Until now, targeting by location has been slightly murky. It was a hit-and-miss scenario where you were typically targeting everyone either currently in the location or those who live there.
But what if you wanted to target only those who lived there, regardless of whether they were currently in the area? What if you wanted to target only those people who were currently nearby, regardless of whether they lived there?
And what if you wanted to target only the tourists who were nearby but who don’t live there?
In the brave new world of Facebook targeting, suddenly, these things are possible. Thanks to the latest rollout to both Power Editor and the ad create tool, advertisers have multiple new avenues available to target customers based on geography.
Target By Address
When you go to select the geographic location of your Facebook advertising target audience, you will notice one very important update.
While it has been possible to target audiences by country, state, city and postcode for some time now, the change that a lot of people have been waiting for is here: targeting around a specific address.
Say you want to target customers within a 10, 15, or 20 kilometre radius of Surfers Paradise. Or even a custom distance, say, five kilometres? It is now do-able through a couple of clicks.
This is a huge leap forward with a million practical applications – so many businesses have time-specific promotions that require precise geographical targeting.
Exclude By Address
Decided there is a geographical area you definitely don’t want to target? Easy done.
Let’s go with a practical example – say, for very solid reasons, you did not want to target Brisbane city during G20, when the entire city became a ghost town.
There is now a new, drop-down box called ‘Excluded Locations’ – again, you can set geographical parameters. So, in practical terms you can exclude any geographical area that does not specifically work or turn a profit for you.
Everyone In This Location
This is as good as it sounds; by default, you can target anyone who has used location services within a set geographical space.
It means that people who live in the area you are targeting but are away will not be targeted. It also means anyone who has used location services to check in will be selected for location targeting.
Talk about sorting the wheat from the chaff! Do not waste another cent targeting people who are not anywhere near your target area.
People Who Live In This Location
Conversely, maybe you do not want to reach people visiting a specific area? Maybe you only want to hit people who permanently live there.
By selecting this drop-down, you will only hit permanent residents of the geographical area selected.
People Recently In This Location
This is getting silly. Maybe you want to target those living in a selected area, but only those recently in the area? Think of targeting post-festival patrons.
This is now possible.
Conclusion
This looks pretty untouchable, and is a huge leap in being able to directly geographically target your Facebook advertising audience.
