NEW Way To Target On Facebook Ads Post-IOS (Game Changer)

In this article, I’m going to reveal new ways to target with Facebook ads that will give you the lowest cost per conversion including three of the best secret tricks for Facebook ad targeting.

I'm also going to reveal how to target audiences and interests in a way that makes it simple so you know what method will work right for you.

Now, targeting on Facebook has changed so much over the last year or so and how we target today is very different from how it was a year ago.

And if you're doing it the old way, then you're going to set your campaigns up for expensive CPM’s, low conversions, and lots of drop-offs.

And that’s why I’m going to show how to leverage your Facebook ad targeting in a way that works with Facebook’s machine learning.

Because the truth is…

No matter how many tricks you use for targeting they won’t work effectively or convert the way you want without knowing the following...

How To Target Facebook Audience In 2023

In the past Facebook targeting worked by using a lot of interest-based targeting.

Taking groups of people who interacted and liked certain interests and which gave us the ability to go into the audience insight tool to find and target these specific interests.

However, since post IOS, apple asked users if they wanted to be tracked and obviously, most people declined which also caused a reduction in Facebooks ability to track outside of the Facebook platform.

To overcome this, use these three powerful yet simple solutions you should be implementing right away if you want the most from targeting audiences.

3 Ways To target audiences post ios 14

Solution #1: keep It on Facebook

By collecting most of your data in the Facebook ads platform, it will help you to track as much data as possible for you to target.

And a strategy I use is video views.

I would create a video, then open the targeting to broad, and call out my audience using something called dog whistle copy.

This is a term used by Dan Kennedy that helps to shout out your message to the audience you want to speak to.

Examples:

• Attention bike lovers.
• Calling all knitting fanatics.
• To all fashion lovers.

Then when they watch the video I would create a Lookalike audience from 50%, 75%, and 95% video views that’s made up from the big four countries: Usa, Uk, Australia, Canada.

This strategy has done absolute wonders and to be fair has been better than most interest-based targeting EVEN pre-ios 14.

Solution #2: open up your targeting.

This is when you're at the top of your funnel targeting cold audiences.

But leaving your targeting wide open with little to no specifics within the audience selection.

Leaving out the interest target and the custom audience blank.

You can still leave in any exclusion if you don’t want to target people in your list or past purchases and so on.

But what you’re doing is allowing Facebook’s AI to take over and let it decide who is best for your target audience.

Because let's be honest Facebook is a lot more intelligent than we are as advertisers when it comes to finding the right audience.

And here’s the interesting thing...

When you open your targeting it allows room for scaling.

This is like allowing Facebook to throw out a bigger "net" to find and "catch" the best audiences for purchases and leads for your business.

As opposed to restricting it to our own audience selection.

And as long as you stop your ads from fatiguing and consistently create fresh creative, this will allow your ads to run for a much longer timeframe.

Solution #3: Upload your data

If you have a purchase or a lead list, you should be uploading all of these emails to your Facebook asap.

If you don’t have any of this information, the first two solutions will still work very effectively.

But your email list will have a lot of power behind it because retargeting people who already know you, has always been the gold when targeting an audience.

And perhaps best of all…

You can create more Lookalike audiences based on the people who have likely taken a specific action with your business.

Moving Forward With Audience Targeting Post IOS

There’s still a lot of opportunity with targeting audiences.

As advertisers, and media buyers platforms like Facebook are always evolving and changing which means we must do the same to keep up with staying relevant to the change.

And if you take anything from this remember that it's your copy, your angle, your hooks, and your offers, that will always be KEY to your success when advertising on Facebook.

Then you can take these and put them in front of the audiences such as building up the video views, use broad targeting, and use your list to set yourself up for success.

With that said you might want to know...

How To Target Interests On Facebook Ads Post-IOS

Interests are still good because they are scalable for cold audiences.

And if you don’t have any data or don’t have a lookalike audience, interests are where you want to begin, as it still works as long as you target them the right way!

And one important thing to note…

You don’t want to put too much focus into finding the perfect interest, with the way machine learning works today is more about focusing on:

• Your creative.
• Your ad copy.
• And your landing page.

These are the true elements that get success with Facebook advertising…

But with that said, before you can choose an interest to target the most important thing you can do….

Know And Understand Your Customer Avatar

Knowing and understanding your customer avatar and how Facebook’s machine learning works with your copy is probably the most important thing you can do before advertising and writing a single word of copy.

If you didn’t know who your customer is, how do you know what message to put in front of them?

Because ultimately…

You can build an incredible campaign with an incredible product, but if that doesn’t match the interest audience or any audience for that matter, you're going to waste a lot of time and money.

Especially when you select your interest to target, you want to make sure your copy matches your avatar's wants and needs so the machine learning can work effectively.

What To Focus On when Creating Your Avatar

When you focus on creating your avatar you want to go beyond demographics such as age, location, and so on, and focus on a deeper level on what kind of person will physically put in their credit card details to buy what you have.

So before we start selecting interests and targeting them, I'm going to briefly go through creating your avatar…

Use this link to download a free customer avatar cheat sheet.

You want to go through and fill in each area and delve into the specific pain points and desires.

In the free cheat sheets there are the demographics to fill out, And an empathy map where you’ll begin to get into your avatar's model of the world.

So you can begin to know where they're at with their problems by meeting them at the conversation in their minds when you write your ads.

But with that said…
A very common question with interest-based targeting is...

Is It Cheaper To Use Interests Vs Lookalikes?

The price can fluctuate regardless of lookalikes, or interests and it all depends on whose bidding against you.

The key behind cost-effectiveness is to advertise your interests in a blue ocean.

With ad angles that are different than your competitors so you don’t directly compete against them in the bidding auction.

On average it's been a price split and it’s not something that should be a primary focus, as you always just want to keep in mind your end goal and achieve that.

So if interests are getting expensive, just stop doing them and change your interests until you start acquiring your leads and customers at your break-even spend.

Building Your Campaign For Interest Targeting

When building your interest campaign with each campaign objective it doesn’t matter which you select here.

You can target the same interests on any of these objectives, what’s key is to know which objective is right for you and your goals.

Setting Up A Lead Ad

When you select lead you want to go into the ad set, then scroll down until you reach the audience.

The custom audience is where you use it for things such as retargeting, or lookalikes, you want to ignore this for interests and fill in the relevant info. Such as your targeting countries, age range, and gender.

But what I want you to focus on is the detailed targeting.

And if you have detailed targeting expansion I’d say to take it off because Facebook can end up spending money when it's not needed.

Audience Selling A Yoga Course Example

Now you can either use two types of interests which are broad terms…

So you could enter

Yoga, yoga Matts and so on.

Now, what you want to do is type from your customer avtar the different interests, gurus or celebrates or even magazines to clothing brands.

You don’t need a massive amount of knowledge of this, I just pick them from the top of my head, as long you know the broader spectrum of the industry.

So let's say you type:

• Type yoga.
• Then yoga mats.
• Then Yoga clothing…

Because They are all associated together to the core of people who love yoga,
Then click suggestions…

And then a full list will appear that you can choose to use to target the different interests…

And another thing…

I don’t use outside tools as much anymore or search interests too much outside of Facebook because most of these interests won’t show up in the detailed targeting and this is the quickest most effective way.

Stacking Multiple Interests

Let's pick another niche such as the self-help niche you start with mediation and Oprah Winfrey.

Suggestions start suggesting everything back to the core of what you're trying to add for targeting.

Now once you take you have several interests, this is where can stack them.

I don’t separate my interests like before, because of how Facebook machine learning works now.

In the old days, I would have taken each interest and separated them to find the winning interest and turn the rest off, because you could determine which interest was getting the best ROI in an individual setting.

But the truth is…

It’s probably best to target your interests as stacked because Facebook machine learning works more efficiently the more room you give its AI.

And targeting single interests with 50k – 500k or even a couple of million won’t cut it.

For Facebook to be most productive it's best to unrestrict and stack your interests.

The best thing is…you're opening your ads targeting for more scale because of increasing the number of people Facebook can work with. Your ads will also have less fatigue and less and won't require the creative to be changed as frequently.

How To Avoid Competition And Expensive Ads

Essentially when you put an AD up you’re entering into a big auction against other advertisers.

If your ads are similar to your competition you’re essentially competing against them which if they have better ads, better brand and authority…

Facebook will give that advertiser better ad exposure for cheaper costs and in turn, will raise the price of your ads.

So for example…

If you sell yoga mats and you're competing with people who sell the same mats, your targeting people in a red ocean that will be difficult to compete against!

And the way machine learning works is by taking inputs from your ad copy and keywords to match with your targeting, to then start putting ads in front of the right people.

But here’s the problem…

If your ad copy is in any way in direct competition this is when ad costs can go very high, which will reduce the results of your purchases and leads.

Why You Need To Find A Blue Ocean

To avoid having competition that causes expensive ads, it’s best to serve your ads in a way that fits in a blue ocean by differentiating from your competitor's ads.

You want to avoid at all costs directly competing, instead create different hooks and angles, and even change the offer if needs be.

And when you do this, you’ll be completely open with barley any competition.

And perhaps best of all…

When you're in a blue ocean, even if your copy or creative isn’t the best.

You have something that no one else is talking about, which will give you the advantage of getting more clicks and possibly more sales depending on your offer on your landing page.

Why You Need To Be Different

But if you Think about this…

If you offer a product or service that’s different from anything anyone’s heard or seen before…

How much easier would it be to get attention and increase the chances of selling what you have?

So, just before I show you exactly what I do to set myself apart in a blue ocean.

It's important to understand that changing the way you create your mechanism, hooks, and angles could also cause you to change your offer on your landing page.

If this is the case, I want you to know that firstly, it’ll be worth it in the end!

Because if you can start driving consistent leads and sales this is literally a game changer to your business.
And to be fair…

All you need to do is just tweak your offer to sound more like any changes that match the pre-frame of your AD copy.

How To Use Machine Learning For The Best Targeting

But with that said let me show you the easy way I create ads to work with machine learning in a way that gets the best targeting with Facebook ads.

So for this example, let’s say your audience is people who love Yoga, what you want to do, is go into the Facebook ad library.

This is one the most powerful marketing tools out there and I spend most of my time on this.

Now type in the keyword of your industry because you have a choice between using keywords or entering your competition.

For this I want you to focus mainly on keywords so that you can get lots of different ads.

Now, you only want to look at proven ads, and the way you do it is by searching ads that have been running for a while.

Ads that stay for at least a few months will show they must have some form of result because no one pays for ads to lose money!

So once you type your keyword:

• Click on Filters.
• Go to active to show only active ads.
• Then go to date.
• And put the date back at least 5 or 6 months.
• Press apply.

And now you should have reduced amount of ads, but these are ads that have been running for a while which proves they must be doing well.

Now also to mention you might see a few inactive ads, so Facebook still has a few bugs they haven’t worked out yet but don’t worry about any of that.

What To Look Out For When Using Facebook Ad Library

Now as you scroll through the ads make sure to keep an eye out for multiple things such as:

• Hooks and angles.
• And look for the offers.
• What is it your competition is selling?

Now, I only went through this very quickly, if this was my business or a clients, I would spend hours doing this.

Ad Example 1:

If you look at the above image of an ad, you can see the offer says 30 days for 30 dollars.

And part of the hook is to burn calories and make friends.

So basically a dollar a day and lose weight whilst making friends, now I would get a notepad out, start writing these hooks down.

If you have something similar to this ad you might be competing against it.

So, I would keep looking for similar like this but for now to give you an idea you could try…

“help each other 4-week calorie burn challenge for less than $30”

Or even “Keep in touch 4-week calorie fire challenge for the price of a cup of coffee”

See how it’s similar but doesn’t compete because I’ve taken away the angle of directly competing and made it different…

But you want to keep finding more offers and continue to angle different ideas…

You could even take the idea of making friends in yoga and use that as your main angle…

Which could even be…

30-day yoga friendship challenge…

I'm seriously making this up in my head so it's not the best!

But if we look at another ad.

Ad Example 2:

Now looking at the 2nd ad image example is about yoga clothing.

As you can see showing colours is part of their hook, and also the comfort of yoga clothing.

Do you see how they separate themselves from competing there not just selling general yoga clothes, They're selling comfort for yoga.

And as part of the hook they're trying to make people feel unique with how they can stand out to their friends with their colours.

So basically, just like what I've mentioned above, they’ve taken the same approach as what I've been telling you.

How To Find A Unique Angle From An Ad

But with this ad…

An idea you could do if you're selling yoga clothes, is to also take parts of an element of clothing that no one’s talking about such as:

The ultimate stretch pants! Look in shape regardless of the pose…

Focusing on the stretching of the clothes… and the tagline could be "show them your stretch!"

I hope I haven't offended any yoga lovers…

I've just made it up but I hope you're seeing what I’m trying to show you here.

Because if you find no one else is saying this, you are in a blue ocean where there is no direct competition.

And when you use this as part of your targeting on Facebook the price will be a lot less and you should see higher conversions.

But obviously, you also want to make sure your audience wants what you say.

3 Tricks For Reducing Facebook Ad Targeting Costs And Improving Results

Trick #1: Using Broad Copy Targeting With Your Headline And Primary Text

The best way to target people is with your copy, creative, and a good landing page.

This is what communicates what you have and how it will help your prospects get their desired results because ultimately getting your message, product, or service to match your audience is key.

And Did you know, if you get this right, then Facebook can help you!

Because when you put in the right input for Facebook to pick up by using broad-targeted keywords.

Facebook’s algorithm can get to work to find the best audience for you.

How To Find The Best Audience For Facebook With Broad Keywords

Well, it always comes down to the research you do with your audience.

And knowing your prospects and customers is everything.

Make sure, that your message articulates the transformational state of the before and after picture.

Where is your customer at, where do they want to be, and how can you articulate that with your text and creative?

Then you can add broad targeting keywords to shout out your audience, also known as dog whistle copy termed by Dan Kennedy.

And when you do this it will put an input into the Facebook AI, and let the algorithm pick up exactly who they need to start looking for.

And perhaps best of all, broad keyword terms will also capture the attention of your audience.

So instead of being specific, you want to use broad copy such as…

• How to write email copy that sells.
• Yoga mats for yoga lovers.
• Dog grooming made easy.
• Fishing for beginners.

These examples are the kinds of broad words you want to use in your copy.

Trick #2: Use Broad Interests

Facebook has deleted so many of the interests in their detailed targeting, they say they’ve done it to Remove things that are related to sensitive topics.

However, they also seem to have removed interests that are not even in the certain topics they mention.

And most advertisers who now search in detailed targeting are not finding the interests that performed well in the past.

Even when it doesn’t seem logical why the interests have been removed.

This is what you should expect as an online advertiser, because these platforms are always gonna make changes, and keeping up with these changes is what will get you success with these platforms.

Why You Should Use Broad Targeting

Just like what you should do now that these interest options have been narrowed down which is why you should try broad targeting interests.

Now, broad targeting is basically using broad keywords such as dog Owners, cycling, golf, horse riding and so on, and you would use this at the top of your funnel running too cold audiences.

Facebook machine learning will then take the broad audience, combined with the copy to start looking for people based on what you write and with what interest you selected.

So if you write for example…
Dog owning can be stressful, with a broad term such as dogs.

Facebook will take these keywords and go look for an audience who are dog owners.

And the good thing is…

Facebook has so much data that some would say it's scary they know who to put your ad in front of.

Trick #3: Have At Least One Ad Set With Zero Targeting

Having one ad set with zero targeting, also known as open targeting.

This is when you let Facebook target all of their platform, with No interests or lookalike audiences, or anything placed at this level.

Essentially giving Facebook full control to target the best audience for your ads.

Now, Logically it seems like it would help Facebook to tell them who to target.

But the truth is…

as time’s gone on, Facebooks algorithm is getting super smart!

Especially since the post-IOS situation, and some of my ad sets with open targeting are currently producing the best results over interest-based targeting.

And here’s the thing…

When you open your targeting, scalability is huge compared to interest scale.

Because Facebook will always be able to look for more people who are like your buyers.

And as you continue to keep your creative fresh and not let this fatigue Facebook can continue to scale with open targeting more effortlessly.

Bonus Tip: Get The Most From Your Targeting And Ad Costs

I recommend doing this with at least one ad set with your interests, broad or open targeting.

And that’s, to leave everything open in the targeting and placement, and give that a try for a few pounds or dollars as you won't lose much but could gain a lot.

The less you restrict Facebook's machine learning the cheaper your CPMs become.

This will give you more reach to your best audience, and allows their delivery system to try to make the most of your budget and increase ad exposure.

And when you leave placements on automatic, they will look for the right place to put your ad.

Facebook’s end goal is to give the best user experience so people stay on their platform so that they can put ads that make people buy so they profit from it.

And they're not gonna waste your ad spend by putting your ads in the wrong location.

So when you get the best results with their automatic placements they’ll only show your ads where you profit the most.

Essentially giving you, your audience and Facebook the best return.

Take Your Facebook Targeting To The Next Level

Now that you know some of the best practices for targeting, you may also want to know

• How to write Facebook ad headlines.
• If you should use a lifetime or daily budget.
• How long you should run your ads.
• How to test Facebook ads.