Connecting Well with Facebook Audience Optimization

With all of the talk about how Facebook is changing algorithms to push down your page’s posts, there’s finally something to look forward to! It’s called Facebook Audience Optimization, and it’s a new tool which allows Facebook Page publishers to better target the audience for each post, making it more likely that your content will be seen by the people who really want to see it.

But why not show all of your posts to all the people? Well, that’s not great marketing, to be honest. Remember:

That’s where Audience Optimization comes in. It allows you to tag a preferred audience who is most likely to be interested, or remove those who are least likely to be interested with audience restrictions. And it will give you audience insights to help you understand which interest tags are having the greatest impact with viewers of the posts.

Getting Started with Facebook Audience Optimization

Before you can use Audience Optimization on your Facebook Page, it must be allowed via your Page settings. To enable this feature, go to Settings > General > Audience Optimization for Posts, check the box to allow the feature, and click on the Save Changes button.

Once the feature is enabled, then you’ll be able to use Audience Optimization when creating posts on your Facebook Page by clicking on the targeting icon.

This will open the tool which allows you to select your preferred audience and/or audience restrictions.

Getting the Most Out of Facebook Audience Optimization

When using a tool like this, it’s worth mentioning that you’ll need to think first about how people consume your content, not just who you want to get your content in front of. There may be some people who you believe need to see your post, but if they don’t want to see it, then your efforts will not produce the engagement needed to lift it in Facebook’s algorithms. So target the audience who is most likely to like, comment, and (most importantly) click.

Facebook suggests several tips for tagging your posts, including the following:

• Target audiences with relevant tags – What matters most? Think about the interests which are most relevant to that post.
• Tag with a mix of broad and narrow terms – “…think about the classic “who, what, where, when, why and how” elements of the story as a starting place.”
• Think associatively about related interests – Which topics or interests overlap the main ideas you’re tagging in the post?
• Consider including organizations and brands – This is also about finding the overlap in interests.
• Use tags with small audiences strategically – It’s not always about reaching LOTS of people, but finding the people who will be most passionate about your content.

Getting your content in front of the right people can pay huge dividends for your blog/website. And using a tool like Audience Optimization can help your content get the right kind of reach. Despite what many may believe, Facebook relies on your content. The idea that they are pushing it down is more about them getting the right pieces of content they believe people want to see in front of them. Adding these kinds of tags to your posts helps them filter and better match your posts with the people who will want to engage with that content.

How are you using Facebook Audience Optimization, and have you noticed any difference in engagement as a result?