Facebook recommends targeting expansion to increase ad impressions

Have you heard of a Facebook feature called targeting expansion? Our contacts at Facebook want to remind Teespring sellers to utilize this tool to optimize the deliverability of your ads as we approach the holiday season. 

TL;DR—the targeting expansion tool is intended to help sellers avoid poor or limited delivery of your ads.

When the targeting expansion box is checked, Facebook will only expand if it thinks it can find efficient results (thus, while we recommend split testing, keep in mind checking this box will not guarantee that it will actually expand).

To use targeting expansion, go to your ad set, then Audiences. Find the Detailed Targeting section, then click to check the box next to the “Expand detailed targeting” option.

Check the box to enable targeting expansion.

Targeting expansion is not available for bulk ads in Ads Manager and is not the same as Lookalike Audiences, although similar. There are no individual metrics available to view at this time, but this feature performed well in testing.

 

How targeting expansion works

Facebook’s targeting expansion works by finding more individuals that are likely to buy your products and/or click on your Facebook ads. By clicking the targeting expansion box, you enable Facebook to decide whether to expand your ad’s reach. Please note that just because you enable this feature, does not mean that Facebook will automatically expand your audience. It will only do so if they believe it will improve (or reduce the cost of) your results.

Targeting expansion will…

• Work with saved audiences. Simply check the box when first creating the audience of a new campaign.
• Expand your ad’s reach, if Facebook finds it beneficial to do so. 

Targeting expansion will not…

• Affect demographics, age, or gender targeting. It will only affect your pre-made selections.
• Remove exclusions when targeting. All of your ad targeting selections will remain the same.
• Affect custom audiences. Your ad will not be shown to anyone outside of this group.
• Automatically expand your audience every time. It will only do so if it makes sense to do so.

Want to learn more about using Facebook ads to sell Teespring products?