Facebook has cemented an even more concrete relationship between themselves and marketers with their latest ‘Page Post Targeting Enhanced’ tool – adding more value to the umbrella phrase ‘target audience.’

It has always been possible to target Page posts on Facebook but the previous ‘language’ and ‘location’ preferences were far too limiting to enhance any brand’s reach. It’s likely that only a minority of companies actually took advantage of this extra facility until now. The new options created give the choice to target updates according to gender, interests, relationship status, education and workplace – with the bonus of filtering posts right down to the consumer’s city, state or country of residence.

This means that a company can alter their message according to who they’re most wanting to appeal to and post it several times with a different demographic in mind. Skincare products, for instance usually cater for different skin concerns and therefore different age groups. An oily/troubled skincare range will require a completely different sell to anti-aging products for obvious reasons. Wrinkles aren’t so much an issue for young twenty-something’s but breakouts and shine will be.

Bearing in mind that the feature only affects user’s newsfeeds, fans will only see the post that they’ve been targeted for. There is a downside to this, however, because duplicate posts will show up on your company timeline which as you can imagine will be quite confusing and depending on the content, slightly misleading. Not an error on Facebook’s part though, they have also given the option to hide posts from your timeline so you can use a generic message for all while your fans see their tailored one.

The positive side to all content being visible is that other users get to see their friend’s interactions – boosting your visibility as a brand. It also ties in with your Facebook data because if the insights tell you that the majority of your interactions are from middle-aged, married men and women, you are then in a position to generate content that will appeal to them. Ultimately, your aim as a company is to get more Likes and more people talking about your brand.

In an interview with DMnews.com, Matt Wurst, Director of Digital Communities at digital agency 360i, commented that consumers on Facebook will be more likely to engage with brands because of catered content and with enhanced targeting, “brands can now create customized content that’s more relevant for individual subsets of their consumer base – without alienating the rest.”

One of the biggest problems with Pages is preventing users from unsubscribing. While fans are interacting with the content on your page, it’s impossible to know exactly what triggers them to unsubscribe. Imagine trying to track down every person who unliked your page – just the thought alone is unrealistic. By creating highly targeted content the likelihood is that it will result in less unsubscribes and an increase in engagement.

This new feature isn’t yet available for all Pages but Facebook’s plans are to make it fully operable within the coming months for Pages with over 100 Likes. If you are applicable the message will be sent to Page Administrators so that they can start taking advantage of this remarkably powerful marketing weapon, as soon as possible.

Essentially, Facebook have segmented company’s fans by demographic, geographic and psychographic criteria. The benefits of market segmentation for companies operating offline are major – specific consumer information can make your business significantly more profitable, enhance growth opportunities and gain a wider market share. Being able to replicate this online where most companies Likes are in the high thousands opens up exclusive possibilities for how far your brand will reach.

Another aspect that companies can benefit from with Page Post Targeting is Facebook advertising. Around 84% of Facebook’s total revenue is generated through advertising which has become much more lucrative since the rollout of sponsored ads in newsfeeds. The nature of Page Post Targeting is centered on the newsfeed and being seen by everyone in varied forms. As Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg remarked recently, because the newsfeed functions the same way on mobile devices as it does on a desktop, marketing with Facebook is “seamless”. She also pointed out that in a study of 500 ad campaigns, Facebook was proven to drive 31% more brand awareness than non-Facebook ads, showing that “the best type of advertising is a message from a friend.”

A difficulty for Facebook, Sandberg notes, is getting SME’s to adopt advertising, highlighting that small businesses lack the time and ability to take on new technologies. “Local is the holy grail of Internet advertising,” says Sandberg and capturing SME’s is a prime priority for Facebook at this moment.

Communicating on Facebook is not about bellowing the same message to an army of fans and this, it seems, is where many companies are going wrong. Consumers want to feel special so it’s crucial to find that personal voice amongst the impersonal nature of social media. Tailored content is a sure fire way to building brand awareness and as a result, extending that conversation with potential millions across the globe.

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