You are wasting your time with open targeting

Many companies make the mistake of relying solely on Meta's advanced algorithms to find their target audience to whom they will sell their product/services.?

They rely on open targeting and trust Meta's advanced algorithm to identify their target audience who would convert into customers.

Unfortunately, this often leads to wasted ad spending with no results.?

Here's why:

Think beyond open targeting method

Yes, Meta's algorithm can find the right audience to show your ad through the open targeting method.?

However, many businesses struggle to create appealing offers due to a lack of understanding of their audience's wants and needs.

So, even if Meta shows your ads to the right people, they might not purchase your product/services because the offers aren't attractive.?

If you want to improve results, then combine broad targeting with a compelling offer.?

But how can you craft a better offer? Get to know your audience as well as your best friends!?

Know your audience as your closest friend

So, how do you get to know your target audience, and what should you know about them?

Besides age, gender, and location, it's important to know your target audience's lifestyle, relationship status, income, and profession.?

It's highly useful to know what kind of social network your target audience uses, whether they are accessing the internet via desktop or mobile devices, and their typical online activities.

You can find out which products or services your customers have tried from competitors.

Armed with this information, you can craft the best possible offer tailored to your target audience, which will begin to yield results when displayed.

Audience Insight Strategist?

You can gain insights into your audience by using external tools, manual research, and through one-on-one interaction with your customers.?

Utilizing External Tools

Let’s start with automated online tools that you can use. One of the software that you can use is the One2 Target Tool.?

This software offers a wealth of valuable information, including the social media platforms that your target audience frequently uses, the devices they use to access the internet, and their online activities.?

It will display their household size, income, employment status, age, gender, and location.?

Understanding household income can be incredibly beneficial. With it you can determine the amount of money your audience is willing to spend on your product.?

That information will help you to set your product/service prices at an optimal level, leading to increased conversion rates.

Conduct Manual Research

If you are interested in using software but don't have time to learn its functionality, you can perform manual research.?

Check social media pages to gain insight into your target audience, analyze your competitors' social media presence. Pay attention to reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content.

Visit your competitors' Instagram profiles and check the tagged section.

Check what customers who have bought their products have to say about them, what's their experience, and whether they like them or not.

Check Google Reviews?

You can check your competitor's Google reviews to gain further insight into what their customers appreciate about their products.

When customers share feedback, they often mention their problems, past solutions, and how competitors' products helped.?

They will explain how the product they are currently using differs from the others they have tried and why it has been helpful.

Reddit & Amazon

Reddit and Amazon are great platforms to view customer testimonials and opinions.

You can dive into detailed discussions about products, services, and companies. This not only helps you craft better ads but also enhances your understanding of the industry.

The reviews, rates, and testimonials posted on Amazon can be a rich source of information, just like those on Google Reviews.

Use Internal Software

To gain a better understanding of your audience, consider utilizing Google Analytics and Facebook Insights.?

These tools can provide valuable insights into your audience's demographics, interests, and behaviors.

Facebook Insights will tell you your target audience's age, gender, and relationship status. It will show you how they interact with your page, and your content.?

Communicate With Your Customers

If you have the opportunity to engage in face-to-face interactions with your audience, such as through a physical store or other means of direct communication, you should take advantage of it.?

Take note of what kind of language, phrases, and words they use, how they behave, and what kind of products they purchase from you.

Try to find out what’s the real reason behind every purchase. What kind of problem do they solve after they purchase your product/service? And why do they choose you over competitors???

If your customer communication is exclusively online, leverage the information collected through your customer care process.

Gain insights into your customers as if you were communicating with them in person.

Utilizing Feedback and Surveys

You can conduct online and offline surveys to gather valuable information from your customers. Asking direct questions can help you learn more about your audience.

Question Ideas:?

1. What motivates customers to buy specific products or services?

2. What alternatives have they tried before??

3. What do they find beneficial about it?

Know Facebook Algorithm as Your Closest Friend

Now, it's evident that creating appealing offers is crucial for ensuring your ads resonate with your audience and boosting engagement and conversions.

However, there's another equally vital factor at play: Meta evaluates every ad to decide which ones to display to its users.

How does Meta make this decision?

When setting up ads, you can target a specific audience. In our case, you chose Open Targeting for Meta to find the best audience for you.

But remember, your competitors are also targeting the same audience. This means Meta needs to choose which ads to present to its users, known as the auction stage.

During this stage, Meta considers your targeted audience, the total value score of your ads, and your competitors' ads.

The total value score assesses how good and relevant your ads are compared to your competitors. Only a few ads with the highest total value score will be shown to people.

So, how does Meta calculate the total value score?

Meta combines three major factors:

1. Bid

2. Estimated Action Rate

3. Ad Quality

To calculate your total value score, Meta multiplies your selected bid amount with the estimated action rate.

The estimated action rate is Meta's prediction of how likely your target audience is to engage with your ad.

Then, Meta determines your overall value by adding an ad quality score, which combines your advertiser value and ad quality.

This system ensures that only relevant and high-quality ads are served to specific audiences, preventing those who pay the most from dominating the audience exclusively.

On the contrary, very often those who invest less amount of money, but have better-crafted ads and offers to win the auction, for the simple reason that Meta wants to serve only relevant content to its audience.?

Improve your total quality score?

When aiming to enhance your overall quality score, your primary focus should typically be on improving the quality of your ads.?

This is crucial because enhancing ad quality leads to increased engagement from people, subsequently boosting your estimated action rate.?

To enhance your ad quality, focus on creating superior videos or images, compelling descriptions and headlines.?

Most importantly, as we've discussed, create as many attractive offers as possible that will resonate with your target audience.?

Consequently, this results in more cost-effective advertising and improved conversion rates, ultimately leading to a profitable campaign.

If you increase your advertising budget without improving your offer or the quality of your ads, you will end up spending more money to reach a larger audience who are less likely to become your customers.

In other words, it's not just about the quantity, but the quality of your advertising that matters.

Such a strategy often culminates in an unprofitable, expensive advertising campaign.

Now, you’re prepared!?

Understanding your target audience and their needs is crucial for crafting effective advertising campaigns.?

By knowing their preferences, you can customize your offers to meet their demands and give them a reason (value) to make a purchase.

Consequently, when Meta displays your ads to the right audience next time, your ad will be more appealing to them, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

What’s the Next Step?

You might wonder: 'Okay, now I understand how to create compelling offers and leverage Open Targeting to my advantage.

?But how do I create an actual ad? How should I structure other aspects of the ad, like the description, picture, or video?

If you're unsure about the process, you can read step-by-step guidance on how to craft a Facebook ad.