Want a way to get in front of those customers already on your database?
Perhaps you have a vast email list of potential customers or better yet buyers, and want another way to connect with them.
Even if you only have their mobile number, you can still advertise directly to these prospects and buyers using Facebook Ads Custom Audience targeting.
We know that Facebook already offers superior lifestyle targeting for customer acquisition with their highly effective advertising platform, but it gets even better with the Custom Audiences feature.
Using the Custom Audiences feature on Facebook, together with your other email and mobile marketing strategies can skyrocket your success and dramatically increase conversions.
How To Get Started
Just upload your customer email, Facebook User IDs or mobile phone lists onto Facebook using the Power Editor feature, a Google Chrome Extension, and you can create ads that encourage more frequent purchases, close the gap on abandoned carts or activate lapsed lists to increase engagement and sales.
Your ads only show to those people you have on your list whose email address or mobile phone number is the same as the one they use to log in to Facebook. That means you can create very specific messages that resonate more than more broadly targeted ads to those users not yet aware of your brand.
The upside to more targeted advertising is not only the outcome of greater awareness, engagement and profits, but Facebook rewards advertisers who get higher Click Through Rates with cheaper advertising – BINGO!
OK, so advertising on Facebook isn’t as cheap as email marketing, but with ever-declining open rates, capitalizing on Facebook Advertising is a unique and effective broadcasting strategy designed to capture buyers where they most enjoy hanging out – on Facebook.
Further to this, you can still use the built-in demographic and interest targeting capabilities of Facebook Advertising, which together with your own customer insights allows you to increase your Facebook Ad ROI.
So, how do you take advantage?
Firstly, you need Facebook Power Editor. This is a Google Chrome Extension, so install Chrome as a web browser if you haven’t already, and head to the Google Web Store to download Facebook Power Editor.
Power Editor gives you access to the Facebook API, and although it is not the most user-friendly platform, it is currently the only way to use the Custom Audiences feature.
You should see the Custom Audiences feature along the top as shown below, and then you can upload your csv files from your email manager or CRM system. Facebook hashes the data to keep it the data private and then displays the size of the final audience based on their data matching. Match rates have been reported to vary from around 40% to 70%.
Upload your CSV or TXT file with one entry per line of the users you wish to target, and remember you can only target email addresses, Facebook User ID’s and Mobile Phone Numbers. Email addresses should be uploaded as [email protected] <> ([email protected] <mail to:[email protected]>), Phone numbers should be numeric and include Country and Area Codes and Facebook ID’s should be entered as numbers.
The uploading and linking your ads to your audience may take a while, so patience is a virtue! Once you have it set up you can add or exclude a user from the list.
Create your ads with copy that is as specific as possible to the audiences you create. You should segment your audiences, for examples you could upload lists separately of buyers, potential buyers, stale prospects and active clients.
When you are talking to existing buyers, you may want to use a message that acknowledges them as a buyer but also inspires them to upgrade or repeat purchase. A user who has downloaded your free report but not yet bought, may need to be enticed with a special offer.
The good news is, that often the audience will already have an awareness of your brand, which means you can skip the introductions and get closer to a transaction, making your advertising returns skyrocket.
There is no extra cost to access the Custom Audiences feature at this time, and the ad bidding price seems comparable to targeting existing Page Fans using Facebook Ads.
Minor drawbacks are that the Power editor platform can be a little buggy and take a while to load, the terms and conditions that you agree to regarding uploading your lists are complex and can only be agreed to by the Advertising Account Administrator, but this shouldn’t stop you from jumping in and giving it a go.
This feature is a great way to up-level your Facebook marketing overall, especially for companies who have big customer lists and barren Facebook Pages. You can be driving Page Likes that will also make it easier to target your Faceboook Fans using Regular Ads as well as Page Post Ads in the future.
Given that this feature used to only be available to agency heavyweights, this is an exceptional opportunity that you should at least trial. It addresses any conversion issues you might be having, and gives you a cost effective way to get highly targeted reach.
Have you tried the Custom Audiences feature yet?
What’s been your experience? Let us know in the comments below.