As an active Facebook and Instagram Ads Strategist serving Online Course Creators and Coaches, I understand the importance of targeting the right audience to make your Facebook Ad campaigns successful. Let's talk about 

Custom Audiences: The Secret to Unlocking Facebook and Instagram Ads Success for Course Creators

Meta's tool, Facebook Ads Manager offers a variety of audience creation options that can help you reach the right people, and achieve your business goals with Facebook and Instagram Ads.. In this article, I will discuss the audiences you should create in Facebook Ads Manager for optimal success with your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns.  

1. Custom Audiences

Custom Audiences are created based on your existing customer data including: email addresses, phone numbers, website visitors and app users. These audiences are highly targeted, and can help you reach people who have already shown an interest in your business. To create a Custom Audience, you can upload your customer data or use Facebook’s tracking pixel to capture website visitors. Some examples of Custom Audiences you can create include:

• Website Visitors: This audience is created based on people who have visited your website. To create this audience, you need to install Facebook's tracking pixel on your website.
• Customer List: This audience is created based on your existing customer data, such as email addresses, phone numbers or physical addresses. Uploading your customer list to Facebook Ads Manager can help you reach people who have already made a purchase from your business or expressed an interest in your products or services.
• App Users: This audience is created based on people who have installed and used your app. If you have a mobile app for your business, you can create an audience of people who have used your app to target them with relevant ads.
• Video Views: This audience is created based on people who have viewed your videos on Facebook or Instagram. If you have engaging video content, you can create an audience of people who have watched your videos and target them with ads that promote your business.
• Instagram Business Profile Visitors: This audience is created based on people who have visited your business profile on Instagram. If you have an Instagram business account, you can create an audience of people who have visited your profile and target them with ads that drive them to your website or promote your products or services.
• Engagement Custom Audiences: Engagement Custom Audiences are created based on people who have interacted with your content on Facebook or Instagram, such as liking and commenting on your posts, sharing posts or sending messages. You can create separate audiences for each type of engagement and target them with ads that encourage them to take the next step in your customer journey.

2. Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike Audiences are created based on your Custom Audience data. Facebook uses machine learning to find people who are similar to your existing customers in terms of demographics, interests, and behaviors. Lookalike Audiences are a great way to expand your reach, and find new customers who are more likely to be interested in your products or services. When creating a Lookalike Audience, you can select the percentage of the population you want to target. The percentage refers to the similarity of the Lookalike Audience to your source audience. For example, a 1% Lookalike Audience is the top 1% of people in the selected country who are most similar to your source audience, while a 5% Lookalike Audience is the top 5% of people who are most similar. The main differences between a 1% and a 5% Lookalike Audience are:

• Size: A 5% Lookalike Audience is larger than a 1% Lookalike Audience.
• Similarity: A 1% Lookalike Audience is more similar to your source audience than a 5% Lookalike Audience.
• Performance: The 1% Lookalike Audience will be the most similar to your audience, making this group more engaged than the  5% audience.

Creating multiple 1% Lookalike Audiences with different Custom Audiences, and then combining those audiences in one ad set is a strategy called "stacking" that can help you reach even more potential customers on Facebook. By combining multiple Lookalike Audiences, you can increase the size of your target audience and increase the chances of reaching people who are interested in your business. 

To implement this strategy, you can start by creating multiple Custom Audiences based on different criteria, such as website visitors, video viewers, or engagement with your Facebook or Instagram content (as explained in subpoint 1 above). Then, create separate 1% Lookalike Audiences based on each Custom Audience.

 By doing this, you can create a group of audiences that are highly targeted and more likely to be interested in your business.

 Once you have created your Lookalike Audiences, you can combine them in one ad set to create a larger target audience. By using the "stacking" technique, you can reach a wider range of people while still maintaining the same level of targeting and relevance. 

When combining Lookalike Audiences, it's important to keep in mind that each audience should be based on a different Custom Audience to ensure that they are distinct and not overlapping. 

You can experiment with different percentages of Lookalike Audiences to find the right balance of similarity and size for your target audience, however, when "stacking" Lookalike Audiences I suggest only combining the same % of Lookalike Audiences so you get a good idea of how far or close % wise you need to stay to your original custom audiences and still receive the results with which you are pleased in your ad campaigns. 

3. Interest-based Audiences

Interest-based Audiences are created based on people’s interests, behaviors and activities on Facebook. You can target people who have expressed an interest in topics related to your business, such as fitness, personal development or entrepreneurship. Interest-based Audiences can help you reach people who may not be familiar with your brand but are likely to be interested in what you have to offer.

4. Demographic Audiences

Demographic Audiences are created based on people’s demographic information, such as age, gender, education and income. You can target people who match your ideal customer profile and exclude those who are unlikely to be interested in your business. Demographic Audiences can help you reach a specific group of people and tailor your ad messaging accordingly.

5. Behavior-based Audiences

Behavior-based Audiences are created based on people’s behaviors on and off Facebook, such as their purchase behavior, device usage and travel patterns. You can target people who have exhibited specific behaviors related to your business, such as making online purchases or traveling frequently. Behavior-based Audiences can help you reach people who are more likely to take a specific action or make a purchase.

In conclusion, creating the right audiences in Facebook Ads Manager is crucial to the success of your Facebook Ad campaigns. By using a combination of Custom Audiences, Lookalike Audiences, Interest-based Audiences, Demographic Audiences and Behavior-based Audiences, in your Facebook and Instagram Ad campaigns, you can reach the right people with the right messaging at the right time.

As an Active Facebook and Instagram Ads Strategist, I highly recommend experimenting with different audience types and testing your ad creatives to find what works best for your business. Interested in learning more about testing your ad creative? Don't miss this article here

"Disclaimer: This blog article was written with assistance from Chat GPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI. The author gave inputs to ChatGPT and then she edited the words, before posting them here on this blog.