As Facebook marketers, targeting our posts allows us to connect with any audience we want. This targeting recently got upgraded for your Facebook Fan Page. It is now referred to as Enhanced Page Targeting, and we will cover what Enhanced Page Targeting is, and some potential uses for your business.
What is Enhanced Page Targeting
Before the targeting options were upgraded, Facebook Fan Pages could only target their posts based on location and language. While these targeting options were helpful for some scenarios, it left much to be desired. If you have had any interaction with a Facebook Ads campaign, then you already know the wide array of targeting options at your fingertips.
Post targeting just got a step closer to that arsenal of options.
First off, your page may not have access to the enhanced targeting options yet. There is a requirement that Fan Pages need at least 5,000 likes before the new targeting features become available. If you have kept up with our blog posts or products, you should be familiar with a variety of ways to attract more fans to your Fan Page!
Enhanced Page Targeting Features
The new targeting options available in Enhanced Facebook Targeting include the following:
- Gender (male or female)
- Relationship Status (single, married, separated, etc.)
- Educational Status (high school, college, etc.)
- Interested In (men or women)
- Age (13 – 65)
The text included in the parentheses are the possible parameters for each metric. Looking at age, we are limited to targeting visitors age 13 to 65. If you have a business centered around people outside of this age range, targeting them specifically may not be in your best interest.
Some Problems With Enhanced Page Targeting
As we mentioned before, we are not able to target all of the parameters we can target with a Facebook Ads campaign. One of these metrics that we do not have access to is one of the more powerful ones – interests.
With interests we could target people’s specific information about what their interests are, from movies to Fan Page’s they have liked. Finding users that are already interested in your niche is huge. These people are more inclined to show an interest in your product, and have a higher chance to actually become a customer of your business.
But, as of right now we do not have access to interests. Maybe one day though!
Another potential problem is people do not completely fill out their Facebook Profiles. This is an issue because you may be unintentionally alienating a portion of your fans when you use targeted posts.
If one of your fans is 26 years old but doesn’t fill out the age section of the Facebook Profile, then they will never see the posts targeted to an age group. Yikes! These are both just warnings so you don’t go into a Facebook Targeting binge. Be sure to think about what posts are appropriate to target, like some of these examples below.
Targeting With Promoted Stories
A promoted story is a post that is shown on people’s News Feeds for a fee. Think of them as Facebook Ads, but larger and more powerful than those little ads on the right of the page.
Imagine that it is the holiday season, and your company wants to market its new toy to teenagers. You can create multiple posts about the toy, but worded for different age groups or genders. Text that is flashy will be better suited to grab a teenager’s attention, while a post explaining why a teenager would love this toy would be best for older friends and family looking to buy gifts.
If you have a separate toy design for boys and girls, then target each gender with a specific post. This eliminates the possibility of a boy seeing a pink, girly toy that does not interest him (unless he filled out his Facebook Profile incorrectly, of course). You want him to see the cool blue one!
What makes these promoted posts so powerful is that when the initial fan interacts with them, the post is shared to their friends if they meet the same targeting criteria! This means that when Timmy sees your toy and says he wants one, his friends Jim and Max will see the post as well. Powerful stuff!
Targeting With Facebook Questions
Rewind way before the holiday season. Perhaps your toy company has 5 different toys that they think will be a hit, and would like to narrow it down by asking their fans. By using targeting with Facebook Questions, you can poll specific audiences.
Split Test Targeting
The examples described above are essentially different ways to split test your posts to see what style and demographics get the most engagement. Feel free to play around with the metrics and see what ones work best for the niche your business is in!
We hope this gave you some insight to the new features included in Enhanced Facebook Targeting. Let us know your results from using targeting in your posts!
