Facebook advertising is a staple in almost every social media strategy. Creating the right strategy, however, can be a bit of a challenge as there are a lot of working pieces.

For one fashion e-tailer, sharpening the human connection in their ads was the path to their success.

This international subscription e-tailer has dominated in digital sales through social media advertising most notably through personalized Facebook ads.

What follows is an investigation of the brand’s strategic application of tailored Facebook ads to boost online subscriptions.

Sizing up with personalized targeting

The e-tailer has utilized Facebook’s Tailored Targeting features since their inception, focusing most on relevancy to generate clicks.

What most advertisers fail to realize is that targeting is more than putting ads in front of an audience. It’s a way to personalize an experience or touchpoint, and that’s exactly what this brand has accomplished.

The fashion e-tailer delivers its ads to the right audience at the right time using the right personalization tactics. Ultimately, this leads to more clicks and purchases.

Not only does the company focus on seasonal factors as a way to reach their audience, but they personalize targeting based on life events.

Beyond delivering ads to females between the ages of 18 and 34, they dig deep into understanding their customers’ needs by leveraging customer data and Facebook’s custom audiences. Then, they create targeted segments with a wealth of customer details — location, profession, fashion tastes, where they are in life, etc.

Is the user going backpacking across Europe and need the perfect walking shoe? Are they starting school in the snow-capped region of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and need a warm boot? Perhaps a user has been searching for wedding rings, so they deliver an ad tailored to wedding accessories.

While this kind of targeting often gets a bad rep for seeming too forward, brands who deliver relevant content are the ones who reap the benefits. They have a better understanding of their audience and serve ads that users can relate to.

Ads that address customer intent

Ad creatives are just as important as the science behind reaching the best audience.

This brand delivers ads that serve a purpose, going beyond traditional Facebook ads. By utilizing GIFs or interactive content that addresses a problem, the brand sees increased engagement across their Facebook content.

As a fashion brand, helping customers express individuality and character is a piece of the overarching goal.

The brand gives their products a sense of purpose, tying them into real-life applications. Nowhere do they say “buy this,” but rather the ads align with customer needs and desires.

Consider this ad: the brand asks the user to screenshot a GIF of several shoes interchanging quickly. The end result is a user with a screenshot of her “perfect shoe.”

An ad like this does a few things:

• The user is immediately stopped in the feed using a quick-moving image
• The ad addresses the user’s need to find a new style in a fun, quirky way
• It gets users engaging and clicking on the ad, boosting the relevancy score

Ads that feature more products, like Facebook carousel ads, also see increased engagement across the board for this brand.

If the ad fits

What you can take away from this is the brand’s ability to meet its customers’ needs through the use of data-driven advertising and personalized content.

Merging creatives and ad targeting on Facebook will get you the most efficient results as this directly influences the platform’s relevance score for your ads.

So take a page out of this fashion e-tailer’s book and start leveraging your customer data to deliver Facebook ads that address your customer’s needs.