Test Ads

There are many different types of audiences you can target for running new test campaigns from your Facebook Advertising account.

When To Use Custom Audiences: 

Since custom audiences are made up of people who have already visited your site they should primarily be used after you’ve been running some interest-based campaigns and getting visitors to your site. 

You can also think of your custom audiences like a list of contacts that you are building up for future marketing efforts as well. These are the people you might want to run special promotions to in the future. It can also be a good idea to just run simple low budget content based ads to these people as well to help build your relationship with them and hopefully turn some of them into raving fans in the future.

8 must-test Facebook custom audience ideas

Alright, so now you’ve gotten up close and personal with every different type of custom audience you can set up.

1. Custom audience of all past website visitors within a 30-day window.
Target your past website visitors with a Facebook offer that reminds them of your brand and presents a warmer offer.
Tips for targeting all website visitors:
Use a shorter time frame (30-60 days) to keep your offer relevant.
Exclude audiences who have already completed your most valuable conversion (purchase, lead, etc.) unless your product is typically purchased again in a very short time.

2. Custom audience of people who visit specific high-intent landing pages

3. Custom audience of your blog readers for higher engagement.
Tips for targeting your blog visitors:
Create multiple audiences of people interested in particular topics so you can tailor the blog content you advertise to them.
Use Facebook as a testing tool for finding perfect content headlines.
Exclude the people who have already read/downloaded specific content.
If you want this audience to nurture toward leads (not benefit existing leads or clients), then exclude your converters.

4. Custom audience of your converters.
Tips for post-conversion targeting:
Promote related items to the one the person already converted on.
Keep your audience lookback window short (30 days or less if your conversion traffic is high enough to support it) to make sure you’re getting in front of people who are still hot prospects.
Combine Facebook ads with other marketing channels for greater impact.

5. Custom audience of your newsletter subscribers.
Tips for retargeting newsletter subscribers:
Resist the temptation to bombard all of your newsletter subscribers with a request to buy something. Active readers might be receptive to that, but with people who don’t or rarely open your newsletters, use a less threatening offer (like a whitepaper or blog post) that shares valuable advice to bring them back through consistent nudges.
Segment newsletter subscribers to create highly targeted ad campaigns.

6. Custom audience of free trial and freemium users.
Tips for targeting free trial users:
Share case studies and testimonials of similar users (if you have video ad testimonials, now’s the time to break those out).
Share guides to getting started.
Promote a discount offer on the paid version of the product, if you have one.
Promote premium features included only in the paid version.
Have a stellar landing page that matches your ad.

7. Custom audience of people who engaged with your Facebook page.

8. Custom audience of cart abandoners.
Tips for targeting cart abandoners:
Test showing cart abandoners a different or new offer, like a 10% off discount or free shipping, to give them a reason to finish their purchase now.
Exclude purchasers from your “Add to Cart” audience to make sure you’re only targeting abandoners.
Test testimonial or case study ads if your product is relatively unknown and you suspect cart abandoners may be hesitant for that reason. You can make your ad a testimonial and new offer hybrid, too, to gain trust and incentivize checkout in one go.

Try out your new arsenal of audiences

At the end of the day, using custom audiences is in your and Facebook’s best interest. NOBODY wants to see ads all day for something that’s not relevant to them.
Gone are the days of blasting a message out to everybody, wasting your precious dollars. If you’re willing to spend the time, you can customize your audience to get your message to the exact people that want to hear it, exactly when they should be hearing it.
At this point, you’ve learned all you can about how to use Facebook custom audiences, and how you can benefit from them. You’ve also jotted down our 8 awesome ideas and put them in your testing queue.
You’re ready to take on the world of Facebook, one custom audience at a time.