How to Set Up Advanced Instagram Ads Funnel Targeting : Social Media Examiner

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by Jacob Solomon Mar 13, 2023 News
How to Set Up Advanced Instagram Ads Funnel Targeting : Social Media Examiner

Do you want to increase the effectiveness of your ads on the photo sharing site? Do you make costly targeting mistakes?

In this article, you will learn how to build effective audiences and funnels that attract, nurture, and convert people using the photo sharing service.

How to Set Up Advanced Instagram Ads Funnel Targeting by Social Media Examiner

#1: Think Broadly to Fill the Top of the Funnel With Instagram Ads

At the top of the funnel is where you want to get the biggest and most general audience. Think broadly. That can mean a number of things, one of which is wasted ad spend.

Why Broad Targeting Can Be a Costly Mistake

Broad targeting is the fastest and easiest type of targeting to set up. Pick a few parameters like location or age range and you are good to go. Meta delivers your ads to the most relevant audience.

If your offer has broad appeal, automation of audience targeting can make your campaign setup simpler. Broad targeting can lead to wasted ad spend. You won't get to know your audience since broad targeting doesn't give you much detailed data.

How to Use Your Buyer Persona Instead

Put your buyer persona to work to fill the top of your ad funnel. Detailed targeting for your audience can be created by using your ideal customer's interests, pain points, and goals.

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It is possible to use your competitors' audiences to target top-of-funnel prospects. Many small businesses have been removed from the detailed targeting list. If your competitors have large audiences, they may be able to be targeted.

How to Target Top-of-Funnel Interactions

It is possible to use your brand's Meta assets to reach prospects. You can target people who are already interested in your business if you have a large audience on social media.

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It is possible to reach prospects at various stages in your sales funnel if you target your followers on social media. If you want to avoid delivering ads to an irrelevant segment, exclude your customer list from the audience during ad set creation.

How to Find Promising Lookalike Audiences

The top of the funnel can be used to target people who are similar to you. They probably won't be familiar with your brand yet, even though they have similarities to your current custom audiences.

It is important to create high value lookalike audiences when targeting the top of the funnel. If you can, use a value-based option when selecting a data source. If not, use an audience that has already done well in the past.

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Why You Should Create Interactive TOFU Ads

It is likely that you will want to use a campaign objective. The best way to fill the top of your funnel is to use both of these objectives. You could miss out on some added value if you stick with the default settings.

The brand awareness objective can be adjusted to maximize reach. If you want as many people to see your ad as possible, a passive impression isn't worth much.

It's better to use a video asset and use it for a goal. It's possible to build an audience for retargeting and encourage more active awareness of your brand.

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Don't use a video creative for your ad. There are other ways to engage with your ad. The carousel could be used to encourage prospects to go through it. It's possible to write compelling copy that will prompt them to see the full ad.

The most relevant engagement type should be chosen at the ad set level. Ad-based conversions can lead to better retargeting options if they happen within Meta apps.

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It is possible to compromise your retargeting capabilities by using TOFU objectives. Website-based audiences are more likely to contribute to higher advertising costs and lower return on investment.

#2: Lead Engaged Prospects to the Middle of the Funnel With Instagram Ads

After connecting with interested audience segments, it's time to lead them to the middle of the funnel Meta has several valuable options for re-engagement.

Why You Should Review Instagram Ad Campaign Breakdowns

It is possible that some audience segments responded better than others to your TOFU campaign. If you use Ads Manager data, you can make sure your middle-of-funnel campaigns reach the prospects with the most potential so you don't waste ad spend on prospects who are less likely to convert.

A report that shows demographic breakdown can be created in Ads Manager. Measure the value of each segment by adding metrics. Post engagement and cost per post engagement can be used to find the most cost-effective segments.

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Video view metrics can be used to break down your audience. You can find the segments that had the most interest in your ad by looking at the video plays at 25%, 50%, and so on.

Keep in mind the breakdown when creating custom audiences for your ads. If you apply demographic settings to custom audiences, you can increase your return on investment.

How to Create a Video Engagement-Based Audience

Creating a video views–based audience is a great way to connect with potential buyers. Select Video from the list of Meta sources when setting up a custom audience.

Pick the engagement level you would like to target. It would be great to focus on the segments that watched most of your video. If those segments are relatively small, it will be difficult to reach efficiently or cost effectively. They are probably going to be expensive.

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You can target segments that have watched less of your video. You can use Ads Manager reports to chart the number of people in each segment, which can help you understand which combination is likely to be cost effective.

You can combine the segments into a single video engagement audience if you have used multiple video assets. Pick as many videos as you like from the list of campaign or business profile content after you've decided on an engagement level.

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You can use paid and organic data sources to build a video audience. If all of the segments are at the same stage, it makes sense to do so.

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How to Create an Engagement-Based Audience

Retargeting prospects who engaged with your ads in other ways is one of the options you have. If you want to create a custom audience, you can choose from the list of Meta Sources.

If you want to target people who swiped through a carousel, liked an ad, or left a comment, you need to select people who engaged with any post or ad. If you want to target prospects who interacted with your content, you can choose Everyone who engaged with this professional account.

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You don't get as much control with video engagement audiences than you do with social media ones. You can't target people who are engaged in specific ads or organic posts with a custom audience.

You can make your engagement audiences more relevant by incorporating findings from your TOFU ad breakdown. You can use demographic settings to improve targeting and increase return on investment.

Why You Should Use Native Instagram Tools to Spark Consideration

Depending on your offer, you might want to use Ads Manager to reach customers. You have the option to lead prospects on to your website from your social media accounts.

You are likely to achieve the most cost-effective conversions and build the most accurate retargeting audiences if you use the right tactics. The engagement objective can be used to begin conversations with prospects on social media.

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A message template can be created at the ad level. Your template can help you nurture people who are a good fit for your offer.

Two in-app conversion locations are available if you opt for Ads Manager's leads objective. Adding a native lead form to your ad will give you another chance at retargeting at the bottom of the funnel.

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#3: Retarget Prospects With Intent at the Bottom of the Funnel With Instagram Ads

After guiding engaged prospects from awareness to conversion, it is time to retarget them with intent. Tailor your audience to maximize their return on investment.

How to Retarget Instagram Audiences With Intent

Focus on finding segments with purchase intent to target the bottom of the funnel. Video ads can be used to build new video engagement audiences for your conversions. If you want to spend your ad budget on truly engaged prospects, you need to target people who watched all or part of your videos.

If you used native lead forms, you can reuse them in your conversion campaigns. If you want to retarget people who direct-messaged you, you need to pick a professional account and then pick people who sent a message to it.

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You can get more specific with leads. You can choose from the list of Meta sources. Pick a form from the list Anyone who opened the form is included. When you want to reach qualified leads, choose people who opened and submitted form.

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Your team should already follow up with leads who submitted the form. By the time prospects see your ad, they should have a better idea of what to do.

How to Split-Test Instagram Ad Audiences

Your costs are likely to be lower if you have a bigger audience. It's possible to increase audience size by targeting more broadly.

Increasing the size of the audience can affect your results. Use Ads Manager's A/B Testing tool if you don't know which audience will do best.

You can use the experiment tool to check the ad set. If you want to test, choose a second ad set to compare it with. Pick which variable to test.

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Make sure the metric you choose is relevant to the campaign. Cost per purchase is a metric that can be used if you are testing a sales campaign. The full picture of the ad set's performance can be seen if upper-funnel metrics are included in the report.

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The ad at the bottom of the funnel will be known when the test is over. The results can be used to improve your campaign. If you know which segment is best suited to convert, you can decide which campaigns drove the most value.

How to Use Automated Rules to Optimize Your Instagram Ad Funnel

It can be difficult to set up ads on the photo sharing site. You shouldn't have to spend a lot of time watching your ads. If you want to take action when ads under- or over- perform, you should use automated rules in Ads Manager.

You can apply an automated rule to a campaign by selecting it in Ads Manager. When performance goes below a certain level, set up a custom rule to let you know.

When cost per lead or cost per purchase exceeds a certain amount is a topic for discussion. If you want to review performance manually, you can get a notification. The ad set can be turned off to stop wasted ad spend.

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Rules can be used to automate growth if you plan to scale. When cost per lead or cost per purchase goes below a certain level, choose a favorable key performance indicator.

Set the daily budget to go up by 20%. Ad sets can re-enter the learning phase if campaign budgets are scaled more than 20% a week.

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Conclusion

You will likely waste your ad budget if you target cold audiences with sales campaigns. If you want to drive more of the results you want, you can use advanced ad funnel targeting.

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Anna Sonnenberg specializes in paid and organic Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook marketing. For 6+ years she has run Sonnenberg Media, a micro agency that provides social media and email support to brands and businesses.Other posts by Anna Sonnenberg »

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