The success of a FB marketing plan can be measured based on how well the content is resonating with the audience. I do not have to reiterate the importance of a good target audience because it is the ultimate objective to get your message across to the RIGHT ONE!
Let me first elaborate on the consequences of marketing to the WRONG target audience
a) An increase in your advertising budget
b) A low CTR which means higher number of expressions but low number of clicks which means that your content is not so relevant to your target audience
c) Irrelevant enquiries which will consume your time and energy
d) Misinterpreting the engagement metrics
In view of the above, identifying the target audience should be the first step in your strategic planning. Segmenting your audiences based on age group, gender, location, behaviour and interest will help you in optimizing your advertising budget
AGE
Why age matters ? The active users of social media are from age group of 18-35, with a significant number within the age group of 18 -25 years old. Hence, it is vital to determine if this age group is your target audience. If you are a fashion retailer who is trying to promote hoodies and sweatshirt, which age group will most likely resonate to your promotion? A good marketer will promote your catalogue of hoodies and sweatshirts to college students who will fall within the age group of 18-23.Once you have your target audience, you will observe the results in the engagement metrics,
GENDER
Well, audience segmentation based on gender is probably like a walk in the park . The online marketplace is filled with apparels, cosmetics, health products which are mainly purchased by female consumers. It is getting highly competitive in the marketplace when the target audience is the same across different brands. However we are left with little choice and we need to be more creative in producing engaging contents for the female audience. Cosmetic brands such as Sephora came up with a campaign called "Identify As We" that was targeted across gender fluid community
BEHAVIOUR
The behavioural characteristics of your target audience usually pops up when you are trying to create a FB ad. The type of behaviours that you choose depends on the product that you are selling. If you are a backpacker budget hotel, then your target audience will be travellers, backpackers. If you are promoting a product from your online portal , then you would like to also target audience who are active shoppers and have made significant transactions online.
Some examples of Behaviours are
a)Engaged shoppers
b)Facebook payment users(30 days)
c)Facebook payment users(90 days)
INTEREST
The segmentation of audience based on interest can get really interesting especially when you discover new interest of your audience that you have never thought of. For example, typically you would define your audience based on their interest towards your product and not so much on their overall lifestyle and passion. For example if your audience has an interest towards fashion blogs , include them in your segmentation as you can create awareness campaigns about your brand.