Facebook’s adding two new Custom Audience creation options, with ‘Dwell time’ and ‘Link sharing’ added to the listing for some users.

First spotted by The Next Web’s Matt Navarra, the new options provide more ways to hone in your Facebook ads on likely more responsive groups.

With ‘Dwell time’, you can create a list of users who ‘have spent time viewing your display adverts on Facebook or Instagram’. This would enable you to re-target those users who’ve (theoretically) looked at your ads but not taken any action.

I say theoretically, because there’s no way, for sure, to determine why a user has necessarily paused in their feed at that point, but if your ad is in view, and the user has taken a moment to likely read it, that may help improve your chances of conversion – maybe they’re a little interested but just need that extra nudge, which re-targeting them with, say, a discount offer, for example, might just provide.

Meanwhile, ‘Link sharing’ will enable you to focus on users who’ve actively engaged with your content. Well, more than engaged – they’ve felt compelled enough to share your material for some reason, which likely suggests that they have some level of trust in your brand. This could come in particularly handy for event marketing in specific regions, focusing ads on link sharers in the vicinity could help boost response.

These are the latest additions to Facebook’s ever-expanding Custom Audience options, giving you more ways to hone in your ads to improve response. Back in July, Facebook added Instagram retargeting to their Custom Audience list – for comparison, here’s the list as it was (for most users) at that stage compared to this latest screenshot.

As you can see, the options are growing – which makes sense, Facebook has access to such a wide range of data points, and the better they can utilize them, the more ad spend they can attract. But those enhanced focus options can also have negative impacts – as we’re finding out now with more details being revealed about how Russian-originated groups used Facebook ads to interfere with the 2016 US Presidential Election.

And while political interference and manipulation is a major concern, the insights being revealed show just how effective Facebook ads can be in varying capacity. Combine that with retargeting – which can increase conversion potential by some 70% - and it’s clear that Facebook’s enhanced ad options and data tools can deliver significant results.

Custom Audiences play a big part in this – used well, they can drive improved performance. Worth staying aware of the latest updates, and testing out their effectiveness in your process.   

UPDATE: A Facebook spokesperson has got in contact and said they have no plans to rollout these features at this stage.