Facebook’s Brand Awareness Marketing Objective

From audience targeting to creative, there are a lot of variables that must be accounted for when advertising on Facebook. One of the most overlooked variables is the Marketing Objective, which is the first question asked during campaign setup.

The Marketing Objective is the ultimate goal of your campaign. In Facebook’s words, it is “what you want people to do when they see your ads.” Each Marketing Objective comes with various options and settings to help steer your campaign towards that goal, so the wrong selection can quickly send your campaign awry.

When prospecting, the Brand Awareness Marketing Objective always jumps out to advertisers. However, it might not be best for your campaigns. Here’s what you need to know.

What is the Brand Awareness Marketing Objective?

Simply put, the goal of the Brand Awareness Marketing Objective is to put your ad in front of those in your target audience who show a high propensity to ‘recall’ your ad.

Ad recall, which has a long-standing history in advertising, measures an ad’s effectiveness of being remembered by those exposed to it. Typically measured as a percentage, ad recall is usually determined by polling a sample group of individuals. For every member of the sample group that can recollect your ad without prompt, the higher your ad’s recall is.

According to Facebook, after analyzing “hundreds” of campaigns, they unsurprisingly have determined that the longer someone spends looking at an ad the more likely they are to recall an ad. With this definition in mind, when an audience is selected for a Brand Awareness campaign, Facebook is going to serve ads to those who have a history of spending a lengthy amount of time looking at ads.

It is important to acknowledge that just because an individual has a high propensity to spend a lot of time looking at ads, it does not mean that individual has a high propensity to take action or engage with an ad. The chief benefit of the Brand Awareness Marketing Objective is that you will get high quality impressions.

When Should I Use a Brand Awareness Marketing Objective?

To determine if the Brand Awareness Marketing Objective is a good option for your campaign, you need to ask yourself the following two questions:

1. Can my ad succeed if no one clicks through to my website or takes a specific action?
2. Does my ad tell a full story on its own?

If you answer ‘yes’ to both of those questions, the Brand Awareness Marketing Objective could be a viable option for you.

You have to assume that ads with a Brand Awareness Marketing Objective will not be shown to individuals who typically take action. So, if you need people to click on your ad to purchase or learn more, there are other Marketing Objectives that are better suited for you. In addition, your ad must tell an entire story since the ad might be the only impression individuals will have of your brand.

While it always varies from company-to-company, campaign-to-campaign, some examples of Brand Awareness ads that we have seen centered around company announcements, store openings or closing, and teasing new products ahead of an official launch.

About LiftEngine

Since 2005, LiftEngine's primary mission has been to help clients better understand and connect with their most responsive prospects and customers, online or offline. Our expertise is behind the marketing campaigns of 400+ clients.

Behind LiftEngine is LiftBase, our proprietary addressable consumer database. Comprised of 250 million US consumers, 140 million US households, and 1,000+ enhanced data elements, LiftBase powers our audience development services and industry-leading products, PortalLink and LaunchPad.

Let's connect today!