

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Facebook ad targeting is crucial to reaching potential customers. Improving your targeting will make each ad more effective towards reaching your business goals. To help you decide what tactic to use for you campaign, here are the ways you can reach potential customers using Facebook ad targeting.

Target by Location

When people go to an event, restaurant, or place of interest, like Wembley Stadium or the O2 Arena, the chances of them returning to that location are higher. Under the “Locations” option, target people interested in specific locations or venues relevant to your product or service. For example, if you sell swimwear, target Brighton beach. You can also adjust the location’s radius with this targeting option. For example, you can specify that you only want to target people who live within 15 miles of Brighton beach or Wembley Stadium.

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You can even target your concert venue. When you’re preparing to put on a concert in a specific venue, you can use the same location targeting tool to reach potential fans residing within that area.

Target by Custom Audiences

Say you already have a list of contact information for your existing customer base. You can import that information to Facebook’s Ads Manager to create a Custom Audience. When you’ve uploaded the list to the system, you can then deliver Facebook ads to customers included in this Custom Audience. To upload your Custom Audience, under “Custom Audiences,” simply select “Create New.”

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Target by Lookalikes

You can also use your Custom Audience to create a Lookalike Audience. A Lookalike Audience takes your Custom Audience information and uses it to target prospective customers who possess attributes similar to those in your Custom Audience. In other words, Facebook looks at your existing customer base to target other like-minded people who are likely to interact with your business or brand in the same way.

To create a Lookalike Audience, go to the “Audiences” section of Business Manager. Click the “Create Audience” tab and choose the “Lookalike Audience” options from the dropdown menu.

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Target by Details

Another way you can refine your targeting is by using Detailed Targeting. Detailed Targeting allows you to use details specific to the audience you want to reach. For example, to target people who like country music, you can enter “country music love songs” to reach this audience. Go to the “Audience” section of the ad set creation and enter the details you want to target in the “Detailed Targeting” section. This tactic will help you refine your targeting and reach the audience most likely to engage with your ad.

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Target by Demographics

This ad targeting option is the simplest tactic. Target the age and gender of the audience you want to sell your product or service to. For example, if you’re selling college dorm supplies, the demographics you want to target include both males and females in the high school graduate and college student age ranges. Demographic targeting allows you to specify the age range of your intended audience and whether you want to target men, women, or both.  

Target by Interests

Facebook users often include information about their interests on their profile pages. This information can be used to inform ad targeting. Use Facebook’s interest targeting by entering the interests your desired audience has that are relevant to your business or brand. For example, if you’re promoting a new mystery book, you could enter “mystery novels” or the titles of popular mystery books by other authors to reach potential readers in that category. Targeting by interest is also a good way to reach the audiences of your competition.

Target by Pages

Target pages to reach people who’ve exhibited interests relevant to your product or service. Type the name of the page into the “Detailed Targeting” box. This targeting tactic will improve your reach to people who follow the page or pages you indicate. For example, if you sell makeup products, target popular beauty pages. If you’re a small retailer, find pages based on location. Take it a step further and follow the pages you find to build engagement with your own Facebook page.

The success of your Facebook advertising campaign relies heavily on your targeting strategy. Make it as detailed as possible to reach the customers you want to attract. When it comes to Facebook ad targeting, it needs to be a priority in your campaign. Use the targeting tools and the suggestions discussed in this article to optimize your reach. Your happy customers will thank you.

Anna Hubbel is a staff writer at AdvertertiseMint, a Facebook advertising company. She writes on various topics, including social media, digital advertising, and current events.