Coming up with messaging for interactive platforms like Facebook is often an exercise in avoiding certain topics. Any post that might be viewed as irrelevant or singling out a subset of users is viewed as potential grounds for user abandonment and is immediately ruled out.
Unfortunately, avoiding these types of posts also results in lost opportunities for robust engagement and increased relevance among your most active fans. This week, Facebook began rolling out an option that will change all that.
Soon, page managers will be able to selectively target messaging to users based on criteria such as age, interest and even relationship status. The result will be the ability to create bolder messaging that gains hyper-relevance with a specific audience at just the right time, creating higher rates of engagement.
A great example is messaging to rabid football fans. Posts with robust engagement around heated topics like football rivalries would normally be considered grounds for a fan to “un-like” a page. However, using post targeting, you can increase page engagement by singling out fans that have, for example, interests in “Football” and “Redskins.” Such a post might read:
“When our team isn’t out in the field working with clients, we’re rooting on the Redskins to victory. Speaking of which, who’s excited about this weekend’s debut of the new quarterback and first round draft pick, Robert Griffin III?”
Even if the message does elicit strong reactions, football fans are accustomed to heated debate. Facebook post targeting allows you to keep that discussion from appearing in all users’ news feeds. It also gives you a new multi-audience, multi-interest approach to outreach, all on a single page.
What other ways are you planning to use Facebook post targeting?
