• How to Upload Customer Data for use as a Facebook Custom Audience

    Kent Ashby  •  October 21, 2019

What is a Facebook Custom Audience?

A Custom Audience is an ad targeting option within Facebook Ads that lets you target existing audiences that have interacted with your business before. These audiences can be made up of your website or mobile app users, people that have engaged with your business on Facebook and Instagram, or customer data that you collect through a POS or CRM system. The latter is what we will be focusing on in this article, but each Custom Audience type can provide value. Read more about other Custom Audience types here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/744354708981227.

How to Create a Custom Audience from Customer Data

Creating a Custom Audience from your customer data is actually a simple process.

  1. Export all Customer Data from your Point Of Sale system or CRM software as a CSV or TXT file.
    1. Some POS systems will let you do an export easily, others you may need to reach out to your provider for assistance.

      Note: Facebook accepts the following Customer Data. The more data points, the more likely Facebook will be to “match” your Customer Data to a Facebook user.
    • First Name
    • Last Name
    • Email
    • Phone Number
    • Zip Code
    • City
    • State/Providence
    • Country
    • Date of Birth
    • Year of Birth
    • Gender
    • Age
  2. Go to your Facebook Ad Manager account https://business.facebook.com/adsmanager
  3. Click the “Business Tools Menu” in the top-left
  4. Go to “Audiences” under the Advertise section
  5. Click “Create Audience”, then “Custom Audience”
  6. Select the “Customer list” source option
  7. Select “Use a file that doesn’t include LTV”
  8. Under “Add Your File”, select “Directly from customers” from the Original Data Source dropdown
  9. Now, upload the CSV or TXT file containing the Customer Data that you exported in step 1.
  10. Name your audience something you’ll be able to recognize (ie. POS Customer Export 10/20/2019)
  11. Click “Next”
  12. In this step, you’ll map your POS data to the appropriate Facebook identifier.
  13. Click “Upload & Create”

You’ve successfully created a Customer List Custom Audience! Oftentimes it will take Facebook several hours to match your customer data with real Facebook user profiles, so you may need to wait a day or so before you can use the new Customer Audience.

From here on out, you’ll see this in Facebook Ads Manager or when you “Boost” a Facebook post under the Custom Audience section. You can now target these people especially or include them in a broader campaign that you’re running.

You can also create a “Lookalike” audience from your Custom Audiences, which can help your ads reach more users with similar interests and behaviors. This can be beneficial for businesses that have limited customer data available to them or businesses that want to reach new, like-minded people.

When to use a Customer List Custom Audience?

Once you’ve defined a Custom Audience within your Facebook Ads account, you have the option to target this audience, specifically. Since in most cases a Customer List Custom Audience is made up of data that was pulled directly from your POS system or a CRM, like Salesforce, it makes sense to advertise to these people the same way you would with email marketing. Promoting upcoming events, tee time specials, new menu items, or even just course updates are all good reasons to leverage a Customer List targeted Facebook Ad.

Benefits of Targeting your Customer List through Facebook Ads

One of the main perks to utilizing Customer Lists is to be able to reach customers that don’t normally open your emails. Another big benefit is that these users are a warm audience, so they are much more likely to engage with your ads because the content is relevant to them since they’re familiar with your business already. With Facebook Ads, higher engagement rates + high ad relevancy = less expensive clicks. Therefore, you’ll be able to reach your Customer List for a fraction of the cost as with typical Facebook Ad targeting parameters.

Since the people that make up this Custom Audience are familiar with your business already, your ad’s content can be more to the point. These users are also much more likely to convert as a result of these highly targeted ads, so your goals will be met quicker and more cost-effectively. While it’s necessary to periodically target new audiences, using Customer Lists can provide you with another inexpensive touchpoint.

Use Customer Data to Your Advantage

Many golf courses have spent years collecting customer data but fail to use it to the full potential. While email marketing is still a top performer, times are changing, and it takes more effort to get your marketing message across than ever before. Leveraging customer data with Custom Audiences can help you create more focused Facebook Ads that get in front of your customers, and only your customers.

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