If you've been in the ads manager recently making changes to your campaigns or building new ones, you've no doubt seen the option to "expand targeting". As such, you're here to ask the question - what is Facebook detailed targeting expansion? And is this a feature worth trying?
Facebook is constantly rolling out new features to help make life easier for advertisers while allowing for better optimization. And, this is just the latest addition to their suite of tools in your advertising arsenal. Today, you'll learn everything you need to know about Facebook ads detailed targeting expansion. We'll explain what exactly this is, whether or not you should try it out, and how to do so.
We've got a lot to cover and don't want to take up too much of your time, so let's dive right in!
So, What Is Facebook Detailed Targeting Expansion?
So, what is Facebook's detailed targeting expansion? According to Facebook themselves, this is a way to help you improve your campaign performance by opening up a broader audience based on the audience you're currently targeting. All you have to do is check a little box when building your campaign - simple as that.
If you've spent enough time (and money) on this ads platform, you recognize how powerful the Facebook algorithm is. Frankly, it knows your customers better than you do - perhaps even better than they know themselves. Scary? Maybe - but great for us hoping to use the platform's 1.84 billion users to scale a brand or offer.
By giving Facebook's algorithm more control - and letting it look outside of the specific parameters you've set in your ad set - you may earn more conversions. Let's look at a specific example:
What The Facebook Interest Targeting Expansion Looks Like In Action
Say you sell gym clothing and equipment to powerlifters. Thus, your interest targeting might be exclusive to powerlifting-related interests.
But, that's not to say powerlifters are the only audience that would buy from you. With Facebook targeting expansion turned on, the algorithm may show your ads to general gym-goers, Olympic lifters, bodybuilders, or people who are interested in powerlifting - but don't necessarily meet the criteria for the specific interests you've chosen.
Note - this only expands upon the interest targeting aspect of your audience. It's important to recognize that turning this on does not expand your targeting for things like age, gender, location, etc. - just interests. Gender targeting options will remain the same - you won't start showing ads to males if you are exclusively targeting females, for example.
All this sounds great in theory. But does it really work? Is detailed targeting expansion good on Facebook? Let's take a look.
Is Facebook Detailed Targeting Expansion Good?
The overwhelming sentiment is that yes - Facebook's detailed targeting expansion is good. Advertisers have been using it since it was introduced to efficiently and profitably scale their ads, reaching users outside of their set interests. This allows the algorithm to do what it does best - find your customers.
One of the main issues advertisers run into when running a campaign is burning out an audience. Even audiences with 1 million+ can be run through pretty quickly when you are spending a large budget. By expanding the interest targeting of your campaign, you can delay audience burnout and squeeze your audience for everything it's got.
Of course, as you'll soon find out - it doesn't really matter whether we think it's good or not. If you're running a certain type of campaign, you'll be stuck with it - whether you like it or not!
How Do I Turn On Detailed Targeting Expansion On Facebook?
Want to test out detailed targeting expansion on Facebook ads for yourself? In the past, all you'd have to do is navigate to your ads manager, and either begin building a campaign or edit one of your existing ad sets. There was a button you'd check in the audience section to "expand targeting".
But these days? You no longer have to do anything - this is the default in 2022 for certain types of campaigns.
Facebook Targeting Expansion Is Now Default For Conversions Objective
Facebook detailed targeting expansion is the default. When you visit your ad set, you'll see this prompt:
So, if you're wondering how to turn on detailed targeting expansion on Facebook for your conversion campaign, good news - you don't have to do anything! This is the norm going forward for conversion-optimized campaigns.
Facebook has obviously seen that it helps you get more (or cheaper) results - and thus integrated this across the board. Over the next year or so, don't be surprised if this becomes mandatory across other types of campaigns as well. It's important to note that Facebook interest targeting expansion is not available for reach or brand awareness campaigns.
Is There Any Way To Turn Off Detailed Targeting Expansion On Facebook Ads In 2022?
Now, you might be saying to yourself - "I know exactly who I want to target, and I don't want the algorithm messing with my audience. Is there any way to turn off detailed targeting expansion on Facebook ads in 2022?".
Unfortunately, not really. At least - not without compromising on the effectiveness of your campaign. Digital advertisers are recommending getting creative with your exclusions, or perhaps switching your campaign objective away from conversion. Is this going to allow you to turn this feature off? Yes. Is it going to come at the cost of worsening your results? Also yes.
As such, you are better off just learning to live with the Facebook targeting expansion turned on. Try to trust the algorithm. There is a reason it is default now - it works.
Final Thoughts On Facebook Detailed Targeting Expansion
As you can see, detailed targeting expansion is here to stay - whether you like it or not. The good news is that most advertisers will benefit from it. particularly, new advertisers who need as much extra help finding their customers as possible. While some advanced advertisers may see it as a roadblock along their path to success, the reality is - there isn't much that can be done about it.
Learn to embrace it, and enjoy the increase in results you see - at lower costs - with Facebook targeting expansion.
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