Most people who try Facebook’s paid advertising for the first time come back with the same response “I tried, but I didn’t seem to attract the right audience”.

There are a number of reasons why people assume that they are reaching the wrong audience. A few examples are listed below to give you an idea.

• Low engagement rate
• Low click through rate
• High bounce rate
• Irrelevant comments and queries

While these may be indicators of incorrect targeting none of these factors guarantee that you are reaching the wrong people. Your bounce rate, for example, could be low because your website isn’t user friendly. Your bounce rate could also be low because what was advertised in your Facebook Ad and what was shown on your landing page were not related (in the user’s eyes). It is important to always keep user experience in mind when creating every aspect of your Facebook Ad.

When you are reaching the correct audience you should know. If you are not sure, give one of the following tips a try and see if you experience improved results.

Select the correct audience size

When it comes to targeting on Facebook Ads Manager there is no right or wrong audience size. Your audience size will depend on your objectives, your industry (is it a niche market or not), whether you are a B2B or B2C company, and the demographics that you are targeting. In the Ad Set section of Ads Manager, under Audience you will find a gauge that indicates whether your audience is specific or broad. It is not always easy to get the dial in the red specific zone but you should try to keep it on the left of the middle, leaning toward specific.

It is possible for your audience to be too specific as well. If your target audience is too specific you may not reach the amount of users you wish to. Have a look at the potential reach as well as the estimated daily results and estimate for yourself whether you will reach enough people with your campaign. Remember that these factors are also influenced by budget so be sure to set your budget before making a final decision for your Facebook Ad.

Select the right set of people

Audiences will change depending on the product or service you are selling and what you want to achieve with your campaign. If you are looking to create awareness around your brand you wouldn’t necessarily need to target those who are already following your page. If you are advertising an event in a certain city you may not want to target the whole country, or even all of your page followers, if people are not likely to travel to the actual event.

In the Audience section, under “Connections” you can choose to include or exclude those connected to your page. If you have a Pixel setup you can use Custom Audiences to target those who have already interacted with your page or website as well.

Be specific when selecting your audience

Being specific about the audience you target means refining your audience by demographics, interests, behavior and connections. For example, when targeting location, instead of targeting the whole of South Africa try selecting only bigger cities, or the areas where most of your business comes from. This way your budget will be spent in areas that give the best results instead of being spread thinly across the entire country.

Here are the main categories to consider when selecting your target audience:

• Location

• Demographics
• Interests
• Behavior
• Connections

Use the Narrow further option to be even more specific

As you fill in your targeting options mentioned above you will notice Exclude people and Narrow further options underneath the boxes. Usually, when you add demographics and interests users need to match one of the selected options in order to qualify to see your ad. When selecting the Narrow further option, users need to match one option in each of your selected boxes.

Take a look at the example below. This Ad Set will only be shown to those users who are parents of children between the ages of 0 months and 2 years who also have an interest in cats.

These are just some of the many ways in which you can optimise your Facebook Ads, more specifically your Facebook advert targeting. For more ways to improve your Facebook advertising efforts visit Facebook Business or the Facebook Ads Help Centre.