Running interest-based targeting campaigns on Facebook?
Your targeting may be too narrow, according to the social networking company.
The analysis
Facebook analyzed 50 CPG campaigns in the EMEA region.
The goal was to analyze why (and why won’t) these campaigns work well.
The conclusions
50% of campaigns used very narrow interest audiences, limiting their reach significantly.
The interest-based campaigns were 22% more effective than demographic campaigns, but the loss of reach more than offset that.
In contrast, for the other half of campaigns, both demographic and interest targeting had comparable reach and effectiveness because the selected interest audiences were broad enough.
So interest-based targeting can work as long as it’s not too narrow.
Is interest-based targeting useless?
Not really.
According to Facebook, interest-based marketing was more effective for bottom-of-the-funnel actions like purchases, while demographic-based targeting was better for brand and top-of-mind awareness.
The lesson
If you’re just getting started with interest-based targeting, don’t narrow it down too quickly.
Test broad interests first, then narrow down as needed.
So if you’re selling AC/DC t-shirts, try targeting interests like “AC/DC” or “heavy metal” instead of “Back in Blackk.”
