Control with a Capital “UX”

August 16, 2016

As little as we want detergent and granola bar advertisements popping up on our personal Facebook pages, we all know that we rely on those same targeting techniques to spread our business’s advertisements to our personal target market. So when Facebook announced that their new ad feature gives viewers more control over the ads that they see, my feelings were just as mixed as every other business owner’s out there! Although I’m happy to be able to get rid of annoying brands on my personal page, will my audience be doing the same to my advertisements?

Back up. What is this new Facebook ad feature?

Advertising on Facebook has become more and more targeted with newer algorithms and more companies working with Facebook to push their product. Great, right? Except that it’s unnerving. Facebook’s policy is to target users based on their interest and push advertisements through to them. Contrary to popular belief, they do not hand out users information to those specific companies. Yet to most, the targeting still feels a bit creepy.

Facebook’s new feature wants to give its users a sense of control. In the top right corner of each ad, users will find a dropdown box that allows them four options:

This feature allows users to rid of advertisements that they have no interest in. An electronics advertisement pops up, and the user has no interest in electronics? They can now rid of all ads targeted toward electronics users. 

For my business – So what?

On the surface, this feature seems as though it is limiting the reach of advertising based on a user’s personal preference, right? Wrong. Everyone has heard that quality beats quantity – and this is a case that rings true. Instead of pushing your business’s message to millions of people who have absolutely no interest in your product or services, only those who are interested in what you have to offer will receive the message. Instead of uninterested users becoming over exposed to your message, customers who wholeheartedly pursue and have interest in your business see your ad more frequently and more prominently.

It’s all about user experience – giving users exactly what they want, when they want it. As an advertiser, it’s our job to do the same! With this new feature hitting an even more exact target, it’s up to us to be as specific as possible in creating ads that are relevant and interesting to that precise audience. Search for your niche and run with it in a strategic and deliberate manner. Executed correctly, Facebook’s new feature can help your business grow in a much more qualitative manner. And hey, you may even get a few “This ad is useful” clicks to show for it!