Facebook's shift to maximize visibility of organic social marketing content has led the company add new targeting capability, focused on the personal characteristics of a brand's fans.

Companies using Facebook for social media marketing will soon receive some more targeting options for the organic content they share on the platform. The social network is reportedly planning to add a series of new targeting choices aside from geographic location and language.

In 2012, Facebook has attempted to make organic social content more effective for marketers. The addition of Scheduled Posts and other tools have made sharing content on the site increasingly important for users. Now, the company will reportedly allow users to target content according to user age, gender, relationship status, education and other characteristics of the intended audiences.

Currently, the capability is not fully rolled out to all marketers, but it is expected to come in the next few weeks. Previously, in-depth targeting tools were only available to those using ads on the platform, but many have struggled to see ROI with the paid content. As a result, Facebook has shifted its focus to help social media marketing campaigns target their organic content more effectively.

The series of rollouts aimed at emphasising organic social media marketing is especially relevant, as marketers begin focusing on new metrics for their presence on Facebook. Brafton recently highlighted a report from AdAge that found direct sales and conversions are not the primary use of social content. The study suggests that building brand awareness is the leading goal of marketers using the social platform, with 45 percent naming it their top priority. 

 

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.