Building Custom Audiences for Retargeting in Ad Manager

Overview

Custom Audiences in your CRM's Ad Manager allow you to retarget specific groups of people who have already interacted with your brand, such as website visitors or social media followers. You can create these audiences and then select them when setting up a new advertising campaign. This guide explains how to create different types of Custom Audiences.

Accessing the Custom Audience Builder

You can start creating a Custom Audience from within the campaign creation process. On the second step, labeled Budget and Audience, locate the Intended Audience section. Under the Retargeting tab, click the dropdown menu for Create new or select retargeting audience. The first option in this list is Create a Custom Audience.

Creating a Custom Audience

The creation process involves two main steps: choosing a source and then defining the audience rules.

Step 1: Select an Audience Source

Clicking Create a Custom Audience opens a dialog where you must first select the source of your audience data. The available sources are:

• Website: Targets visitors to your website.
• Facebook Page: Targets people who have interacted with your Facebook Page.
• Lead Form: Targets users who interacted with a lead generation form from a Facebook or Instagram ad.
• Customer List: Targets contacts from an uploaded list.

After selecting a source, click Next to proceed to the configuration step.

Step 2: Configure Audience Rules

The second dialog presents specific settings based on the source you selected. Common configuration elements include:

• Source Selection: Choose a specific connected asset, like a tracking pixel, Facebook Page, or lead form.
• Event: Define the key interaction that qualifies someone for the audience (e.g., "All website visitors" or "Users who opened and submitted form").
• Audience Retention: Set the number of days a user remains in this audience after the qualifying event. The maximum limit varies by source.
• Include/Exclude Rules: You can add up to four additional rules to either include more people or exclude specific groups from your audience.
• Name and Description: Always give your audience a clear, descriptive name and an optional description for easy identification later.

Source-Specific Configuration Details

Website Audiences

When Website is your source, you will configure:

• Pixel: Select from a list of tracking pixels installed in your Ad Manager.
• Events: Choose between targeting all website visitors or visitors based on the time spent on your site (using a percentile filter).
• Audience Retention: The maximum retention period for a Website audience is 30 days.

Facebook Page Audiences

When Facebook Page is your source, you will configure:

• Page: Select from your list of integrated Facebook Pages.
• Events: Choose from a dropdown list of seven different page interaction events.
• Audience Retention: The maximum retention period for a Facebook Page audience is 365 days.

Lead Form Audiences

When Lead Form is your source, you will configure:

• Events: Choose from three options related to form interaction: users who opened and submitted, opened but didn't submit, or anyone who opened the form.
• Page: Select the Facebook Page connected to the lead form.
• Lead Form: After selecting a Page, choose the specific lead form from the dropdown list.
• Audience Retention: The maximum retention period for a Lead Form audience is 90 days.

Using Your Custom Audience

Once you successfully create and save a Custom Audience, it will appear in the Retargeting Audience dropdown list. You can select it during the audience setup step of any new campaign. The audience must show an active status to be available for use.