Meta has released a new report to show the difference in performance of demographic targeting and interest targeting for CPG ad campaigns. The latter focuses on specific aspects of the audience. But it has a more limiting result.
Meta, formerly Facebook, says overnarrowing your audience with interest targeting may hamper campaign performance.
The actual study is more complex though. To assess the impact on performance of broad and narrow ad targeting, Meta used Facebook Brand Lift to analyze 50 CPG campaigns in EMEA. And it offers an assessment on the degree of relative ad performance.
“The analysis found that in approximately half of the campaigns, the selected interest audiences were too narrow and therefore significantly restricted reach compared to the demographic audience. In this case (when selected interest audiences were too narrow), demographic audiences delivered almost double the reach (+99%) over interest audiences for equal budget,” explains Meta.
If you use interest targeting, rather than broad demographics, the results must be better to explain the more limited reach. For instance, if you reach fewer people, and they spend more, then the reduced brand awareness is offset by better direct response.
Yet, Meta’s data shows this is not always the case.
Based on the study, broad ad targeting had better results most of the time. Reaching more people through generic targeting widened brand messaging. And it helped reach more interested users.
Still, it depends on how well you know your audience’s interests. If you have a sophisticated interest ad targeting strategy, it can drive better campaign results with more focus.
From the outcome above, interest ad targeting performed better for campaigns in the lower level of the funnel. While reaching a broader audience is best for brand awareness, honing in on detailed interest categories can improve direct response.
In the early stages of your campaign, you should reach as many people as possible to expand brand awareness. The next phase will focus on the more refined targeting to drive better results.
Meta’s report emphasizes how many businesses use narrow ad targeting too early in their campaign. They must reach more people first before focusing on their audience’s interests.
You can read Meta’s full data report here.
