Facebook Marketing Test – Success Going Narrow and Demographics

You are about to learn how one company decided to launch a campaign using only Facebook. This company promoted one of their products but in a way that we can all learn from. Yes – this is a large corporation but do not dismiss the lessons thinking you cannot do the same with success.

This is the story of Nilla Vanilla wafers that are in all or most supermarkets in the US. In late 2012, the company behind Nilla wafers began their experiment. They did hire a prominent social media company, VaynerMedia (VM) which is based in New York City, to manage the campaign. Again, do not let any pessimism creep into your brain. You can do the same with your own creative thinking or a spin-off from the idea.

Before continuing, what VM did was use Facebook ads directed toward the key demographic audience for Nilla cookies. They went narrow with their targeting. There are multiple audiences who buy these cookies but the focus was on the main demographic segment.

The rest of the story …

VM brainstormed and came-up with the cool idea they called “momisms.” You see, they targeted moms who bought Nilla cookies for their kids. Makes good sense. So what’s a momism? Here’s an example …

“The best families are like fudge, mostly sweet with lots of nuts!” Isn’t that cute? Little sayings that are a little funny, hit home with moms, and are basically true. A momism.

VM created Facebook ads with these sayings in them. And of course they tested their ads as you all know is critical to success. The ads also used the colors from the Nilla wafers boxes. So moms could easily recognize and identify with the brands. Brand marketing in action. VM was looking for those ads that were liked and shared the most.

The results?

Nilla Wafers’ Facebook page went from 15k to 356k “likes.” And sales increased by 9% in 2013 over the same period in 2012. Remember, that Facebook campaign was the only promotional method used.

Do you think you can do something similar for your business?

Using the Facebook People Tab to Identify Your Key Audience

This feature has not changed significantly, and you may be familiar with it. But you can tailor new campaigns to key segments of your overall audience. Of course you want to know as much about your fans and those who “like” your content. You can see who your reach according to gender, age, location, and language.

Be flexible in your thinking because you may have several groups in your audience to whom you can target in different ways. Using Facebook for marketing and advertising is challenging for most businesses, large and small.

Once you have your key demographic groups identified, then you can use this resource to make your efforts more powerful. You still need to devote positive energy for engaging your audience. But you can also automate some of the processes.