A group of advertisers on Facebook were recently selected to be part of a test of broad category targeting. We first learned about this through one of our readers. The test has now been reported by other users and has been written about on All Facebook and a blog by David Oh.

In the All Facebook post published on March 8th, Josh Constine describes, “Normally, advertisers can type the name of a Facebook Page into the Likes & Interests targeting field in the ad creator, and may then select from a drop down menu as well as a number of suggestions to decide who the ad will appear to. This allows advertisers to hone in on a very specific niche of users with whom their ad will resonate. In the tested interface, users see a tree of two columns with very broad categories in the left pane. Instead of being able to target users who “like” advertisers have to target a broad category.”

Our reader for instance knew she wanted to target specific artists and their Facebook Pages. But instead she was forced to select a very broad category e.g. Music and didn’t receive a single click through. In her previous campaign two weeks earlier she had set up three different ads and targeted specific likes and interests e.g. St. Patrick’s Day, Irish music all within a 50 mile radius of her zip code. She wrote us that during her 10 day campaign she received 67 click throughs.

As one commenter said on All Facebook, the new ad manager is a “huge step backward. I have no idea how they (Facebook) thinks this will make for more accurate targeting. It does exactly the opposite.”

Josh Constine suggests that for novice advertisers broad category could leave it up to Facebook to decide who will see their ads but that the best option would be to offer both, “perhaps showing the broad category targeting tool by default to cater to novices, and placing keyword targeting below a fold for experts to find.”

We checked in with Mark DiMassimo, CEO & Chief Creative Officer of DIGO (DiMassimo Goldstein) a full-service brand, advertising, direct and digital agency, for his take. Here’s what he has to say:

“Broad Category selection is of interest to someone who wants to target a psychographic (a group of people with relevant similar interests) but doesn’t necessarily want to do the hard and detailed work of building up a target audience through more specific selections. My point of view as a professional is that this is more appealing to people who aren’t advertising, direct and digital pros and who want a simple way to address a target effectively. While much is lost in specificity and useful data, this approach will serve for some people who would otherwise sub-optimize their target through the other system. One instance in which this could be useful for pros is when initially testing the appeal of a proposition to a broad psychographic. With initial positive results, a more detailed approach may be warranted. In short: A solid option non-ad-pros. A limited option for pros.”

We don’t know how many people were selected to be part of the beta test but one of the frustrating aspects for our reader was the fact that she couldn’t opt out and that she had a much needed campaign to run for her business. She contacted Facebook and heard back from a representative who said she would explore the possibility of getting her back to likes and interest targeting.

Are you part of the beta test? What have your experiences been like? What do you think, will broad category be effective?