When targeting broad audience groups, such as men or women aged 18-35 or 30-65, combined with broad interests like finance, investing, sports, or fashion, you may end up wasting your ad spend. Let’s take a step back and understand why.

Many brands and agency marketers often misunderstand what audience targeting truly does. There’s a common belief that the more specific your target audience, the more expensive and slower your campaigns will be. While there is some truth to this, the relationship between targeting, cost, and campaign speed is more nuanced.

Key Points to Consider:

• Budget Determines Impressions: Your budget essentially dictates the number of impressions (times your ad is shown) you’ll receive. A portion of these impressions will then convert into results, such as clicks, sign-ups, or purchases.
• The Role of Interests and Affinities: Targeting specific interests and affinities helps narrow down the search pattern for potential results. This means your ad will be shown to audiences more likely to engage with it. Effective targeting guides platforms like Facebook in using relevant metadata, rather than leaving it to guesswork during the learning phase of your campaign.
• Optimisation Through Targeting: In the learning phase, the platform determines which users are responding to your ad. By carefully selecting your target audience, you empower the platform to optimise your ad delivery more effectively. Poor targeting can lead to inefficiencies and less impactful campaigns.

Example: Suppose you’re marketing a premium fitness tracker. Instead of targeting all men and women aged 18-65 with broad interests like “health” or “fitness,” you could refine your audience. For example, focus on men aged 25-40 who are interested in marathon running, triathlons, or CrossFit. This narrower targeting will allow Facebook to deliver your ads to users more likely to be interested in a premium fitness tracker, leading to better engagement and conversions. Although the audience is smaller and potentially more competitive, the results are likely to be more impactful because your ad will reach those with a genuine interest in high-performance fitness gear.

In essence, effective audience targeting isn’t about casting the widest net but about ensuring that your net is cast where it matters most. By understanding how your budget, impressions, and targeting work together, you can optimise your campaigns for faster and more cost-effective results.