The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Facebook Custom Audiences

Targeting the right audience is essential for successful advertising.Facebook Custom Audiences enable you to reconnect with users who’ve interacted with your brand, offering a precise way to personalise your campaigns and improve your ROI.

  • User
  • Tom W

    4 February, 2025

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What Are Facebook Custom Audiences?

Facebook Custom Audiences are groups of people based on their engagement with your business—be it through website visits, app use, social media interaction, or offline activity. They help you retarget individuals familiar with your brand, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Why Use Facebook Custom Audiences?

  1. Increased Personalisation: Tailor ads for more relevant user experiences.
  2. Improved Conversion Rates: Engage warm leads familiar with your brand for better outcomes.
  3. Cost-Effective Campaigns: Focus your spend on users more likely to convert.

Types of Facebook Custom Audiences

1. Website Custom Audiences

Tracks visitors who’ve interacted with your website through the Meta Pixel.

Key Actions to Target:

  • Specific page visits
  • Add-to-cart actions
  • Time spent on the website

2. Customer List Audiences

Upload a list of your customers’ contact details, such as emails or phone numbers. Facebook matches these to existing profiles.

Best Practices:

  • Ensure accurate formatting.
    Top Tip: A CSV or Excel file template can be downloaded from the Audience Manager to match the columns.
  • Avoid outdated or duplicate data.
  • Include the customer Value column for the best results.

Value Data

3. App Activity Audiences

Target app users based on their interactions.

Examples:

  • App sign-ups
  • Completed purchases

4. Offline Activity Audiences

This audience type includes individuals who interacted with your business offline, such as through store visits or phone calls.

Enhancement Tip: Use 3rd party platforms to sync offline events with Facebook Ads Manager for seamless integration.

5. Engagement Audiences

These audiences include users who’ve interacted with your Facebook and Instagram content.

Actions to Track:

  • Video views
  • Lead form submissions
  • Page interactions (likes, shares, comments)

Creating a Facebook Custom Audience: A Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Log into Facebook Ads Manager
    Access the “Audiences” section in your account.
  2. Click “Create Audience”
    Choose “Custom Audience” from the dropdown.
  3. Select Audience Source
    Decide whether you’ll use website traffic, a customer list, app activity, offline activity, or engagement as your source.
    Create Website Audience
  4. Define Audience Criteria
    Add relevant filters based on your objective (e.g. users who abandoned carts or viewed a service page).
    Select Targeting
  5. Upload Customer Data (if applicable)
    If using a customer list, upload a clean, formatted file.
    Customer List Upload
  6. Save and Name the Audience
    Give your Custom Audience a clear, descriptive name for easy identification.
    Name It!

Maximising Facebook Custom Audiences with Best Practices

  1. Segment Your Audiences: Create multiple Custom Audiences for different purposes (e.g., one for past buyers and another for high-intent visitors).
  2. Combine with Lookalike Audiences: Scale your reach by targeting users who share similar traits with your existing audience.
  3. Regularly Refresh Data: Update your customer lists and website criteria to ensure your audiences remain relevant.
  4. Use Exclusions: Prevent ad fatigue by excluding users who’ve already completed a desired action.
  5. Compliance: Ensure you’re transparent about data usage and follow privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).

Integration Tools for Seamless Audience Creation

Using platforms like Mailchimp, Klavio, Zoho or Zapier can help you sync data from your CRM, website, and offline interactions in real time, ensuring your Custom Audiences stay accurate and up-to-date.

Advanced Strategies for Facebook Custom Audiences

  1. Retarget Abandoned Carts: Serve reminder ads to users who added items to their carts but didn’t complete the purchase.
  2. Engage Past Buyers: Cross-sell complementary products to customers who’ve already purchased from you.
  3. Video Retargeting: Retarget users based on video engagement levels (e.g., users who watched 75% of your video).

Final Thoughts

Facebook Custom Audiences provide powerful tools for precision targeting your Meta Ads, enabling you to engage warm leads with personalised messages that convert. By combining Custom Audiences with best practices and retargeting strategies, you can create high-performing ad campaigns that boost your results.

Need some help with this? Online Path can help in both setting up audiences for the best possible success as well as running successful ad campaigns.

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