Have you ever been scrolling through Facebook and suddenly seen an ad that just makes you think, “Huh!? Why am I seeing this?” Well, you’re definitely not alone. This happens all too often with Facebook ads, and, unfortunately, is not only a nuisance to you, but also means businesses are quite literally throwing their money away by either having a really, really crappy targeting strategy or even worse – NO TARGETING STRATEGY WHATSOEVER. [Insert eye roll here.] Keep reading to find out how you can avoid making this costly mistake yourself.
Targeting Options Should Be Your Best Friend – Not Your Worst Enemy
It’s no surprise that as a digital marketing agency, we love us some Facebook ads – especially, when it comes to our niche healthcare clients, such as spine surgeons or aesthetic medicine practitioners. The thing about these ads, though, is that truly knocking them out of the park can be tricky.
From ad creative and frequency to campaign strategy and reporting, there’s a whole lot of work that goes into successfully advertising on Facebook. But, here’s the honest truth: none of these things matter if you’re not getting your ads in front of the right people.
When working with niche clients like specialty medical practices, targeting can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. Not surprisingly, we like to make it the former.
So, how do you ensure you’re using a successful strategy for Facebook ads? Here’s our top targeting advice when it comes to Facebook ads for medical practices.
Targeting by Life Events
Targeting by traditional demographics such as age, gender, location, and ethnicity is kind of a given. But, there are more niche demographics that you could be missing out on. One of these is life events. When you think about your patients, are there specific events they all have in common?
For example, maybe you offer aesthetic services that are typically favored by brides-to-be, new moms or recent divorcees. Look for major life events that your current patients have in common and take note of how that could affect your targeting options. Speaking of current patients…
Targeting by Look-a-like Audiences
If you have already found success with a certain audience, why aren’t you going after people who are just like them? Enter: Look-a-like Audiences. Targeting by Lookalike Audiences is a way to reach new potential patients who would be interested in your services because they’re similar to your existing patients.
Building Lookalike Audiences involves uploading your patient email list and allowing Facebook to create an audience with similar characteristics to those on the email list.
Targeting by Retargeting
When you’re creating your Facebook ad campaigns, are you taking into consideration where these people may be in the buyer’s journey? Retargeting campaigns are great for a number of reasons, but one thing that is often overlooked is all the different ways they can work in your favor regardless of where your target is with their decision-making.
Retargeting campaigns for customers in the Consideration stage (e.g. users who have visited your site or engaged with your ads but haven’t converted) is the most common practice when using this type of targeting, but what about the ones who are already customers? Practices often miss the mark when it comes to retargeting campaigns dedicated to repeating patients and advocacy initiatives. Just because someone is already a patient, doesn’t mean your job is done. You want them to continue to be a loyal, long-term patient and that takes nurturing.
The same goes for patients that can become advocates of your practice. Reviews and testimonials are a crucial part of growing and developing a brand. Retargeting campaigns aimed at your most valued patients results in brand awareness and reputation enhancement, which are highly valuable brand assets.
We could go on and on about other fantastic targeting methods, but we’d rather talk directly with you instead. Drop us a note to find out how RUNNER’s other Facebook advertising tactics for specialty medical practices could benefit yours.
