Facebook custom audiences are a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes.
With custom audiences, you can target people using specific parameters that you set. This allows you to hone in on your target market and ensure that your Facebook ad is reaching the people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
In this blog post, we will discuss how to create custom audiences, what types of data sources to use, and some common questions surrounding Facebook custom audiences.
What Is A Facebook Custom Audience?
Facebook custom audiences allow you to target your ideal customer by allowing you to upload or create an audience with defined characteristics that fit within certain parameters typically set by the ad manager.
These parameters can include interests, demographics, behaviors, and more. You can also create custom audiences based on lists of existing customers or website visitors.
You can then take these custom audiences and create lookalikes for them allowing Facebook's algorithm to go and find your ideal customer.
How Do You Create A Custom Audience?
To create a custom audience, log into your Facebook Ads Manager account and click on “Audiences” in the left-hand sidebar.
Then, click “Create Audience” and select “Custom Audience” from the drop-down menu.
On the next page, you will be asked to choose how you want to create your custom audience. More on the types of custom audiences you can create in a moment.
Create Lookalike Audiences Based On Your Custom Audiences
Looking ahead once you have created custom audiences, you can also create lookalike audiences. Lookalike audiences are similar to custom audiences in that they allow you to target people based on specific parameters.
However, with lookalike audiences, you are not choosing the parameters yourself. Instead, Facebook looks at your custom audience and finds people who share similar characteristics.
To create a lookalike audience, log into your Facebook Ads Manager account and click on “Audiences” in the left-hand sidebar.
Then, click on the “Create Audience” button and select “Lookalike Audience” from the drop-down menu.
On the next page, you will be asked to choose the custom audience that you want to use to create your lookalike audience.
Facebook custom audiences are a powerful tool that can help you reach more potential customers. Combining this with Lookalikes and Facebook's algorithm can give your ad campaigns an extra punch.
To learn more about how to create lookalike audiences I have created a guide for you.
What Do You Put In A Custom Audience On Facebook?
What you put into your new custom audience is entirely up to you and your marketing objectives.
Note: The closer your audience targeting is to purchase the more valuable the list is to you. Compare this to custom audiences that are visitors who have not made a purchase.
The stage in the funnel your custom audiences are in is important when creating lookalike audiences. If you create a custom audience based on an audience that is in the awareness stage of their journey, there is less likelihood of them purchasing.
You Can Create Target Custom Audiences Based On "Your Sources"
Website Custom Audiences: Use A Pixel To Track Website Visitors And Create A Custom Audience Of People Who Have Visited Your Site
Examples, of a list based on website traffic, includes:
Visitors to site
Page views
add to cart
Initiated Checkout
Purchase
App Activity: Encompasses All App Events On Your App
Examples, of app activity, include:
People who have opened your app
Taken specific actions in your app (segment).
Or are high-value customers within your app (purchase amount).
Catalogue: You Can Create Facebook Custom Audiences Based On A Customer File Or Catalogue
You take your customer data and match it to people on Facebook.
This is done by matching the email address, phone number or, other information you have on customers with information stored in the Facebook database.
Create Custom Audiences Based On Sources Facebook/Meta Owns
If you have the Facebook pixel installed then you can create new custom audiences based on data collected by Facebook. The first source we will take a look at is video engagement-based custom audiences.
Video: Custom list based on video views and engagement
Audiences from videos are different than other types because you can create them based on the interactions people have with your videos.
You can create a custom audience from video viewers, people who view a timed portion of your video or, those who watch a certain percentage of your video.
Lead Forms: Facebook Lead Forms Are Forms That Appear In The Newsfeed To Capture Leads
Anytime Facebook users interact with a lead form. The information from the lead form is then stored in a database that you can access as a Facebook advertiser to create custom audiences.
You can create a custom audience based on people who have opened, opened but didn't submit, or people who have opened and submitted forms.
When paired with lookalikes this can be an excellent custom audience to generate leads.
Instant Experience: Custom Audience Based On Interactions With Instant Experience
If a Facebook user opens or clicks your instant experience you can make a new Facebook custom audience based on this audience data.
Use this in your FB ads to create a lookalike of people who interacted with your instant experience and drive more views.
Shopping: Audience Based On Interactions With Your Product Or Shopping Experience
Shopping data from Facebook allows advertisers to create a custom audience based on people's interactions with your shopping page.
Customer List: Upload A CSV Or TXT File Of A Customer List To Create A Custom Audience
Examples, of a customer list, include:
List of existing customers or new customers within a time frame
Leads collected from a conference
Free trial users
Corporate Wholesale Leads
Customer list based on customer value, maybe your most valuable customers.
Offline Activity: Create An Offline Activity Custom Audience
There are several reasons you might want to create an offline events custom audience. Maybe you want to reach people who have visited your brick-and-mortar store or filled out physical surveys. Whatever the reason, Facebook makes it easy to target your ads to this specific group of people.
Events: Create An Audience Of People Who Have Responded To Your Event
With event-based custom audiences, you can target people based on their interest in attending your event or if they have or have not purchased tickets to your event.
Facebook & Instagram: Create FB & IG Engagement Custom Audience
Facebook & Instagram have very similar engagement-based custom audiences you can create.
Custom audiences will be based on your Facebook accounts or Instagram business profile.
As you can see above you can create a Facebook or Instagram custom audience based on varying levels of engagement with your Facebook page or Instagram business profile.
These custom audiences are based on visitors to your page, engagement with your ad, interaction with posts, or a Facebook user who sends you a message.
On Facebook Listings: Facebook Custom Audiences Based On Interaction With Your Catalogue
As a refresher, you'll notice that there is already a source for your catalogue in your data sources.
Unlike the data from "your source", Facebook can base its custom audience on people who messaged about specific products in your catalogue.
In addition, Facebook can create a custom audience based on people who viewed products in your catalogue. Although you can track similar data using "your data", it is sometimes better to use Facebook's data to create custom audiences due to the increased "signal".
Signal refers to the data points Facebook can use to target your ideal customer. An example of a low signal audience is one where you only have the email and name of the customer. A higher signal audience is one where you have email, name, phone, address, country, zip, etc.
So although both your data (catalogues) and Facebooks (on Facebook listings) can create the same custom audience. It may be beneficial to use Facebook's custom audience for people who viewed product.
Create Your Facebook Custom Audiences
Once you have selected the data source you want to create your custom audience, simply follow the instructions on the screen to finish creating it. Once you have created your custom audience, you can start using it to target your ads!
How To Upload Your Customer List To Facebook
Facebook's process of creating custom audiences can be tricky if it's your first time diving into uploading a customer list.
To upload your customer list you'll need to go to your business manager.
Then jump to the 'Audiences" portion of the ad manager.
Click 'Create Audience' and then select 'Custom Audience.'
Choose 'Customer List' as your audience source.
Prepare data source, here "download file template" provided by Facebook.
It should look something like this.
When you export your customer list, ensure that all these fields are being pulled. A tricky field can be the value field. This is the last column on the template Facebook provides (above) and is optional. As you can see below you can choose to include this column or not.
Next, add your customer list to Facebook. If you choose to include value Facebook will ask to know which column contains the value field. Don't forget to name your custom audience.
Next Facebook is going to ask you to confirm the different fields to make sure they are all aligning correctly.
Other random notes on customer list....
"Your customer file must be a .csv formatted file less than 20 MB in size.
The maximum number of allowed entries is 1,000,000 per file. Files larger than these limits will fail to upload."
CSV files can be created in any spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
You may need to export your file as a CSV in order to save it in this format.
If you have less than 1,000 contacts, you can manually add them one at a time by clicking +Add People In your file, including the following columns: email, phone number, first name, and last name.
The audience name and description are for reference only and will not be used to match contacts."
Lastly and obviously, only include people who have provided consent for you to upload their information to Facebook.
How To Exclude People From Being Included In Your Custom Audiences
What if there are people you don't wish to include in your custom audience?
Luckily for us, Facebook provides a way to do this as you create your custom audience.
If you have a list of people who have unsubscribed or do not wish to be on a certain list it can be advantageous to not include these people as well. You can do that within your Ad Set when choosing custom audiences to include and exclude.
Managing Your Custom Audiences Common Questions
You now know how to create Facebook custom audiences. In this next section, we will go through some common questions that may come up when working with custom audiences.
How Long Does It Take For Custom Audiences To Populate?
It typically takes 24-48 hours for custom audiences to populate, so be sure to upload well before you need to use the audience. Especially, if you are targeting a broader audience as this may take longer.
How To Edit Your Custom Audience
You can edit your custom audience at any time by clicking on the “Edit” button in the “Actions” column.
On the next page, you will be able to change the name of your custom audience, as well as add or remove people from it.
How Do I Update My Custom Audience?
If you need to update your custom audience, first ensure that you have the correct custom audience selected. Then click on the “Edit” button in the “Actions” column.
On the next page, you will be able to add or remove people from your custom audience, as well as change the name of it.
How Often Do Facebook Custom Audiences Update?
Facebook custom audiences update automatically every 24 hours. However, you can manually update your custom audience at any time by clicking on the “Update Custom Audience” button after making any changes to the audience.
How Do I See My Custom Audience On Facebook?
To see your custom audience on Facebook, log into your Facebook Ads Manager account and click on “Audiences” in the left-hand sidebar. Then, click on the name of your custom audience.
On the next page, you will be able to see all of the people who are included in your custom audience. You can also see how many people your custom audience consists of, as well as the location, age, and gender breakdown.
When Should I Use A Facebook Custom Audience?
Facebook Custom Audiences can be a powerful tool for businesses, allowing you to target your ads more effectively and improve the performance of your campaigns. But when should you use them?
Generally speaking, Custom Audiences are most effective when you have a specific goal in mind, such as increasing brand awareness or driving website traffic.
For example, if you want to drive more new visitors to your site, maybe a lookalike of your most valuable new website traffic in the last 90 days would work. This could be pixel-based coming from data Facebook owns or uploaded as a custom list from your email subscribers.
Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to use Custom Audiences will come down to your specific needs and goals. But if used correctly, they can be a valuable asset in your Facebook advertising arsenal.
How Should I Name My Custom Audience?
Some tips for naming your target audience:
- Keep it simple and easy to remember. If you choose a window for your audience like existing customers in the last 90 days. I like to include "Last 90 Days" in the audience name
- Avoid using inside jokes or industry jargon that only a small group of people would understand. Imagine a scenario where another employee has to understand your naming structure without you there to guide them.
- Be as specific as possible. For example, instead of “People who like to read”, you could say “People who read mystery novels”.
- Use keyword research to help you come up with ideas for your target audience.
What is an ideal customer profile?
An ideal customer profile is a semi-fictional representation of your perfect customer. It includes information about who your ideal customer is, what their needs and wants are, and how they behave.
Creating an ideal customer profile can help you to better understand your target audience and make more informed Facebook marketing and product decisions.
If you’re not sure where to start, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Who is your ideal customer?
- What are their needs and wants?
- How do they behave?
- What motivates them?
- What are their pain points?
- Where do they hang out online?
- What kind of language do they use?
Once you have answered these questions, you will have a better understanding of who your ideal customer is and what makes them tick.
The next step is to deliver the right message at the right time to these customers. To do this I've put together... you guessed it a blog post on this topic.
Why can't I create a custom audience on Facebook?
If you are having trouble creating a Facebook custom audience it can be because of the following reasons:
You aren't the owner of the account.
The owner hasn't given you advertiser or admin permissions.
If you are an agency the owner may have given you admin permission as a user, not as your agency.
How Do I Find My Custom Audience ID On Facebook?
To find your custom audience ID on Facebook, go to the "Audiences" tab in the Ads Manager.
Then, click on the name of your custom audience.
Your custom audience ID will be listed in the top right-hand corner of this page.
If it is not there you may have to select Columns in the top right and check the Audience ID option.
Wrapping It Up: How To Use Custom Audiences For FB Ads?
Now that you've set up your custom audience, maybe created a lookalike based on that audience. Or simply decided to use the custom audience for retargeting purposes, the next step is to implement this in your ad campaign.
To do this go to the ad manager and either select the green "create" button to create a new campaign or edit an existing campaign.
Once you have the campaign you want to add the custom audience to ready to edit, go to the Ad Set you wish to add this custom audience to, search existing audiences for the custom audience and add it.
That's it if this is your first time diving into Facebook custom audiences you now know everything you need to get started with custom audiences.
If you have additional questions about your Facebook ad account feel free to book a call with me and I'd love to help you out.
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