Targeted ads: formats and specifics

Mafpels trading blog
Targeted advertising is advertising of various types (text, photo, video) on social networks. The peculiarity of targeted advertising is that it is shown to users who match the specified characteristics (gender, age, geographical location, interests, etc.). If you are planning to engage in e-commerce, this type of advertising will definitely be necessary for you.

Targeted advertising can encourage the user to follow a link to the site, leave contact details, make a purchase, etc. The ad can include a headline, an image, a video, a link, a call to action button, a form to collect contact details.

MAFPELS SMM managers described the main formats and features of targeted advertising.
Universal ad. Such an ad can be seen in the news feed or on the walls of communities. Ads have a native look, and you can use a large text to explain in detail the benefits of the product. A button can be added to the ad to encourage the user to take a targeted action (join a webinar, register on the site, etc.).
Carousel. This format is particularly suitable for sales. It is suitable when one image is not enough - you need to show different features of the product or cards of several products of the shop. You can place a separate link on each image.
Advertising in stories. Advertising is increasingly following people in their personal online space. Therefore, ads in Stories are often perceived as a friend's Story until you look for the 'ads' marker.
Collection of applications. This format is suitable for advertisers who have a poor quality website or none at all. It allows you to get leads directly from social networks. The user clicks on the ad and is taken to the form where they leave their contact details.

Main targeted advertising formats

Mafpels trading brand
  • Sociodemographic: gender, age, marital status, education;
  • Geographical: from the country to a point on the map (accurate to 500 metres);
  • Interests: parenting, fashion, sports, cooking, etc;
  • Look-alike audiences: users similar to the audience of an initial group. This group can be people who have visited your website, watched videos, performed actions in the app, etc.
  • Retargeting: ads are shown to users who have previously visited your website or social media pages.

Mafpel describes the main types of targeting

  1. The visual component of the ad plays a crucial role in targeted advertising: headline, text, creative. The attractiveness of the creative depends on whether it 'catches' the user or not. So spend more budget and time on creative. Your ad should be interesting, its content should be of high quality. It has to hit the pain point of your target audience. Otherwise, no matter how much money you invest, what settings you use, it will not bring you results. Try out different advertising creatives, make them original and interesting. Mafpels trading advises you to hire specialists who know how to create high quality images and videos. This investment will pay off.
  2. If you are just starting to promote your online shop, do not expect quick results. In the first few months, you may invest in advertising and not get the results you hoped for. This is normal because people don't know about you yet. But targeted advertising allows you to bring in targeted subscribers who can become your customers in the future. A person will see your activity, one way or another they will come across your content. Over time, they will recognise you, and even then, they may buy something. The main thing is to combine two factors: quality advertising and content. If your profile doesn't have quality content that sells, then no amount of advertising will help.
  3. Interest targeting is not the key to a successful advertising campaign. Many people think that if you put a few special interests in the settings of an ad, it will work like a magic wand and sales will soar to unknown heights. This is not true. You don't want to pick 10-20 interests. Not only will it not help, it can actually hurt the campaign. By doing so, you are limiting the potential audience from which customers could come to you. If you are a beginner, you can skip the interests column altogether and advertise to a wide audience. And when you know your target audience well, you can add interests.
  4. Don't try to outsmart Facebook's algorithms, Mafpel's Cyprus managers advise. It's an intelligent system. If you think you can save money and get sales by setting your ads to 'attract traffic', we'll disappoint you: it won't work. Choose goals in the ad cabinet that match what you want to achieve.
  5. Keep an eye on your competitors and 'steal' advertising ideas from them. This does not mean that you need to copy exactly what they are doing, but you can take note of some of their advertising techniques. For example, you might notice an interesting advertising campaign and adapt it to your product. Of course you need to be unique, but you also need to face the truth: there are a huge number of shops in e-commerce, hundreds of new ones appearing every day, so not everyone can be completely unique.

Tips for working with targeted advertising

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