How to use Facebook’s new Audience Optimization Targeting

Another week, one other Facebook function. Over the previous few years, declining natural attain has change into a significant difficulty for publishers utilizing Facebook.

While that is partly a rod we’ve made for our personal backs due to our ravenous seek for ever-increasing ‘Likes’, it’s good to see the platform launching instruments which are particularly designed to fight this.

I assumed I’d take a look at the new Audience Optimization Tool and see how – and if – it may well assist get my fantastically crafted* social media messages to a wider viewers

*If you use the phrase ‘crafted’ to describe your advertising messages, you need to in all probability go house and have a protracted laborious take into consideration your life. Your enterprise will probably be higher off with out you.

First issues first, let’s take a look at Facebook’s official ‘How To’ guide:

This all appears simple sufficient, though in observe the directions are fairly poorly written. If I presently head to settings then I received’t really see ‘Audience Optimization for Posts’ if I’ve greater than 5,000 ‘Likes’.

Facebook explains that the function will routinely be turned on for bigger pages, however it will be extra helpful/make extra sense if all pages might no less than see the choice.

To be sincere, Facebook has a protracted historical past of writing complicated guides although, so let’s chalk it up to expertise and transfer on. Here’s how to flip the function on when you’ve got lower than 5,000 ‘Likes’:

1. Head to your settings.
2. Under the ‘General’ heading, choose ‘Audience Optimization for Posts’ and switch function on.
3. You’re prepared to roll.

Again, the affirmation language is barely odd, implying that you’ll have really restricted your viewers, though this isn’t really the case.

Now let’s strive posting one thing.

Oddly, this function isn’t but out there inside Business Manager, or for posts which are created utilizing the Power Editor. I’m going to assume that there are two causes for this.

Firstly, posts created in Power Editor have CTAs in-built, and are usually designed to drive visitors straight to a website.

By limiting this, Facebook is clearly encouraging you to create posts that work inside Facebook’s walled backyard. Essentially, use this if you’d like attain and engagement, however not in the event you’re searching for visitors. Secondly… Facebook could be uninterested in nobody figuring out how to use Power Editor correctly, and have determined not to swim in opposition to the tide.

Add a hyperlink as you usually would, after which choose the small ‘Crosshairs’ icon beneath to add ‘Interest Tags’. Essentially these are simply the previous Interest classes, however in accordance to Facebook they function in precisely the alternative means.

In the previous, curiosity focusing on would prohibit the viewers that might view your submit.

While this feature continues to be out there, right here Facebook guarantees that pursuits will assist floor related posts to a wider natural viewers, though whether or not this presents your posts to customers who haven’t but ‘Liked’ your web page, or just provides but extra jiggery-pokery to the algorithms of present followers isn’t revealed.

I’m testing this from Search Engine Watch’s Facebook web page (What do you imply you aren’t a fan? Hop to it!), so I’ve fairly clearly chosen ‘Search Engine Optimisation as a class.

Facebook tells me that the potential viewers is a large 19,870,820, though clearly there are differing ranges of worth and precise curiosity there.

Once you’ve chosen your first class Facebook can even serve up some strategies. This could also be me, however once more, these appear unusually worded.

‘Web Banner’ looks like a bizarre factor to be fascinated by, however I’d assume these are based mostly on the acknowledged pursuits of customers. I play it secure and select ‘Social Media Optimization’ and ‘Digital Marketing’ as secondary classes.

Hit ‘Publish’ and away you go.

So… did it work?

SEW has simply over 37,000 followers on Facebook, and based mostly on the time of posting (10am GMT on a Friday), I’d count on a low natural attain of about 300 customers initially. I waited just a few hours and checked again at 3pm to discover… my submit had reached 380 individuals.

So initially, no kind of than I’d have anticipated. There are in fact any variety of causes this didn’t resonate with customers.

I intentionally toned down the copy just a little, though the content material itself was very interesting (Go learn the submit in the event you don’t imagine me). It was early on a Friday – usually a sluggish day – and it’s attainable this will likely improve as soon as our US viewers comes on-line later within the day.

I’m going to sit on the fence on this one, and guess that the low attain distinction is down to how new the function is. Facebook is clearly not going to present my submit to each person on the primary try, though I’m going to make the correlation that this function does solely attain present followers.

It’s clearly designed as an engagement software, which may solely be a very good factor, however I’d consider carefully about your enterprise targets earlier than commonly utilizing this.

I’d be fascinated to hear in case you are seeing completely different outcomes from this software, and I’ll ensure to submit an replace in a month or two to see how outcomes develop.