Following the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Facebook users expressed their privacy concerns, which included questionable third-party data collection as well as user data distribution. Third-party data includes offline information about consumers not collected by Facebook (e.g., household income). In order to appease global users, Facebook decided that its Partner Categories product, available on the Ads Manager, would be eliminated, and has been winding down the program for the past six months.
What can you do with limited targeting?
One of the first steps any small business owner or marketing professional should take is to really define and discover their core demographic. Pages will still be able to target by self-reported data like age, gender or location, as well as based on internal Facebook data and behaviours. Identify the type(s) of people that have been interested in your products or business in the past – ie, re-engaging past customers or using Lookalike Audiences. Past customers have already shown a vested interest in your business and are likely to purchase again so long as they had a positive experience the first time around. Lookalike Audiences are Facebook-generated audiences similar to your previous audiences. Beyond that, there’s the standard tick list every campaign should hit:
1. Testing multiple versions of each ad. As simple as it sounds, creating multiple versions of the same ad will help you to create better design and copy to maximise the effect.
2. Having a clear CTA (Call To Action) in every ad. Your CTA should walk the fine line of being persuasive but not pushy or aggressive. Also, make it clear just what users can expect once they click an ad, especially any benefits they will receive for interacting with your Facebook ad campaign.
3. Keeping on top of your campaign. Comparing your ad’s relevancy score and cost per lead/click with previously successful ad campaigns determines if the ad is extremely expensive or on track.
Edited extract – for more, go to Forbes.com.