Setup Custom Audiences on Facebook

1. Create a spreadsheet of all the audiences you want to target in your Customer Journey, adding the Audience Name, Source, Update Method, Frequency, Responsibility, and Notes as columns and audience types as rows.

Some examples of audience types include: Website Visitors 7-Days. Website Visitors – 30 Days. Website Visitors – 180 Days. Email Subscribers. One time customers. Repeat Customers. Active Leads. Unsubscribed users. Video Watchers – 3 Seconds or More. Fans and Followers on Facebook/Instagram.

2. Add the Data Source, Update Method, Update Frequency, Responsibility, and Notes for each respective audience.

Popular marketing tools like MailChimp and Klaviyo also offer native integration with Facebook to synchronize your audience in real-time. Your data source can either be your own source for audiences, such as an email list or website visitors, or it can be a Facebook source such as Video Watchers, or Facebook/Instagram fans and followers. For example, typical Data Sources include the Facebook pixel on your website, where data is tracked via a pixel, a customer list, or activities that Facebook can automatically track such as adds to cart, checkouts initiated, or completed registration forms. Responsibility would include who is responsible for updating the data, such as Zapier for automated updates or the name of the marketing executive doing the manual updating, and Notes would include any relevant information, such as Facebook Business Manager account details.

3. Login to your Facebook Business Manager account, navigate to the Audiences Section, and select the specific business page you want to create the audience for.

4. Click Create Audience and select Custom Audience from the drop-down menu.

5. Select your Facebook Custom Audience Source and click Next to connect it.

This process depends on the Data Source in your spreadsheet. For example, your audience source can be your website (Facebook pixel), a customer list you upload, people who filled out your lead forms on your business page, Facebook Page and Instagram followers, or any of the other available options. If you select Website as your custom audience source, you would need to select the Facebook pixel already connected to your site. Create install a Facebook pixel on your site if you don’t already have one. If you want to use an existing customer list as a data source, you can connect Facebook to a marketing tool such as MailChimp or Klaviyo to import the list directly, or upload your customer list in a CSV format.

6. Add audience details like the Retention Period, name your audience something memorable, and click Save to complete the custom audience creation process.

For instance, you can include a Retention Period of 7, 14, or 30 days. This determines the amount of time people stay in your custom audience. When naming your audience, try and include specific targeting criteria to make it easier to remember. For example, an audience targeting small business owners aged 35-55 interested in the Tesla Model X and living in the USA could be called, USA 35_55 Small Business Owners Tesla Model X.

7. Repeat this process for all audiences in your spreadsheet and use your Custom Audiences once Facebook finishes processing them.