Facebook holds a wealth of data about its users. The majority of this is gleaned through social interactions: every like, event RSVP, emoji reaction and search is catalogued to create a remarkably in-depth profile of each user. Most have also filled out basic demographic data upon sign-up, and location services on mobile devices fills in the rest. Finally, Facebook will partner with data companies to provide even more robust advertising options, most often on the financial and purchasing side. And they’re constantly refining what’s available to marketers. Which means you can get pretty creative with your targeting! Here are a just a few of the ways to make use of these unique targeting capabilities for Facebook lead generation.
Geography
Demographic data is nothing new; it’s one of the oldest tricks in the lead advertising trade! Of course you want to target people nearby your business. But Facebook goes beyond targeting home address. They allow you to target people currently traveling in a certain area. Meaning? Facebook knows they are in one place (thanks, location services!) and also knows that they aren’t usually there and actually live somewhere else. Intrigued? You can also target people who were recently in a certain location. Depending on your business, you can use this to target tourists on their mobile device, or those likely to return from a trip soon.
Job
Another easy targeting option is through a user’s job, particularly if you offer professional products or services. Facebook offers a variety of unique ways to reach those users. Major industries have their own targeting buckets, and large enough companies are also listed as employers. But Facebook goes way beyond the usual. You can segment ads by job title at nearly all levels, as well as more specific targeting to groups like small business owners. Degrees and college major are another way to come at a job descriptor and create a well-informed professional audience for Facebook lead generation.
Generation
You could target Facebook users by age, but where’s the fun in that? Facebook offers a few other ways to get at age that are a little less numerical and more psychological. You can create audiences based around the years the were an undergrad, which give you their mindset at a certain period of time. They’ve even taken it a step further and created a category for “young, hip households.” They won’t share exactly what their criteria is to make the cut, but it certainly offers a creative approach to Facebook lead generation, particularly if you offer something in the tech space.
Image Credit: Facebook
Life Events
Where else would your prospects willingly add new information about themselves but Facebook? The social network knows when someone gets engaged, is newly married or recently broken up. They also know about upcoming anniversaries and birthdays. All are fair game for targeting! Even better (and somewhat stranger) is the option to target friends of people in many of these categories. Use this creatively to boost leads for gift giving!
Purchase Behavior
Facebook not only knows what you’re interested in according to their site, but what you purchase off site as well. Through a variety of partnerships Facebook has expanded their user knowledge to include the types of products they purchase, how much they spend or how often, and their preferred method of spend. If you sell physical goods, this is a goldmine.
Lookalikes
Facebook will analyze the makeup of your page fans or people who have engaged with your content and create a pool of people who are similar to these known users. Got a customer email list? You can upload that to create a custom audience and make a lookalike of purchasers, too. Facebook won’t share what it is that these users all have in common, but you can add additional criteria on top of the mystery “lookalike” qualifications. This targeting method works for just about every product or service out there.
Some are more strange than others, but all allow you to create very specific and nuance targeting for Facebook lead generation. Got another favorite? Share it with us!