How to Use Facebook’s Custom Audience: Practical Examples & Ideas

Facebook is one of the best platforms for advertising. According to Datareportal, there were 2.936 billion monthly active users in April 2022. This means your audience is on there. But how do you create the right ads for the best target audience? One way you can achieve this is by using Facebook’s custom audience. Let’s dig into the basics first.

Introduction to Custom Audiences

A “custom audience” is a list of people who have previously visited your site or interacted with your business. This could include creating an account, signing up for a product or service, downloading a piece of content, or engaging with you in some way. People who bought your products can also be included in a custom audience list. In general, people are added to a custom audience based on their actions on your website. Facebook allows you to target your ads to these specific users in order to reach them again when they next log into Facebook. This can be done by either targeting an existing list that has been uploaded from another platform or creating a new one from scratch within the Facebook Ads Manager tool itself. 

You can also easily create any type of custom audience on 24SevenSocial Ads. We have included an awesome tool as part of our Ads product to help you build and refine audiences seamlessly. 

Lookalike audiences

Lookalike audiences allow advertisers to target new potential customers. They work by finding people who are similar (or look-alike) to those who have already converted. For example, if someone purchases a product from your site based on seeing an ad, then their profile can be added as a part of a lookalike audience. We can then build a Facebook lookalike audience to target profiles that are similar to all the people who purchased from your site. This tactic works great as there’s already proof that people with similar profiles are interested in what you’re selling. 

How do I create a custom audience?

You can create a custom audience from an existing customer list. Having an email list is another great way to create your custom audience. You can also use your Facebook page as well as any people who have interacted with your brand in the past.

📌See how you can easily create a custom audience using 24SevenSocial. 

Practical examples of using a Custom Audience

Now that you know the basics of creating a custom audience, let’s dig into some practical examples.

👉 Targeting a Custom Audience:

If you have an existing list of email subscribers or have collected customer data through your site, you can create a custom audience. You can then target those people with specific ads on Facebook and Instagram. This is a very useful tactic for both well-established and new businesses. If you have a database of loyal customers, you can also use your custom audience to retarget them. It’s great to keep your brand present in your customers’ minds. A lot of people would love to hear from you again, especially if your ads are relevant and useful to them. For example, you could retarget your current customers with special offers on new products or “early bird” discounts. 

👉 Targeting Lookalike Audiences: 

If your brand is new and doesn’t yet have any data available for custom audiences, consider targeting lookalike audiences instead. With Lookalikes, Facebook will use similar characteristics to your brand (like age range or location) to find new people who are more likely to respond to what you do as well! If you are a business with a well-known name but would like to find new prospects and customers, you can also use lookalike audiences to your advantage. Simply use your current database to create an audience of people who look like your current customers. 

Common mistakes and what to avoid.

• ➖ Don’t target people who you already reached.
• ➖ Avoid targeting people who do not show interest in your product or message.
• ➖ We do not advise you to buy email databases from third-party sites. Most of the time, the data you buy is not relevant and could consist of profiles that no longer exist. Develop your own database. It takes longer but it’s much better in the long run. 
• ➖ And finally, don’t waste money advertising something that no one wants to see (or at least no one will pay attention to). Create tests, and analyze what works well and what doesn’t. See what people like and develop more of it. 

Bonus tips to test 

• ➖ Target people who have visited your website but have never opened your emails. Sometimes your emails may not get delivered or could go to your target’s spam folder. Try targeting them with Facebook or Instagram ads. 
• ➖ A great way to remind your website visitors to complete the desired end action is to target them with relevant ads. So, target people who have visited your website but have not converted.

Target your top customers.

This is a great way to target those customers who are already spending money with you.

For example, try showing ads to:

• Customers who have spent the most money on your products.
• People who have purchased or used your services most often.
• Users who have purchased the most expensive products or ordered your top-selling service. 
• Target customers who have most recently made a purchase. For example, those who recently made their last purchase. 
• All of these things combined!

Facebook Custom Audiences are great on their own, but they become even more powerful when combined with targeting options like lookalike audiences.

Lookalike audiences are a great way to expand your reach and target new customers who have similar profiles to your existing ones. For example, if you’re a blogger selling a course on blogging, you could create an ad campaign that targets people who have bought a similar course.

Now that you know how to use Facebook custom audiences, you have a great tool in your arsenal. Remember to always test the different targeting options and try out new audiences. You can come up with some really creative ideas that will make your life easier. Start targeting people who are likely to express interest in what you’re selling or promoting! Don’t forget to test out our awesome targeting options. Sign up for a free 14-day trial and see how 24SevenSocial can help your business grow.