Gender Engagement

The average Facebook user spends more than 6 hours on Facebook each month. But what Facebook demographic is online more often, by gender? And as a marketer, how do you reach them?

Digital marketing technology company Kenshoo knows a bit about this.

The company’s series of Social Media Insights report, “Metrics that Matter,” revealed key performance indicators to measure performance of Facebook Ads – Exposure Rate and Frequency. Its second report, “Social Media Advertising Global Games,” broke down Facebook ad performance by country.

Now in its third iteration, the social media company reveals how women and men engage differently with ads on Facebook. The study reveals which gender is more prevalent on Facebook. It explores which sees and clicks on more ads, draws more ad dollars, and costs less to target. Knowing these facts can help social media advertisers better optimize their ad spend.

On the whole, women outnumber men as Facebook users 58% to 42%. However, trends show that marketers spend more money targeting men. According to the study, the budget allocation for Facebook ads is 53% for men. So what’s all this mean? It means that men are served more ads on Facebook, and they respond by clicking more often.

Facebook advertising by gender

Males are also less expensive to reach with Facebook ads, the study shows. The average male cost-per-thousand (CPM) registering at about $.16, compared to $.20 for women. Cost-per-click (CPC) rates share a similar pattern, coming it at just over $.50 for males, versus $.68 for females. As a result, social media marketers can reach more niche markets when targeting men, and at the same time, afford to run advertisements more frequently with the same ad spend.

Facebook-exposure-rate

5 Facebook Advertising Takeaways

Below are the study’s five key takaways to help your Facebook ad targeting strategy.

  1. Facebook-by-Gender-SocialmktgfellaCreate very finely-targeted ad segments. Separate men and women. Segment by age and other demographic selects, too. Smaller, highly-targeted ad segments enable more relevant and cost effective Facebook advertising.
  2. Methodically expand the number of highly-targeted ad segments to effectively scale campaigns by extending this improved relevance and performance to larger audiences.
  3. Use custom text and images for targeting men vs. women. Different messages will get the attention of different genders.
  4. Adjust bidding strategies based on segment attributes, including gender. Don’t overspend trying to reach males given the glut of inventory and lower rates available for targeting men.
  5. Monitor Frequency–an ad Frequency of six is optimal. Beyond that point, people tune out and fresh creative is required to drive engagement.

You can access the full report here.

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