Why is Choosing the Objective So Damn Important?

The objective. The goal. The thing you desire someone to do once they see that fancy ad of yours. Choosing the one that fits your campaign best is oh so important, and here’s why:

Facebook doesn’t just show your ad to everyone in your audience. Nope. They show it to people who are most likely to do what you want them to do.

Start with your audience.

If you’re like me, visuals will help with understanding how this works. First, let’s take an audience you’ve built of people who have engaged with your Instagram account in the past 90 days. Wow! It’s 2,500 people! Good for you!

Then you need to choose an objective.

That’s easy, right? Just choose the goal you want the ad to accomplish! You want people to go to your website from your ad, so you select “Traffic.” Great! That’s a smart choice.

Now your audience isn’t 2,500 any longer. It’s so much smaller. Why?

Facebook/Instagram has now optimized your ad. It’s easy to pout when you see your audience size is 1/5th of the size it used to be. But when you think about it, it’s actually to your budget’s benefit. Rather than spending $200 to reach everyone in your audience, you are reaching the people who are more likely to do the thing you want them to do: visit your website. It’s not wasting your precious ad budget on those people who love to comment and engage with your content but wouldn’t leave Instagram if you paid for them to (which is literally what you’re doing when you promote your content).

So, as you can see, choosing your objective is one of the most important decisions you can make in the ad building process. Your ad’s success depends on it. Now… what are those objectives and how do you use them? I go into the options here, but in coming weeks I’ll get into the nitty-gritty of why you’d select one specific option over another. Stay tuned!