With over 65% of U.S. adults using Facebook daily, you know it’s a great platform to reach your target audience, but how can you effectively connect with them? In this case, having a Facebook advertising strategy is key to connecting with people interested in your products or services.

But when setting up a Facebook ad for your business, you’ll find numerous targeting options to reach your audience. One in particular — interest targeting — catches your eye. Could Facebook interest targeting be the key to helping you get more qualified leads?

Yes, and on this page, we’ll provide you with four tips for doing interest targeting on Facebook. Keep reading to learn more about how you can help your business drive more success with Facebook ad interest targeting!

What is Facebook interest targeting?

Facebook interest targeting involves targeting people based on their hobbies and interests.

If they have interests related to your industry or business, you can target these people in your ad campaigns. Interests targeting is a way for you to target people who haven’t discovered your business but are likely interested in what you offer.

What interests can you target?

Facebook offers dozens of specific interests you can target, from science to music to cooking.

As a rule of thumb, you can target interests in these categories:

• Business and Industry
• Family and Relationships
• Entertainment
• Food and Drink
• Sports and Outdoors
• Fitness/Wellness
• Fashion
• Hobbies and Activities
• Technology

How does Facebook know who to target?

If you aren’t familiar with how to target interests on Facebook, you may wonder where Facebook gets the information to determine who you target. When choosing your audience’s interests, Facebook looks at things like:

• Information provided on your profile (job, relationship status, etc.)
• Behavior on the platform
• Pages a user likes or follows

Facebook uses this information to see who falls in your audience based on their interests and interactions.

If you’re looking for a more hands-on experience in understanding how interests work, check out your own Facebook profile to see where you fall in terms of interest targeting!

Follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings

 

 

2. Scroll down and click Ads

 

 

3. Click Ad Settings in your Ad Preferences

 

 

4. Click Categories used to reach you

 

 

5. Scroll down and click Interest Categories

 

 

6. See what interests fall under your targeting!

 

 

As you scroll through your personal interests, you’ll see anything from generic topics, like dog training, to specific products or brands, like BarkBox. It’s a great way to see how one topic of interest can result in multiple targeted categories.

4 tips for doing interest targeting on Facebook

Ready to target interests on Facebook? Here are four tips to help you get started!

1. Create lists of subtopics

When you do Facebook ad interest targeting, you want to create a list of subtopics and subcategories to help you target the right people. Targeting more specific topics can help you reach more qualified leads for your business.

When you create a list of Facebook interests, you’ll want to take a broad category and think of relevant subtopics beneath it.

Let’s say you own a pet supply store and want to target dog owners. Initially, you may start with a general topic of interest like “Dogs.” Then, you could break it down into more specific categories like:

• Dog food
• Dog toys
• Dog shampoo

If you wanted, you could take this a step further and get even more specific with your interests.

For example, you might target interests like “organic dog food” or “natural dog shampoo.” This specification would help you reach audience members who may follow organic brands or clean living pages and have a pet dog.

You can use a combination of broad and specific subcategories to help you put your ads in front of people who are most likely interested in your business.

2. Target your biggest fans

When you do Facebook interest targeting, you want to target people who have a deep interest in your industry or topics related to your industry. You want to focus on people who know a lot about your industry topic, talk about it often, or love it.

The more interest in your topic, the better.

People who show a profound interest in a subject are more likely to purchase your products or services. Shy away from people who only show some interest or don’t go beyond the basic knowledge. They’re not enthusiasts, so they’re less likely to purchase from you.

Sports teams are a prime example of separating casual fans from team enthusiasts. Basic fans will only know some of the team’s top players, whereas an enthusiast could tell you about great players from the past that people barely know.

Let’s use a team like the Cincinnati Bengals as an example.

If you spoke to a casual fan, they could tell you player names like Joe Burrow or A.J. Green. These are players that most fans, and non-fans, know, so it doesn’t indicate a strong interest in the team.

If you spoke to a middle-ground fan, they could tell you about players like Chad Johnson or Cris Collinsworth. These players are still well-known, but fans of the team may have a little more knowledge of these players’ time on the team.

It shows more interest in the topic, but it still doesn’t indicate an in-depth interest in the team.

If you spoke to an enthusiastic fan, they could tell you about players like Takeo Spikes and T.J Houshmandzadeh. These fans have a strong interest and know about lesser-known players. You want to target these fans because they have an intense interest in the subject and are the most interested.

When trying to target the right people through Facebook interest targeting, focus on people who are the biggest fans of your topic or industry.

3. Search for topics of interest outside Facebook

When you’re creating a list of Facebook interests, don’t rely solely on Facebook to generate a list of topics. You’ll want to use outside resources, like Google, to help you find other topics of interest for your business.

You can go to Google and search for topics related to your industry and products. So, for example, if you’re a pet supply company, you may search “dog bloggers” on Google and find information about top dog bloggers. You could then target these popular blogs as interests in your ads.

Searching outside of Facebook can help you find critical topics you may be missing to help you drive in more qualified leads for your business.

4. Speak in your audience’s language

When you target interests on Facebook, you want to connect with your audience and show them that their interests are the same as your business’s interests. To do this successfully, you’ll want to speak your audience’s language.

Let’s go back to the football example.

You could write a sentence like “Did the Cincinnati Bengals find their new quarterback?” but it’s a generic question. It doesn’t show that you have an in-depth knowledge of the team. A sentence like this won’t appeal to those top fans you’re trying to target.

On the other hand, a question like “Did the Bengals find their new Dalton?” resonates more with your audience. You’re speaking their language by referencing the team solely by their mascot and incorporating the player’s name in the position rather than the generic term “quarterback.”

It’s a small nuance, but it has a significant impact on these top enthusiasts. Not only do you speak their language, but you show your knowledge-depth. It makes people more likely to want to engage with your Facebook ads.

BONUS READING: Facebook vs. Instagram for SMBs 

Get started with Facebook interest targeting

Facebook interest targeting is an excellent way for you to find new leads who are likely to purchase your products or services. If you need help launching your Facebook advertising campaign, WebFX is here to help.

We have a team of over 250 social media experts that can help you create Facebook ads that target people’s interests. Our team knows how to craft campaigns that drive results — we’ve driven over $2.4 billion in sales and over 6.3 million leads for our clients in the past five years alone.

Ready to start? Contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about our Facebook advertising services!