With almost 1.6 billion daily active users around the world and more than 2.1 billion daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, Facebook is the category king of social media today. And as a result, its ad services are a simple and hyper-effective marketing option for businesses looking to drive traffic to their websites.
In the first part of our Creating Winning Facebook Ads blog series, we discussed the importance of aligning your campaign goals with the right Facebook ad objective. In this second instalment, we delve into the importance of using custom and lookalike audiences to create winning Facebook Ads.
What are custom audiences?
So many clients we speak with have no idea about the power of their email lists. And some can’t understand why we are so keen to build their email lists through awareness campaigns. “Nobody opens their emails” and “we don’t want to spam anyone” they say… But there’s a whole lot more to email lists than using them to send spam emails! Custom audiences allow you to target your Facebook Ads using email lists, website visitors, page engagers and more.
Recently, we helped a client run a targeted Facebook ad campaign to an email list of almost 15,000 customers who had previously purchased their product. The campaign was targeted at promoting the launch of a new range of fashion products. We created a custom audience using the email list, and Facebook worked to match the email addresses with its users. The larger the email list, the more effective the results can be. The equation is simple: Facebook can match X proportion of email addresses with its users, and out of the X proportion of users that see your campaign, Y proportion will click through and convert.
And another reason we love custom audiences is that these are audiences who already know your brand, and have most likely already made a purchase from you. They’re lower down in your sales funnel, which means that they’ll require less convincing to convert on your campaigns than audiences at the top of your funnel who have never previously come across of your brand.
What are lookalike audiences?
Facebook can use your custom audience data and extend your campaign’s reach to other Facebook users who are similar to your custom audience. Facebook does this by finding similar patterns and details within your custom audience data and applying it to other users who share similar patterns and details. Powerful? We think so!
Our tips on using custom audiences to create winning Facebook Ads
Custom audiences will help to optimize your campaign spend, giving you more conversions for a given campaign spend. Read below for additional tips on how to use custom audiences to create powerful campaigns that deliver results:
- Invest in your past customers
It’s likely that you spend a lot of money to acquire your customers. Maximizing their lifetime value not only improves your profitability, but increases the chances of your long-term customers becoming advocates for your brand. We are always pushing our clients to find ways to improve their client lifetime values. Use your past client data to develop a custom audience and create an offer that invites them back to purchase from you. - Consider Facebook Ads instead of email campaigns
If you’ve got a large email distribution list, why not try using the distribution list to create a custom audience for your next sales campaign? - Use Facebook Ads to build trust with your customers
Do you have new customers signing up to your newsletter or potential customers who have recently visited your website? Use custom audiences to retarget them with ads that build trust and educate them about your brand. You can out more about retargeting from our retargeting blog series. - Bring your page engagement users into your marketing funnel
Does your Facebook page have a large number of followers, likers and commenters? It’s likely that if people have followed your page or engaged with your posts, then they would be interested in learning more about your products or services. There is a great opportunity to bring them into your marketing funnel by targeting your Facebook page fans with an eBook, in exchange for their email address. Now you have these prospects on your email distribution list and can continue to bring them through your marketing funnel.
Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram, social media marketing gives you a way to reach millions of Australians with whatever you’ve got to say. At Searchbox, it’s our mission to grow your business earnings with every dollar of digital marketing investment. We’re market leaders in social media advertising, Request a Strategy Session and let’s create winning Facebook Ads that generate positive ROI on your digital marketing investment.
