Facebook Ads Location Targeting

AdHustler

AdHustler

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Aug 24, 2007
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Whoa wait what is this? A marketing discussion? Yes that's right.

So recently I've been running a ton of locally targeted Facebook ads, down to towns. On one campaign I am targeting some towns in New Jersey and that's it. However when the leads come through they are from all around the country. Has anyone experienced running locally targeted facebook ads that seem to not be locally targeted?

Any tips to fix this would be appreciated. Thanks
 


Thats really odd but here's something to consider. When I had Verizon Fios sometimes Verizon would route my traffic differently/assign me IPs that were out of state. Often times I would do an IP lookup on myself and see that it showed I was connecting out of Virginia even though I'm in Texas.

My current ISP does the same thing. When a major node/hub is down in my area they start assigning me IPs for Kansas and routing my traffic through there. I know cellular ISPs do the same thing. Often times my cell phone's IP shows as out of state.

Not sure if thats you're issue. Do you know how Facebook decides this traffic is from New Jersey? Do they track it by IP, do they use the phones GPS? Do they go by the users "hometown" information which could be completely inaccurate (I never update my facebook profile).
 
cheshire said:
Thats really odd but here's something to consider. When I had Verizon Fios sometimes Verizon would route my traffic differently/assign me IPs that were out of state. Often times I would do an IP lookup on myself and see that it showed I was connecting out of Virginia even though I'm in Texas.

My current ISP does the same thing. When a major node/hub is down in my area they start assigning me IPs for Kansas and routing my traffic through there. I know cellular ISPs do the same thing. Often times my cell phone's IP shows as out of state.

Not sure if thats you're issue. Do you know how Facebook decides this traffic is from New Jersey? Do they track it by IP, do they use the phones GPS? Do they go by the users "hometown" information which could be completely inaccurate (I never update my facebook profile).
Click to expand...

I think they use some kind of mix.
 
It's more tedious, but do zip code targeting it will help you weave out some of the shit you're not looking for. Also, if people have it listed they live in NJ but actually live in Cali, that could happen as well.

Zip code targeting should help you fix though
 
When i was heavy into FB ads for dating I would get tons of non US traffic when targeting US only. Some days up to 30% of crap traffic. I remember a lot of other people complaining about it too. Nothing I could do about it though, didn't want anyone looking into my account anyways.
 
dooogen said:
When i was heavy into FB ads for dating I would get tons of non US traffic when targeting US only. Some days up to 30% of crap traffic. I remember a lot of other people complaining about it too. Nothing I could do about it though, didn't want anyone looking into my account anyways.
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My ads are clean so i dont mind if facebook looks at it but of course there's no one to talk to even though we spend tens of thousands per month
 
I've had this issue, too, and it makes clients really grumpy if they have a hard time grasping why geo-targeting, even on FB, is imperfect. In cases where it's especially bad, I've had decent luck targeting the desired areas and then adding in a bunch of local interests (the town itself, local newspapers, schools, businesses, etc.). A lot of people who use Facebook will like at least one or two things related to their local area, and retaining the geo-targeting helps to ensure you don't end up getting every out of state grandma, ex-resident, etc. who randomly liked a page in that area.

It's not an ideal solution since it does cut back on your total available traffic, but when you're getting a ridiculous number of inappropriate clicks, it's worth a try. And of course, you can always experiment with your ad copy to see if you can keep the non-locals from clicking (though it doesn't help the CTR if you're already having trouble keeping it high).
 
Does Facebook use the user's current IP to determine location or what they have in their profile?

PHP:
 
AdHustler said:
My ads are clean so i dont mind if facebook looks at it but of course there's no one to talk to even though we spend tens of thousands per month
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Of course there is someone to talk to about this. Pick up the Phone and find out who it is. The fuck you care if takes a week, you will have made valuable contacts in other departments too.
 
AdHustler said:
My ads are clean so i dont mind if facebook looks at it but of course there's no one to talk to even though we spend tens of thousands per month
Click to expand...

This is what pisses me off too. Zero fucking support. I sent 2 messages to their support teams about some weird error messages I was having while using their Power Editor, zero response and it's been weeks.
 
GerardWon said:
Of course there is someone to talk to about this. Pick up the Phone and find out who it is. The fuck you care if takes a week, you will have made valuable contacts in other departments too.
Click to expand...

My time is valuable, yours may not be.
 
I've had big spending campaigns, in which I've noticed a certain % of invalid traffic.

For example, I'll have campaign 'xyz' where I'll target only US + CA, but I'll get leads from random countries and improper ages.

It's just the name of the game. Stay profitable and try to minimize invalid traffic.
 
Pretty sure fb geo targets using both IP and the first party data in the users profile but you cant choose between the geo targeting method.

There's always a percentage of non targeted clicks - could be a bunch of things like fb bots crawling or a situation where someone from NJ in your target is traveling. If the discrepancy is more than 10% I'd ask them to investigate.
 
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