Facebook's always looking to improve their ad targeting options and tools, and they recently updated their 'engagement' custom audiences, providing marketers with a range of new considerations for retargeting and connecting with interested consumers.
To access the new options, open your Business Manager dashboard and select the 'Audience' tab - this will navigate you to 'Asset library' section.
In your Audiences section, you'll see the 'Create Audience' tab - click on the drop-down and select 'Custom Audience'.
Here, you'll find a listing of the various custom audiences you can create. Select the 'Engagement' option from the pop-up.
Previously, there were only four options in the Engagement tab, but it's recently been updated to provide more tools - for example, you can target through your Instagram account, video engagement, event engagement and lot more.
Here, we'll go through the usage of each engagement audience, one-by-one to help clarify their potential usages.
1. Video engagement
Select the video option from the pop-up, then choose the right targeting option from the drop-down list.
Facebook currently offers six video audience targeting options based on the time audiences have spent with your video content.
You can add multiple conditions to the same audience.
You can select the timeframe for which you want to capture the audience data, then enter the days in the in 'In the past __ days' section.
Name your audience, according to the option you select - this will help you differentiate your targeting options.
Then click on the 'Choose videos...' option and browse the videos you've shared previously on Facebook or Instagram.
The list of the videos will appear in the pop-up box - select the video which you want to create an audience for, then click on 'Confirm', and your video selection is done.
Just click on create an audience tab in the bottom-left corner of the pop-up box.
2. Lead form
In this type of campaign, you create a lead form. When people click on the lead ad, they get a form to fill out, which collects customer data, such as name, email address etc.
You can then create a custom audience for those who've engaged with your lead gen form.
Select the 'Lead' option from the pop-up box.
A key benefit of this audience is that they're already aware of your brand, and have engaged with your business in the past. Therefore, these people are often more profitable to retain.
Multiple options are available to build a strong audience for your lead campaign. Select the options relevant to your objectives, then choose the duration in which people engaged with your lead campaign.
You can include or exclude any of the options.
For example, the people who already submitted form could be your existing customers. It's advisable to create a list of the people who opened the form, and the people who opened but didn't submit the form. You can simply exclude the third option.
You then click on the 'Create Audience' button and you're done - your lead form audience is ready to go.
3. Canvas
Canvas ads are an immersive, full-screen, mobile-only option. By using this option, you can create a custom audience of people who've specifically engaged with your Canvas units.
Canvas ads are not as highly utilized as other Facebook as tools, but for those that do, the immersive experience can provide more connection with the business, while those who have gone on to click on a link within a Canvas unit are clearly displaying a higher level of purchase intent. Worth re-targeting to capitalize on that interest.
4. Facebook Page
This option enables you to build an audience of people who've engaged with your company's Facebook Page in various ways, including people who've engaged with your posts, clicked on your call-to-action, sent a message to your company profile etc.
5. Instagram business profile
This feature is similar to the previous one, where you're building an audience based on Facebook Page interactions. Now, you can also build an audience based on those who've interacted with your Instagram account too.
First, you need to connect your Instagram business account with your Facebook Page. You can then also leverage your Facebook campaigns by capturing the Instagram audience.
To use Instagram retargeting, select the appropriate options from the drop-down list.
6. Event
Facebook's also added a new type of custom audience called 'Event'.
To use this, select the Event option from the engagement menus.
You'll can hone in on certain actions people have performed on your event page. Based on those actions they took, you can build a custom audience.
For example, you can retarget users who've responded as either 'Interested' or 'going to' your event. Given this interest, these people are increasingly likely to be interested in relevant campaigns.
You can select the page from the drop-down menu.
Next, you have to enter the name, location or date of the event to create an audience.
Once you've selected all the required options, you can add the name of the audience, according to the event and audience type.
Finally, click on 'Create Audience' and you're done.
When you create your audience, it'll take a moment for Business Manager to process the details, and it'll notify you when your audience is ready.
If there's a green dot in the status column, it means your audience has been created successfully, and is ready to use in your upcoming campaigns.
It can take anywhere from 30 min, to a few hours, to populate the list.
Tips for Using These Audience Tools Effectively
- Choose the options which are properly aligned to your campaign objectives
- Use the option to name each audience - it'll be easier to remember if you keep track of each
- Don't use multiple audiences in the same campaign (otherwise, you won't be able to find which engagement audience performed better)
- Exclude your current customers from any retargeting list until you have a new product to offer (it doesn't make sense to show the ads to the people who've already purchased your product/services)
Conclusion
As noted, Facebook is always working to improve its ad options, and it's important to stay on top of all the latest tools and updates to ensure you're maximizing your Facebook campaign performance.
Engagement audiences can be a particularly effective option, and with all the various tools and targeting options on offer, there's undoubtely some new ideas worth considering for your brand.
Reaching the right audience can boost your campaign performance and help you achieve the highest conversion rate. Take the time to consider the various retargeting tools on offer.