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Use Facebook Audience Insights Tools to Swipe Your Competitor’s Customers

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use facebook audience insights tools to swipe your competitors customers

One of the great advantages of advertising on Facebook is the ability to fine-tune your audience targeting using the platform’s research tools.  With Facebook’s Audience Insights tool, you can go beyond high-level demographics (location, age, gender, etc.) and identify the specific interests, websites, publications and content topics that your current customers (and similar customers) consume and share.

Not knowing your audience is a big mistake!  But doing audience research can be cumbersome, it takes a lot of time.  And research tools that make big promises often fall short.  Still, the labor of research has to be done if you want to take advantage of Facebook’s fine-tuning and content insights.

In this post, we’re going to show you some super effective shortcuts using the Audience Insights Tool to gather the information needed to develop buyer personas, spy on your competitors and discover where your target audiences consume content and what content resonates the most with them.  As we move through this exercise, we are going to finish with a list of at least 25 interests or topics that we can use to create targeted audiences or audience layers (for larger audience segments) to help us reach the right people on Facebook with our ads.

Facebook Competitors, Interests, Pain Points – Get Your Thoughts On Paper (or Spreadsheet)

Before we even log in to Facebook, we should fire up a spreadsheet (or deploy more old school tactics like pen and paper).  We’ll start by writing down everything that we know about our target customers, our target niche, and our target markets in an organized fashion.

Now, ask yourself, who are the big players in the space?  Where are they consuming information that is relevant to them; websites they frequent, magazines they read, Pages they visit on Facebook, companies they follow, athletes they admire, things their kids do, etc.  What kind of topics and interests resonate with them on a regular basis?  Write it down!

Go beyond their interests and really dig into what drives them as individuals.  What are their backgrounds, what are their responsibilities, what are their challenges and pain points?  What kind of content are they consuming and where are they consuming it, and on what channels?   How can we help them? Write it down…

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Start to document all of this on your spreadsheet or paper.  Break it up into three categories – competitor research, niche topic research, and customer pain points and needs:

  • As we look at the information available to us in the Audience Insights Tool, the basis of our competitor research is to understand who the major players are and what type of content they are using on Facebook to engage their audiences.
  • The main objective of niche research is to understand at a deeper level the other related topics and channels where content is being consumed by your target audiences.
  • Writing down your target customer’s pain points and needs that your products and services specifically address will make it easier to develop great content ideas when we start looking at your competitor’s Pages.

Screen Shot 2018 02 27 at 9.04.01 AM

Facebook Interests – Know What You Don’t Know

Okay, we’ve got the known direct competitors, interests and audiences traits documented.  Now it’s time to fine-tune our targeting and niche down even further.

Navigate to the Audience Insights Tool and click on “Everyone on Facebook”.  Scroll down the left-hand side of the page and type in your client or company name in the “Interests” field.

Take a look at the “Demographics” information.  If you know your audiences already, there should be no surprises here.

Still, take a moment to evaluate this information. How does it compare to your initial assumptions or previous research from other channels?  Is it the same?  Is it different?  If it is different, it’s good information to note for future Facebook targeting efforts as your core audiences may be different on this platform than others, including your own website traffic.  (Fine-tune this information even more by filtering the age and gender – and locations if applicable – to match your target customers or site traffic.)  Make notes and adjustments on spreadsheet or paper.

Next, navigate to the “Page Likes” dashboard and look at the “Top Categories” sections to discover closely related competitors also prominently found on Facebook.  As you scan down you may see some familiar names.  But most likely, you are going to see a bunch of companies you never even knew existed that are attractive, relevant and interacting with your target customers.  Some of them will be your direct competition, while others will be places your customers consume content.

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Click on their link and go directly to their Facebook page to validate they are worth targeting in your niche or market. In other words, if their products, services, and content is trying to attract the same people/customers as you, write them down.

Discover Great Content Already Resonating With Your Target Market With Facebook Page Insights

This is where the good insights start to surface! When you click from the Audience Insights dashboard directly to their Facebook Page, you’ll find a goldmine of research information and content inspiration right at your fingertips.  Begin perusing their Page and take note of the content and user engagement.

On the left-hand side of their Facebook Page, you’ll notice direct links that filter their content by several categories, most notably: About, Instagram, Photos, Posts, Videos, Community and several more depending on the publisher.  Engage each link and dig deep to see what type of engagement they are getting.  When you know what kind of engagement they are getting – positive or negative – you can discover ways to adapt the strategy to your own.

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Take a look at each section and start taking notes:

  • What kind of content are they publishing?  Are they addressing their audience’s pain points, responsibilities, and interests?  In what format (posts, video, reviews)?
  • Which topics and content resonates most with their Fans and receives the most Likes and Comments?
  • Are there topics and discussion threads that reveal new information to you that could inform your strategy?
  • Look at the competitor’s “About” section for great information you can incorporate into your strategies (or share with your client); Awards, Products, Product Categories, Our Story, Milestones, etc.
  • Look at their Photos and Videos sections and note the type of content they are publishing; the good, the bad and the ugly.  What types of content are getting the most views and engagement?
  • Does a competitor feature their products in the “Shop and Review Products” section?
  • Look at the Events section to see if they are promoting their events through Facebook.  If so, what is noteworthy?
  • What else…?

For instance, if your competitor is just posting clickbait content it may be a way to increase engagement but may not complement your strategy.  Instead, look for the ways competitors and relevant channels engage their customers that moves them down the sales cycle or reinforces a positive, lasting relationship.  Write these insights down and start connecting your dots.

You can now use these insights to start developing audience targeting strategies that siphon off traffic from relevant channels or steals traffic from your competitors.  And, you’ll know which kinds of content your audiences are interested in already.

Wrapping Up

Use your research insights to develop your own content marketing ideas that incorporate your unique value propositions and messaging. Go head-to-head with your closest competitors and promote relevant topics and content.  Only better! Want some more information on how to be a better Facebook marketer? Just starting out on Facebook ads and don’t know where to begin? Check out our article Facebook Ads for Beginners: 5 Resources to help you craft a successful Facebook strategy.

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Post updated by Aaron Childs (prior post date: 2/28/18)

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Google change the meaning of “Top Ads”

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Google change the meaning of “Top Ads”

What is Top Ads in world of Google? well it’s changed. Today Ginny Martin, Ads Product Liaison at Google shared a subtle but potential significant change of definition of Top Ads. If your deep in the detail of paid search campaigns on Google this is the kind of tweak that’s easy to miss.

Now Google’s documentation reads;

Google change the meaning of Top Ads

Top ads are adjacent to the top organic search results. Top ads are generally above the top organic results, although top ads may show below the top organic results on certain queries. Placement of top ads is dynamic and may change based on the user’s search.

Google’s official documentation

Ginny clarified on LinkedIn that this is a definitional change (as ads can appear above the organic result or below for certain queries) and doesn’t affect how performance metrics are calculated. And that the definition update clarifies that top ads may show below the organic results for certain queries. Although, for most queries, ads will continue to appear at the top of search results.

Why make the change? Anthony Higman suggested it might be due to the change in how some ads are being presented like in the screenshot below and the general shift towards more SGE on the SERPs and the consequences that change in user experience might have on ad placement. And does seem part of increased amount of experimentation on where ads appear on search engine results pages.

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1711605382 993 Google change the meaning of Top Ads1711605382 993 Google change the meaning of Top Ads



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Dynamic UTM parameters for LinkedIn ads are here!

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A simple graphical illustration of a road with a directional sign pointing to the right against a blue sky background

Praise be. For LinkedIn have just announced the arrival of Dynamic UTM parameters.

A simple graphical illustration of a road with a directional sign pointing to the right against a blue sky background

This is big news because manually configuring the campaign UTM tracking for each URL you use within a campaign can be is a cumbersome, convoluted, time-consuming process. It’s also one which can occasionally (or, let’s be honest, more than occasionally) lead to errors.

Dynamic UTMs automate the process and will mean you only have to get it right once. That’s because you’ll create your parameters once per campaign, instead of countless times.

How they say dynamic UTM parameters work

Marketers – only one time per campaign – will add a dynamic UTM parameter to their campaign and then we’ll automatically pull in the account, campaign and/or creative name into the destination URL so it can be picked up by analytics tools, allowing marketers to more easily analyze results.

If you’re not seeing dynamic UTM tracking within your LinkedIn ad campaigns already, you will soon. They’ll be rolled out globally by the end of this month.

As you’ve almost certainly been deploying dynamic UTMs across your Facebook and Google Ads campaigns for years, it is indeed about time.

But as the famous Chinese proverb goes:

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“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”



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Six Practical Things You Should Doing In Your Paid Social Advertising Campaigns

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Six Practical Things You Should Doing In Your Paid Social Advertising Campaigns

As we navigate the complexities of paid social advertising, remember that the essence of success lies in understanding your audience, being creative with your content, and being willing to test and adapt.

Drawing on insights from seasoned experts, Carla Rovaris and Danielle Gipps, this blog post delves into practical tips for businesses looking to harness the power of paid social for expansive brand growth.

Paid social has dramatically transformed over the years. From its nascent stages to its current complex form, understanding the nuances of paid social is key to leveraging it effectively for whatever your marketing objectives.

Six Practical Things You Should Doing In Your Paid Social

Practical lessons

  1. Dive Into Diverse Platforms: Don’t limit your paid social efforts to just one platform. Explore various platforms based on where your target audience spends their time. For younger demographics, platforms like Snapchat and TikTok might be more effective, while Pinterest could be more suitable for an older, predominantly female audience.
  2. Creative Content is King: The success of your paid social campaigns hinges on the creativity and relevance of your content. Both Carla and Danielle emphasize the importance of crafting content that resonates with your audience. Whether it’s through emotional engagement or showcasing your brand’s personality, the goal is to create memorable and engaging ads.
  3. Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC): Especially on platforms like TikTok, UGC can significantly enhance the authenticity and appeal of your campaigns. However, the suitability of UGC varies by brand and platform. For luxury brands, a more polished approach may be necessary.
  4. Be Bold and Experiment: With paid social, experimentation is crucial. Try new platforms, ad formats, and messaging to see what resonates with your audience. The landscape is constantly changing, and staying adaptable is key to staying ahead.
  5. Focus on Brand Building: Paid social shouldn’t be viewed solely as a performance marketing tool. It’s also a powerful brand-building channel. Utilize it to introduce your brand to potential customers and build a strong brand identity.
  6. Test and Learn: Continuously test different strategies and learn from the results. Paid social is not a ‘set it and forget it’ channel. It requires ongoing optimization and creativity to keep your campaigns fresh and effective.

    This blog post was based on a podcast interview for the Internet Marketing Podcast



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