Are you looking to reach a wider audience with your Facebook Dynamic Product Ads? Facebook have recently released an upgrade that is likely to help you do exactly that.
Earlier this year, Facebook made further major changes to the way their ads work. Specifically, targeting for dynamic ads have been upgraded to allow advertisers to reach new audiences with the introduction of broad audience reach.
Facebook Dynamic Ads are designed to show product ads to audiences who have previously expressed interest in the retailer’s website.
There are three primary components that can be used when setting up dynamic ads. These are as follows:
Facebook’s update has allowed advertisers to go beyond targeting people who have previously interacted with the retailer’s website or app. It is now possible to behaviourally target people people based on the content they’ve interacted with on Facebook or if they’ve looked at multiple sites with similar products.
For example, if a person has been looking at dresses online (not necessarily your website), this sends signals to Facebook that they could be part of a good target audience for clothing ads.
This effectively has moved targeting away from remarketing only and is now estimating what the user may be looking for and presenting adverts that are relevant. This prediction can also stem from the activity from the user on Facebook, including link clicks, likes, etc.
When you target specifically, you utilise targeting parameters that restrict the audiences you show your ads to. This can be based on demographics, expressed interest or audiences (custom or lookalike).
Advertisers often see a more narrow audience this way, however when done correctly, the ads will appear more relevant to the audience.
For example, if you are a retailer of quality and designer baby clothes, you may want to target people who are new parents and fit within the ‘high affluence’ category.
When target broadly, you allow Facebook’s algorithms to find new audiences for your ads. This means you are no longer restricting your audience reach. This is beneficial in a number of ways:
Historically, Facebook Dynamic Ads have been better suited to larger eCommerce stores as they have more website traffic to build the audience lists. This has proven restrictive for those with smaller quantities of traffic or less brand awareness.
Since the update allows retailers to find new audiences, this proves beneficial for both smaller and larger eCommerce sites. For the smaller retailers with less traffic coming to their site, they are able to reach new people that they would not have ordinarily been able to reach. This helps to promote the products for sale as well as building brand awareness.
Larger retailers can also benefit as they can reach new audiences that may not have interacted with otherwise, allowing the retailer further audience reach for their products.
Although broad audience reach is still relatively new, there are some best practices that are worth following. However, it is worth acknowledging that with any new feature on Facebook, things may still change and other best practices could come into play.
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong when it comes to opting to use broad audience reach for your dynamic ads. It is better to find what works best for your business by trialling all methods available.
It’s also worth bearing mind that you will likely need to use some targeting parameters, even when you are looking to find new audiences. The same way that Facebook continues to learn and optimise where and when your ads will work best. With this in mind, there will be some crossover no matter what method you choose.
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