Facebook has added some hefty updates to its Custom Audiences tool that will allow more powerful targeting capabilities for its advertisers.
With so many updates to its News Feed algorithm, Facebook has been making life difficult for marketers trying to use it for non-paid organic brand engagement, while creating plenty of incentives to use paid ads.
Using Custom Audiences, brands are able to send messages or display ads to Facebook users who recently visited their website or mobile app. By placing the Facebook “remarketing pixel” on their site, brands can identify the action of the user, and get Facebook to display a very specific ad based on that action.
For example, if a user visits an online store, adds something to their shopping cart but abandons the purchase, the brand can then target that user with a specific messages such as “You might also like this too” or “Come back for a 10% discount.” This is a pretty sophisticated way of personalizing the ad according to the very specific actions a potential customer takes.
In addition to the expanded targeting functions, advertisers can now add call-to-action buttons that will show up on the lower right hand corner of the display ad. Those button choices are limited to five actions: Shop Now, Learn More, Sign Up, Book Now or Download. Here’s what it looks like:
This is designed to create very direct links between the social media platform and actual e-commerce revenue, or content engagement. Now advertisers will be able to see exactly how much ROI they are getting from Facebook ads, something they have long been grumbling about. It’ll be interesting to see how other social media platforms, especially Twitter and Pinterest respond with their own targeting tools.
