Privacy and data security continue to be hot topics these days, and will be for some time. Websites around the world updated their terms in the wake of GDPR, and similar measures are set to follow in the coming years across the country. Facebook has faced its share of privacy concerns along the way, so it’s no surprise they updated their terms around the handling and utilization of customer data through Facebook Custom Audience targeting. Read on to see what it means for you, whether you use Facebook Custom Audiences for lead generation or lead nurturing.
What are Facebook Custom Audiences?
Facebook Custom Audiences are matched audience groups using first-party personal data, typically email address or phone number. Advertisers upload a list of customer info, such as an email list, and Facebook hashes the data and looks for matches against their database. Facebook then creates an anonymized audience pool of Facebook users who were matched to the initial data upload. The advertiser doesn’t see exactly who matched and who didn’t; they’ll just see an approximate audience size. If the upload list or match rate was too small, they will also see a notification of that. From there, advertisers can further refine the Facebook Custom Audience with demographic and interest-based profile data, such as age, location, favorite TV show, etc.
How does a Facebook Custom Audience work for lead generation?
A Facebook Custom Audience requires you to already have a group of email addresses from a database or other lead source, so it isn’t likely to be used for lead generation on Facebook itself. But you can certainly use existing customers to find Lookalike Audiences for Facebook Lead Ad targeting. And if you’ve sourced email addresses through Facebook Lead Ads, a natural next step is to use that list as the basis of a Facebook Custom Audience for lead nurturing.
How does a Facebook Custom Audience work for lead nurturing?
Facebook Custom Audiences are particularly powerful for lead nurturing. You can input a variety of lead sources into segmented Custom Audiences and tailor messaging to fit, or combine into a single Custom Audience for maximum reach and narrow targeting and messaging based on response rate. They key is to get known customers and leads matched to Facebook profiles for more customized targeting using Facebook Custom Audiences.
What do the new Facebook Custom Audiences terms mean for me?
Facebook’s updated Custom Audiences terms require advertisers to provide information on how they obtained the customer information they are uploading: either directly from customers or through a partner, and assert that either way, they have secured proper consent to market to those included on the list. You’ll need to agree to these terms before you can place any ads on Facebook, regardless of targeting type, and Facebook will prompt you to select how the customer information was sourced each time you create a Facebook Custom Audience.
How can opt-in advertising support Facebook Custom Audience targeting?
Once you’ve agreed to the Facebook Custom Audiences terms, but before you’ve uploaded any customer data, you’re going to want to take a look at your list and determine where the email addresses came from and if you have proof of consent. Not sure? It’s time to try opt-in advertising. We can help you build a clean, qualified, consent-based list using opt-in advertising. We’ll also work to determine if double opt-in advertising is the right fit for your business, or if single opt-in will suffice.
Get started with opt-in advertising for free today and ensure that your Facebook Custom Audiences are fully compliant.