How to Create and Use Facebook Custom Audiences for Your Online Business

By Cepy 9/20/2023 Post a Comment

Hi Online Friends,

If you're looking for a way to reach more potential customers and increase your conversions, you might want to consider using Facebook custom audiences. Facebook custom audiences are one of the most powerful tools that Facebook offers to advertisers, allowing you to target your ads to people who already know and trust you.

In this article, I'll explain what Facebook custom audiences are, how they work, and how you can create and use them for your online business. I have experience around "facebook custom audience", and I'll share some of my best tips and tricks with you. Whether you want to promote your products, services, lead magnets, or content, Facebook custom audiences can help you achieve your goals.

What are Facebook custom audiences?

A Facebook custom audience is an ad targeting option that lets you find your existing audiences among people across Meta technologies. You can use sources like customer lists, website or app traffic, or engagement across Meta technologies, to create custom audiences of people who already know your business.

For example, you can create a custom audience of people who have visited your website in the last 30 days, or people who have subscribed to your email list, or people who have watched your videos on Facebook or Instagram. You can also combine different sources and criteria to create more specific and segmented audiences.

Why use Facebook custom audiences?

Facebook custom audiences have many benefits for online businesses. Here are some of the main reasons why you should use them:

They help you reach a warm audience that is more likely to be interested in your offer and take action.
They help you increase your ad relevance and quality score, which can lower your cost per result and improve your return on ad spend.
They help you build trust and loyalty with your existing customers and prospects, by showing them relevant and personalized messages.
They help you create lookalike audiences, which are lists of people who are similar to your custom audience and can help you expand your reach and find new customers.

How to create Facebook custom audiences?

To create a Facebook custom audience, you need to have a Meta Business Manager account and an ad account connected to it. You also need to have a source of data that you can use to create your audience, such as a customer list, a website pixel, or an app SDK.

Once you have these requirements, you can follow these steps:

Go to Meta Business Manager and click on Audiences.
Click on Create Audience and select Custom Audience.
Choose the source of data that you want to use for your audience. You can choose from Customer List, Website, App Activity, Offline Activity, or Engagement.
Follow the instructions for each source type and provide the necessary information. For example, if you choose Customer List, you need to upload a file with your customer data or connect to Mailchimp. If you choose Website, you need to select the pixel that you want to use and define the website events or URL conditions that you want to track.
Name your audience and click on Create Audience.

Your custom audience will be ready in a few minutes or hours, depending on the size and quality of your data. You can check the status and details of your audience in the Audiences section of Meta Business Manager.

How to use Facebook custom audiences?

Once you have created your Facebook custom audience, you can use it to target your ads in Meta Ads Manager. You can either create a new campaign or edit an existing one, and select your custom audience as one of the targeting options in the ad set level.

You can also refine your targeting by adding other criteria such as location, age, gender, interests, or behaviors. However, be careful not to narrow down your audience too much, as this can reduce your reach and increase your costs.

You can also use your custom audience to create a lookalike audience, which is a way to find new people who are similar to your existing customers or prospects. To do this, go to Audiences in Meta Business Manager and select your custom audience. Then click on Actions and select Create Lookalike.

You can then choose the country or region where you want to find your lookalike audience, and the audience size, which ranges from 1% to 10% of the population. The smaller the percentage, the more similar the lookalike audience will be to your custom audience.

After you create your lookalike audience, you can use it to target your ads in the same way as your custom audience.

A detailed table breakdown related to Facebook custom audiences

Source	Description	Benefits	Requirements
Customer List	A list of customer data such as email, phone number, or address.	Lets you reach your existing customers or leads across Meta platforms.	A file with customer data or a Mailchimp account.
Website	People who have visited your website or taken specific actions on it.	Lets you retarget your website visitors with relevant offers or content.	A website pixel installed on your website.
App Activity	People who have used your app or taken specific actions on it.	Lets you re-engage your app users with relevant offers or content.	An app SDK installed on your app.
Offline Activity	People who have interacted with your business offline, such as in-store purchases, phone calls, or events.	Lets you measure the impact of your online ads on your offline results.	An offline event set uploaded to Meta Business Manager.
Engagement	People who have engaged with your content on Meta platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger.	Lets you reach people who have shown interest in your brand or products.	An active Facebook Page, Instagram account, or Messenger bot.

FAQ about Facebook custom audiences

What is the difference between a custom audience and a saved audience?

A custom audience is an audience that you create from your own sources of data, such as customer lists, website traffic, or engagement. A saved audience is an audience that you create from Meta's data, such as location, age, gender, interests, or behaviors. You can use both types of audiences to target your ads, but custom audiences are more specific and relevant to your business.

How can I improve the match rate of my customer list custom audience?

The match rate of your customer list custom audience is the percentage of people on your list that Meta can find and match with Meta profiles. To improve your match rate, you can do the following:

Use as many identifiers as possible, such as email, phone number, name, address, etc.
Format your identifiers correctly according to Meta's guidelines.
Use a file template or Mailchimp to upload your list.
Update your list regularly and remove any invalid or outdated data.
Avoid using hashed data or encrypted data that Meta cannot match.

How long does it take to create a custom audience?

The time it takes to create a custom audience depends on the size and quality of your data source. Generally, it can take from a few minutes to a few hours for Meta to process and match your data. You can check the status and details of your custom audience in the Audiences section of Meta Business Manager.

How often does Meta update my custom audience?

The frequency of updates for your custom audience depends on the source of data that you use. For customer list custom audiences, Meta updates them every 24 hours if you upload them manually, or every 3 hours if you use Mailchimp. For website, app activity, offline activity, and engagement custom audiences, Meta updates them every 30 minutes. You can also manually refresh your custom audiences at any time in the Audiences section of Meta Business Manager.

How can I delete or edit my custom audience?

To delete or edit your custom audience, go to Audiences in Meta Business Manager and select the custom audience that you want to delete or edit. Then click on Actions and select Delete or Edit. Note that deleting a custom audience will also delete any lookalike audiences that are based on it. Editing a custom audience will affect any campaigns that are using it as a targeting option.

How can I share my custom audience with another ad account?

To share your custom audience with another ad account, go to Audiences in MetaBusiness Manager and select the custom audience that you want to share. Then click on Actions and select Share. You can then choose the ad account or business account that you want to share your custom audience with. Note that you need to have admin or advertiser permissions for both accounts to share a custom audience.

How can I measure the performance of my custom audience?

To measure the performance of your custom audience, you can use the reporting tools in Meta Ads Manager. You can see how many people in your custom audience saw or clicked on your ads, and how many conversions or other results they generated. You can also compare the performance of different custom audiences or lookalike audiences, and see which ones are more effective and efficient.

What are the best practices for using Facebook custom audiences?

Here are some of the best practices for using Facebook custom audiences:

Use clear and descriptive names for your custom audiences, so you can easily identify and manage them.
Segment your custom audiences based on different criteria, such as recency, frequency, value, or behavior, to create more relevant and personalized ads.
Test different ad formats, creatives, and messages for your custom audiences, and see what works best for each segment.
Use dynamic ads to show your custom audiences the most relevant products or services from your catalog.
Create lookalike audiences from your high-value or high-performing custom audiences, and use them to find new customers who are similar to them.
Exclude your custom audiences from campaigns that are not relevant to them, such as awareness or prospecting campaigns.

What are the limitations of Facebook custom audiences?

Facebook custom audiences have some limitations that you need to be aware of:

You can only create up to 500 custom audiences per ad account.
You can only include up to 15 sources or criteria per custom audience.
You can only share your custom audiences with up to 5 ad accounts or business accounts.
You can only use your custom audiences for up to 180 days after they are created or updated.
You need to comply with Meta's terms and policies, and respect the privacy and preferences of your customers and prospects.

Conclusion

Facebook custom audiences are a great way to target your ads to people who already know and trust you. They can help you increase your conversions, lower your costs, and build loyalty with your customers and prospects. You can create Facebook custom audiences from various sources of data, such as customer lists, website traffic, app activity, offline activity, or engagement. You can also use them to create lookalike audiences, which can help you find new customers who are similar to your existing ones.

I hope this article has helped you understand what Facebook custom audiences are, how they work, and how you can create and use them for your online business. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below. And if you want to learn more about Facebook advertising, check out my other articles on Facebook Ads Manager, Facebook Pixel, Facebook Dynamic Ads, and more.

Thank you for reading and happy advertising!

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